A Premium Ballpoint Twist Pen Dressed In NB Birchills Oak
(£4 from the sale of this pen will be gifted to The Black Country Living Museum, the Custodians of NB Birchills)
EUROPEAN OAK - Quercus robur
Usually straight-grained, the heartwood of European Oak varies in colour from light tan to brown. Quarter-sawn pieces show attractive flame figuring. The wood is fairly hard, heavy and dense, clean but with the occasional knot. European Oak is a beautiful timber and with an oil finish, the grain will turn a deep golden brown.
This particular piece of oak (probably English rather than European) is just a little bit special though. It comes from the rear cabin side gunwales and roof hatch of Narrowboat Birchills. I was given a few off cuts by the superb craftsmen who were carrying out a little light refurbishment to this historic boat, in fact the guys had cut the whole back cabin off!
Birchills is an historic, ‘Joey’ boat with a small day cabin, built in 1953 by Ernest Thomas of Walsall, ‘Birchills’ it is one of the last wooden day boats made and was used to carry coal to Wolverhampton Power Station. This boat is double-ended and the mast and rudder could be changed from one end to the other. This enabled its use in narrow canals or basins where there was no room to turn the boat around.
The rotten parts of these rebuilt boats are usually used to stoke the fires that steam the new planks for bending to the hulls shape so half a day later this flaky gunwale would have been burned. 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.
That old flaky gunwale went on to make a few very nice pens and I was lucky enough to be given some more wood by Ade at A P Boat Building in Alvecote. This time a piece that appears to be from the old red cabin hatch surround.
Our daughter Jess called from Poole and gave us the great news that she would be able to pop up and visit us towards the end of the month. It'd be the first time she drove up to visit us and Birmingham isn't the best place for parking. With nothing else needing doing in Birmingham we decided to head out of town to new waters for us and get as close to Stratford upon Avon canal basin as possible for her visit.
Canal cruising is a bit trickier in the depths of winter. Frozen ropes and icy back decks are enough for me after about four hours or so and there is a real danger that a couple of cold days in a row could mean the canal is frozen solid and we wouldn't be going anywhere.
32 miles and 54 locks doesn't sound an awful lot but it equates to a trip of about 28 hours. Luckily most of the canal down here is fairly deep, without too many moored boats to slow right down for and at this time of year hardly any other boats are moving so we made fantastic time. We left Cambrian wharf early Monday morning and by Wednesday we had moored up in Stratford upon Avon a little after the sun had set over the basin.
A few days later... we had spent a lovely weekend with Jess on the boat and I think Dudley had just about got used to waking up and finding two beds to have a cuddle in but all good things come to an end and another working week beckoned.
We were certainly getting used to the lovely weather in Bancroft Basin with nothing to cast a shadow over us the boat became really quite warm by mid morning, almost too hot with the fire ticking over. As well as wakening up the dark recesses of winter the sun also provided us with a much needed solar power boost. In fact by the end of February we are close to being self sufficient for power. We had run the engine for an hour and the generator for about two (a particularly dull day) in the week and a bit that we'd been moored here.
Dudley was getting used to his 'around the river' morning walk of about two and a half miles too, and we were being suckered in by Stratford Upon Avon and all the facilities. McDonalds is 50 yards away, a chippie not much further and this leads to lovely independent cafes, beamed pubs to watch the six nations rugby tournament. So many places to celebrate Debbie's birthday on Friday when her mum was due to visit. Now where shall we try first.....
A few days later... we had spent a lovely weekend with Jess on the boat and I think Dudley had just about got used to waking up and finding two beds to have a cuddle in but all good things come to an end and another working week beckoned.
We were certainly getting used to the lovely weather in Bancroft Basin with nothing to cast a shadow over us the boat became really quite warm by mid morning, almost too hot with the fire ticking over. As well as wakening up the dark recesses of winter the sun also provided us with a much needed solar power boost. In fact by the end of February we are close to being self sufficient for power. We had run the engine for an hour and the generator for about two (a particularly dull day) in the week and a bit that we'd been moored here.
Dudley was getting used to his 'around the river' morning walk of about two and a half miles too, and we were being suckered in by Stratford Upon Avon and all the facilities. McDonalds is 50 yards away, a chippie not much further and this leads to lovely independent cafes, beamed pubs to watch the six nations rugby tournament. So many places to celebrate Debbie's birthday on Friday when her mum was due to visit. Now where shall we try first.....
Pen #471 was made in the canal basin at Stratford upon Avon on Monday 8th March 2016
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