Woodworking Blog

Just completed a JR Victor Fountain Pen in Tasmanian black wood over the long weekend break. Blackwood is beautiful to turn along the grain, I really like the fiddleback pattern on this timber. Fiddleback black wood is highly prized by the Luthiers...

I often get asked what's the difference between upgrade gold (also known as tree gold or rack gold) plating and normal gold plating. My last trip to Taiwan, I went sight seeing to all the different factories to see how the pen kits that I sell are made...

Burl Brown Mallee Majestic Rollerball. This desert timber is hard and dense, beautiful to turn with a nice pleasant Australian outback smell. After sanding it to 1,200 grit the timber takes on a really nice glow. This timber is magical - the grain and...

A beautiful example of what wonderfully figured timber can do to change the appearance of a box. This Bee's Wing PNG Rosewood box set shimmers and changes tone when you change the angle of light source. We sell these wonderful pen blanks so you too can...

Coming back from Hudson with a ute full Radiata Pine, I unloaded the timber in the middle of the garage and demoted the wife's car out of the garage and onto the driveway. This was the last time the wife's car ever went back into the garage. I then...

This is the first woodworking competition that I have entered into. It was entered into the Woodworkforums box challenge. It was entered in both the pen box and the novice sections. To see the other entries click here. I submitted a new style box...

It all started back in 2003 when we found out that we had a bun in the oven. Doing the shopping for the furniture for the newly expected member to our family, we must of visited at least 10 baby retailers before the wife had finally made up her mind...

Straight grain Zebrano in a gun metal 7mm streamline. Straight grain Zebrano is so much more easier to turn than X-cut Zebrano. It just seems like your turning butter rather than the chatter that you normally get with the X-cut. I don't like the smell of

What a magnificent timber this is. I managed to score a large board that was put aside because it didn't match the straight grained boring boards selected for a commercial fit-out. It was "too busy" as quoted by the carpenter. I quickly snapped it...

I was sifting through my off-cut bin and found a bit of red mallee too small for a traditional 120mm blank. I was going to use it as a half blank to make a Sierra pen but it was just long enough to make this pen. Drilling the blank on the lathe, I...

To complement the pens that I make, I often make box sets because they make good gifts for graduation presents. I call this set the "Zebrano bird cage set". Baron II pen kits with the matching chrome letter opener. The box set is designed to sit on a...

This is a Cross cut Zebrano pen blank and Baron II Chrome pen kits. The cross cut Zebrano is tricky to turn because it has a habit of blowing or chipping out on you if your too aggressive with your turning or if your tools are not razor sharp. When...