The Pen is Mightier

There is a new craze sweeping the Briney Deep household to go along with our recent woodworking exploits: turning wooden pens. The lathe came home to us about a year ago but it became the tool-of-choice a few weeks ago when my husband discovered pen kits. Admittedly, my husband and his brother are leading the charge on wooden pens, but I've also turned out few pens of my own:

The leftmost pen was my first attempt and I was so happy that it came out looking like a pen and I didn't loose any fingers in the process (seriously). We've been playing with different woods and I just love the orange glow of this paduak. Needless to say, I've been using this pen extensively since it came off of the lathe; it's really wonderful to write with.

Besides wood, we've also been playing with acrylics, such as the fake turquoise below. This pen was the combined effort of myself, my husband, and my brother-in-law and the residual tool marks indicate that it took us all a while to get used to the new material. Though we had some challenges with this pen, I really love writing with it and it's a good reference for how much we'll improve as we work with this material more.

Perhaps the best part of our new hobby is how much we're sharing it with others. We're not only sharing the pens but also sharing the experience of turning. My sister-in-law, her husband, and a friend of ours have all visited recently and they weren't here even 5 minutes before my husband shepherded them into "the man cave" to turn a pen for themselves. I feel like our new household motto should be "Come visit and turn a pen!"

Turning these pens has made me a bit more comfortable using the lathe so perhaps it's time for a supervised attempt at a nostepin or a darning egg. I would be a poor excuse for a knitter if I could use a lathe but never turned anything fiber-related. Yes, I think I will try and convince my husband to help me make a darning egg. I'll keep you posted on any results.