NOW SOLD
NB Dane Cross Cut Elm, Chrome and 24ct Gold Plated Ballpoint Twist Pen
(25% of the profit will be gifted to NBHF the custodians of NB Dane)
EUROPEAN ELM - Ulmus procera
European Elm has is a light to medium brown, sometimes with a hint of red. With an oil finish, it can turn a beautiful golden brown colour. Unless, of course, it's been kept at the bottom of a canal for an awfully long time.
The rotten parts of these rebuilt boats are usually used to stoke the fires that steam the new planks for bending to the hull's shape.Luckily these pieces of elm were too important to burn and have been properly stored. I wasn't sure how deep the rot would have gone and how deep I would have to delve into this piece to find stable wood. The pens I make from historic boat materials have been thoroughly tested by me to make sure that they will give pleasurable daily use.
Narrowboat Dane was built by the Mersey Weaver and Ship Canal Carrying Company and used as part of their fleet. She was built in November 1946 and first registered on January the first 1947. Ade from A P Boatbuilding is currently restoring her on behalf of The Narrowboat Heritage Foundation, the work being done is re-bottomed with new chine planks, kelson, stem post and soon to receive two new bow planks, gunwales, decks, new back cabin and engine room. The pens that I will be making from Dane are all from a heavy lump of Elm bottom plate.
Pen #384 was turned on Sunday 25th October 2015 just along from Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal. After a slow cruise back along the canal from Pelsall we arrived at the top of the Wolverhampton flight of 21 locks ready for the decent and the junction north to the Shropshire Union Canal.
The Shroppie is a favourite of many boaters as it enjoys a particularly rural transit up through Shropshire and Cheshire. It is, however a bit straight for my liking. Rather than following the contours of the land it is made much straighter using cuttings and embankments. Still it is a great engineering feat and it does speed up travelling times a little. It also has an underwater obstacle for most of it's length, the Shroppie Shelf, which makes mooring in rural locations tricky too.
Whilst the weather was definitely much chillier the wind slowed down and I was able to turn some of the pens that I had prepared on the journey from Birmingham. Norbury has a great annual festival that we hope to try and book into for 2016.
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