#409

Now Sold

Padouk and 24ct Gold Plated Ballpoint Twist Pen

PADOUK - Pterocarpus soyauxii

Padouk has a very unique reddish orange coloration, and the wood is sometimes referred to by the name Vermillion. Unfortunately, this dramatic color is inevitably darkened to a deep reddish brown color. Heartwood color can vary, ranging from a pale pinkish orange to a deep brownish red. Most pieces tend to start reddish orange when freshly cut, darkening substantially over time to a reddish/purplish brown

Padouk is moderately heavy, strong, and stiff, with exceptional stability. It also has a beautiful aroma when turned and sanded. It is closely related to Amboyna.

The plan was working well and I was turning pens in the afternoon after an early morning cruise and vice-a-versa the next day; early morning pen turning and a late afternoon cruise - we may just about have enough stock to open at the Birmingham floating market in just over two weeks time. Now we just had to keep up the cruising pace as we still had about 70 miles and 75 locks to go <gulp>.

It wasn't actually that for to our next stop off in Market Drayton, at 6 miles but the 17 locks took their toll. Market Drayton is a great stopover for us boaters as it's quite few and far between that there are towns with facilities on the Shropshire Union Canal.

The visitor moorings in Market Drayton have large trees shading the sun and as we intended staying two days we wanted to be able to make use of the lovely sunny weather we were having so we didn't go on past the water point and bridge and stopped just before the off side pontoon moorings. The moorings here are a bit strange the signs say overnight mooring only, except on market day and pre-market day when daytime mooring is permitted. Well we arrived late afternoon on Tuesday so that was OK and as luck would have it market day was Wednesday and pre-market day Tuesday so we were fine there for our couple of days (I think?!?).

Pen #409 was turned on the 24th November 2015 on the market moorings at Market Drayton