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[Canuck]

Here it is, a wonderful 'Baron fountain pen in black titanium in Olive rootknot'
Johan sent me some wonderful woods, warthog and hippo tooth, and this is the first pen made from some very beautiful Olive wood, I don't dare post this pic on the 'pen boards' as I'd likely be inundated with emails asking where to get some of this 'breathtakingly stunning' wood, thanks Johan!

[Mark McCallum]

As usual, beautiful job on the pen, John.  The aroma of olivewood goes on and on.  I've had a small board of it that has been sitting in my garage for nearly 10 years, and it still has the nice smell.

[Johan Heyns]

WOW!!!! That is absolutely stunning.  It appeals to me as well since I only write with a fountain pen or a pencil.

Nice work John. (For that you get a gold star and you don't have to go to school tomorrow. )  That is now really value added to a piece of wood.  (If you other guys could see what it looked like!)

What is your opinion of the workability of the wood?  The piece I sent must have been out of the ground for at least 15 years and stored in my late fathers garage.

[Scott Peterson]

Another superb pen, John!

I'll have to try out some Olivewood after I get settled later this year.  I had heard from a friend in Germany that many wooden spoons and bowls are made from Olivewood in Europe.  He recommended I try it for a puzzle sometime.  Now, I'm going to need to give it a try!

Ever try Lignum Vitae?  That wood has a nice spicy/sweet aroma that lingers in the shop for a long time after it is cut too.  I have seen both Lignum Vitae and Olivewood as turning blanks at Rockler - for those of you within reach of a Rockler store.

Thanks for the photos, John!

[Canuck]

Thanks Mark, I've got some of those blanks you sent me ready for some similar 'fountain pens' for you!  I should have them done in the next week or so.

Scott, I've never tried Lignum Vitae, but have heard of it's nice aroma as well...so many woods so little time, you know that all too well.  Hey how's everything going with the late night feeding pattern?  Are you and your wife getting any sleep?

Johan, this olive wood was truly one of the smoothest woods to work on the lathe, literally cut like butter, by the way, I'm glad you like fountain pens as this one is yours, I'll get a package ready but I have a few more surprises to pack with it!

[Johan Heyns]

John, Thanks!  When I heard about this "sickness"  the first thing that came to mind was the olive rootknot.  It is really amazing.  To the other guys, I did not want to reinforce this, but the wood is just made for it.

Scott, I have made some puzzles with it before, but mainly for "packing" problems.  My success with tight tolerances is not good enough yet!   The attached one is from branch wood and not rootknot. (Tetro by Ishino I think.  Can't read Japanese yet.)  I'm sure with good tolerance control amazing Coffin puzzles will be possible.

[Robert Yarger]

John,

Very nice pens.  I am glad that you are finally getting back into pens.  You were on break from them for a while.

[Eric Fuller]

John,

Very nice pens.  I am glad that you are finally getting back into pens.  You were on break from them for a while.

C'mon Robert...you ever seen a heroin addict just quit?  He was just taking a break to let his system recuperate.

[Robert Yarger]

Eric, you are correct.  I knew he would get back to it eventually.  I just missed seeing his pens online, even though I make fun of his sometimes.

John, I beleive that I still have some ammo that I am not legally supposed to have that might make a nice pen.  I will look in my stash and see.  I think the casings would be legal if I took out the gun powder and firing cap, but you might have to use a special drill bit to get though the bullet to insert the pen.

[Canuck]

Yeah, those 'Casing' pens are tricky to do because you need to match a 'kit' to the casing which is really hard to do because then you have two different kits morphed together, even the one I made for Johan is still not quite right by my standards but still looks good though.  Let me know what kind of 'ammo' you find in your stash

[Johan Heyns]

John, where do you get the pen kits?

And NO, you are not going to send me a tooth pen!!!  The tooth stuff is just not enough to dish out like that.  Remember, I'm the one with the stash.  If it does arrive here, I will send you more.

Guys, I've asked the man what is the dimensions for pen blanks.  Since he does not want to tell me, can somebody else do so please?

[RKB]

Guys, I've asked the man what is the dimensions for pen blanks.  Since he does not want to tell me, can somebody else do so please?

This is what he said to me:
'The amount of wood it takes for a pen is minimal 3/4" x 3/4" x 5"long'.

[Canuck]

John, where do you get the pen kits?

The kits are widely available through mail order, here's some distributors:
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/
http://www.penblanks.ca/
http://www.beartoothwoods.com/catalog/
http://www.rockler.com/
I tend to get mine when some of the penboard guys are doing group buys it lowers the price considerably due to the bulk discount offered by all the distributors.
Johan, if you're thinking of trying some let me know, I can send you some to try with bushings to match

[Johan Heyns]

Thanks Ronald, sorry Ronny.  

What do I call you since I'm neither a tax collector nor some "official"?

Maybe I should just stick to Sir or Mr. Kint-Bruynseels.

[Johan Heyns]

Thanks for the links John.