Manufacturing

Or More than you ever wanted to know about the manufacturing of the pens and gavels.

Pens:

Shown above are the "blanks" that we start with.  They can be either custom made (as most of mine are) or bought as the bottom zebra wood is.

These are from top to bottom. Coco Bola (will be a gavel handle sooner or later), Honduran Rosewood, Lace Wood, Snake Wood, Blood Wood, Zebra Wood.

Pen Kits are sold which contain all the metal parts. Also the brushings kits are sold which have brushings the EXACT diameter of the metal parts that the wood meets up with.  (Nothing beats the excitement of buying your kit, getting back to the shop, and having to go back to get the brushings)

The wood must be cut to size (for the two (often) unequal halves), the drilled.  Oftentimes when drilling the exotic wood, which is sometimes 20 or 30 years old, it splits or blows out the bottom part, or the drill comes out off center.  Any of these will cause the blank to be discarded.

After it is drilled, the brass tubes which fit in must be hand sanded to rough them up to hold the glue better, then, after the glue is applied (seems sometimes mostly to me)  and they are inserted into the block they are left to cure over night.

The next day they are turned to proper dimensions.  During turning, oftentimes defects are found in the wood, or it splinters, or cracks, or hunks come out.  Any of these cause the wood to be discarded.

After turning, the wood is finished.  A super hard finish is applied which goes down 2 to 3 wood cells.  This makes the pen hold its luster  longer than the "store bought" pens.

Gavels:

Turned - the hard parts are getting it "right". One lapse of attention for 1/16th of a second will totally ruin hours of work. (I speak from experience)