#436 Now Sold

London Plane and Gun Metal Rollerball Pen

London Plane - Platanus x acerifolia

Similar to maple, the wood of London Plane trees is predominantly comprised of the sapwood, with some darker heartwood streaks also found in most boards. Though it is not too uncommon to also see entire boards of heartwood too. The sapwood is white to light pinkish tan, while the heartwood is a darker reddish brown. London Plane also has very distinct ray flecks present on quartersawn surfaces giving it a freckled appearance and it is sometimes even called “Lacewood,” though it bears little botanical relation to the tropical species of Lacewood.

The London plane has especially fine properties as a large-growing, shade-providing urban tree. It copes well with heat and cold, wet and dry, compaction of the soil and the pollutants generated by cities. Its shiny leaves are washed off by rain and its bark flakes off in small patches to expose new bark underneath. It was widely planted in London in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The London plane probably came into being in the mid-seventeenth century as a natural hybrid of the Oriental plane, (P. orientalis), and the Western plane, (P. occidentalis), rather than being cross-bred by horticulturists. It soon became popular.

It is not known how old a London plane may become because none is known to have died of old age. The oldest trees of this species date from 1660's and the tallest London plane has achieved 48.5 metres in height; the tallest London planes in London have reached 30-35 metres.

Christmas had been a very busy time for us. With the trip up from the Shropshire Union canal the long way and the weather turning a little more wintery I slowed down my pen turning and gave some time over to the growing list of Christmas presents that needed turning. Whilst Deb was busy crocheting and knitting I was on the chilly back deck making vases, lidded pots, pot pourri containers and pendant necklaces in all different shapes, sizes and colours, Enjoyable, but with the last flurry of the Christmas pen orders and a busier than expected floating market (the weather was foul) my pen stock was depleting fast. I had promised myself that we would be starting the new year with a stock of around fifty pens, we had six.

Leaving the marina at Hawne Basin on new year's eve we moored up at the Black Country Living Museum and headed into Tipton to meet up with some friends for a bit of a doo. We had just about recovered from our excesses and on a very gusty January the 2nd we headed the ten miles and three locks into central Birmingham where we will hide away from the worst of the weather in the BCN’s basins and loops. 

We were feeling a little guilty a week later as we had been enjoying catching up with more friends in the restaurants and bars in the city centre so I started to make a rough plan for the next pens to be made. First a day or two of cutting, drilling and gluing brass tubes into various pieces of wood and colourful acrylics.

Monday January 10th in Cambrian Wharf under the balcony of The Flapper Pub and in the shadows of Birmingham’s - more often than not closed - library pen #433 was turned.