Woods That Pair Especially Well with Which Hardware Finish

[CaseyK]

So I was talking with my good friend ChatGPT about a week ago and the topic of pen turning came up. Good ol' Chat is ever so helpful and always offers a kind word. Chat gave me some suggestions (that worked out well actually) and I wanted to see what you fine folks think works well together.

I have generally taken a pseudo-production view of things, I'll get a starter kit with X number of kits with it's various finishes, and then pick the woods I want to turn without matching them to a specific kit finish. I'll turn and finish the blanks and then get my wife to help me put this wood with that finish, that wood with this finish. Her design eye is much better than mine. Generally this works well but it can vary with each matching, what she/we match this time doesn't mean we'll match that with the next set. And sometimes we have to force a match because the wood(s) left standing don't really work with what is left. But my issue is that going in I don't have a pre-set assignment of wood to finish.

Recently I was planning to get 5-7 high-end fountain pen kits from PSI and wanted to match them with appropriate high-end woods to them before I started. I had done a Majestic kit and like it so I wanted to try some more. I asked ChatGPT for suggestions about what pen finishes work best with which woods, that's always been a big question for me, and it came back with the table below. Based on your experience, which I am totally willing to concede is quite a bit more than I posses, what changes/additions would you make to this list/table? I'm not looking just for high-end but any/all finishes and which wood(s) work best with that kit finish.

Hardware Finish	Recommended Woods	Your Suggestions
Gold	Cocobolo, Thuya Burl, Walnut, Amboyna Burl
Rhodium/Chrome	Curly Maple, Birdseye Maple, African Blackwood
Black Titanium	Ziricote, Bocote, African Blackwood
Gunmetal	Walnut, Kingwood, Cocobolo
Rose Gold	Cherry, Amboyna Burl, Thuya Burl

By the way, I just did 5 fountain pen kits (PSI - Raw 6061 Aluminum, Presimo Chrome, Tycoon Gold, Broadwell Nouveau Sceptre Gold, and Gun Metal) and used the matchings above. They turned out pretty darn good, ol' Chat wasn't that far off in the suggestions. I'll post some images of them in the next few days as I get the imaging done.

Any suggestions you might have on favorable wood-kit finish would be very helpful here.

Thanks for your time.

 

[bugradx2]

I have my bride match the completed pen bodies to a finish also. Sometimes I'll have her choose before I turn things down but it usually goes easier the other way.

I will say that don't let yourself get too tied into a hardware finish with a blank. Sometimes a combination will surprise you.

 

[sorcerertd]

Pairings are completely subjective. I like contrast, such as gunmetal finishes with olive (although gunmetal is probably the most versatile in my opinion)
There's also the antique finishes, brass, pewter, and copper. Black chrome is another option. There are also colored platings and the prism finishes.

 

[jttheclockman]

Well my opinion is this, you are not really a pen maker if you can not make decisions like this. Do not take it the wrong way. Things like this are subjective but that is what seperates the better "Pen Makers" from ordinary people who throw pens together. Design the instrument and become the artisan. When using a highend kit I try always to use a highend blank weather it be a segmented blank or a special timber or even acrylic. I try to let the blank make the statement as opposed to the kit. Both working together is what your goal is. There is so many older Italian materials out there that put todays acrylic made blanks to shame. Most of your burl woods work well with highend kits. Your plain Jane woods are fine for the lesser kits like slimlines. With so many different themed pens out today and still growing need to be matched to blanks as well. But lots of times they get gimmicky. Example military kits matched to flag blanks and label cast blanks. That works well as opposed to exotic woods and things. I hope you get my point. Become an artisan and use the hobby to express yourself and not rely on lists. We all have that artistic gene within but you need to search for it. This is just my opinion and a little insight as to how I make my choices. Unless a customer wants something specific it is my choice as to how I build the pen.

I may also add, when you say finishes, you can go down the ally of surface finishes on a blank as well matching to a kit. There are flat black kits and colored kits that now may want a flat top finish instead of a shiney finish or a semi gloss as opposed to either flat or gloss. You may want to use colored blanks with kits like that. Sometimes the components in the kit are mixed with other parts of the kit like Sierra kits that have both satin and gloss parts mixed. Just another example there is this part of our hobby that you need to learn to take that step up in class. Good luck and have fun doing it. Lots of examples throughout this forum so take some time and look people's albumns or look through threads of show us your pens. Another good source is look at past Bash contests. There are specific contests that require blanks to be shown or other different criteria. We have it all here.

 

[Woodchipper]

Part is what catches the customer's eye or what the customer wants. I also confer with the CEO on matching pen finishes with the wood or synthetic material. One that moved first last year.... Slimline pen (can't remember the finish without checking the book) with a maple blank, finished with a blue Sharpie.