#166

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Spalted Beech and Chrome Ballpoint Twist Pen

SPALTED EUROPEAN BEECH - Fagus sylvatica

Spalted Beech is European Beech which has been attacked by a fungus. It leaves incredibly beautiful patterns running through the wood. Spalted Beech can be softer than standard Beech, however the fungus is totally inert and will not affect the performance of the wood in any way. With an oil finish, it can turn golden yellow/brown.

This pen was turned on Wednesday the 19th 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.

I turned a few Padouk pens on a warm afternoon (one of the last) and the aroma of this timber is quite phenomenal, it's very tropical - almost like Malibu and pineapple! I also managed to prepare a dozen blanks from the remainder of the gunwales of working narrowboat Birchills (a 1950's Wolverhampton coal boat) at the same time and although these will be for sale as soon as they are finished the plan is to get a little stock together to sell at the May Day working boats festival in Alvecote in 2015.

1. Spalted Beech and Chrome Ballpoint Twist Pen
2. This pen blank looks quite different to #161, no two pieces of spalted beech are alike