#162

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European Elm and Chrome Ballpoint Twist Pen

EUROPEAN ELM - Ulmus procera

European Elm has a light to medium brown colour, sometimes with a hint of red heartwood with irregular, wavy cross grain which results in attractive figuring. With an oil finish, it can turn a beautiful golden brown colour The grain is quite coarse. Elm can turn brown/light grey.

Wow, what a lovely piece of wood. I'm glad I took a picture of the pen blank before it was cut as the finished pen almost looks like it has been made from two separate bits of wood, but looking at the blank you can clearly see the drift of the grain toward the edge of a knot and then it changes direction completely - just like valley contours on a map.

This pen was turned on Tuesday 18th November. We had been in Lime Farm Marina for about three weeks by now having some alterations done to our narrowboat. Lime Farm is an off grid marina but we were lucky enough to be able to use the site generator whenever the guys had it on for welding. I was able to prepare quite a few pen blanks inside the boat on rainy days and dash out with the lathe when it was a little dryer. Luckily a good size golfing umbrella will just about cover my work bench in the event of a shower.

1. European Elm and Chrome Ballpoint Twist Pen
2. The pen blank prepared for cutting and drilling