The "Why should I buy an expensive pen?" question.

I'm often asked why anyone would want to buy a pen for 30, 40, or even a hundred dollars when a pack of Bic ballpoints can be found for a few dollars. Well, there IS no single answer to that. Penmaking began for me as a way to develop my wood turning skills, and I just became hooked. I never really moved on to bigger and larger turnings. After making dozens for practice, there were few people around me that did not already have one of my trial pieces. I started to get a bit fancier with materials and styles, and one day was asked to make one for a collector. He picked his favorite wood and wanted a fountain pen. After he received it, he went online and much to my pleasure raved about his new pen. I received a few more orders from his friends, and people that read his comments, and soon enough I had a commercial outlet for all those pens I was making. I know that buying an expensive pen is not a priority especially with the economic issues many of us face. It is because of this very fact I try to make items that are more than just a pen. I try to create something with a story or history behind it.

For example some of my Victorian style pens feature Bog Oak imported from England. Bog oak has been carbon dated from 2000-5000 years old. So with an old English looking pen, you are getting REALLY old English wood.

The same goes for some of my Celtic pens. I import Bog oak from Ireland specifically for those. I keep copies of the carbon dating tests from the Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland.

For history buffs I make Civil War pens with replica bullets on the tip and cap that are the exact dimensions of the Minie Ball and .45 caliber bullets used in the war. To add to the value of these pens I purchase ACTUAL, 100% AUTHENTIC bullets that are dug up with the help of metal detectors in the many battle fields of the Civil War. I ship one of the antique bullets with every pen I sell.

Instead of using simple oak pieces, I purchase once used barrels from Jack Daniels and use the charred and whiskey soaked boards to make any number of different style pens. These pens also come with a certificate of authenticity.

Any of the pens you see with images, or pictures, such as the Celtic knot, or Fireman or police insignias, are not painted picture or stickers. Those images are made up of many many laser cut and individually dyed pieces of wood delicately placed like a puzzle over a period of hours and days to create the final piece. In the case of my acoustic guitar pen, I even cut aluminum shims thousandths of an inch thick and mere millimeters wide to place in the fretboard. The stars on the US Flag pens are too tiny to grasp with tweezers. They just go flying around the shop when you try to squeeze them. To place each one I need to poke it gently with a fine tip exacto knife first, and then hold my breathe.