#231

NOW SOLD

Brown Oak/Purple Acrylic and Chrome Ballpoint Pen

(our first sale from the canal side - up until now all the pens we've sold were from online sales!)

EUROPEAN TIGER OAK - Quercus robur

Tiger Oak is not a distinct species of Oak, but rather is European Oak that has been infected with a fungus. This fungus has the effect of turning the wood a deep brown colour. Once the wood has been cut and dried, the fungus dies, leaving a rich golden brown colour. Timber that has been partially affected is called Tiger Oak, timber that has been fully affected is called Brown Oak. With an oil finish, Tiger Oak will turn a beautiful deep brown colour.

This pen was turned on April Fools Day 2015 just about one hundred yards from the excellent Fountain Inn at Tipton. It was made by laminating some offcuts of a purple and black acrylic pen and a nice straight piece of Tiger Oak. The tricky part of making these pens is that the acrylic is much tougher than the wood so the pressure of the chisel has to be varied with the change in surface (which is easier said than done when the piece is spinning at 4000 rpm).

Tipton is about four hours cruise from the centre of Birmingham. Like most of the visitor moorings locally the towpath is block paviour and makes a pleasant change from the muddy towpaths in the countryside.

A couple of days after making this pen we were open canal-side for the very first time! It was a great experience and we thoroughly enjoyed the Tipton Boat Gathering.