The Pen Makers Boat: #531 Now Sold

NB Birchills Oak and 24ct Gold Plated Fountain Pen

(A donation 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.

Pen #531 Was made at Fazeley Junction Just outside Tamworth on the 15th May 2016

The journey from above Shadehouse Lock at Fradley Junction to Fazeley Junction an dour next trading destination was done in one hit. It's certainly not a long way, about 5ish hours but the weather was against us for the first few hours. The volunteer lock keepers had arrived and were quiet in their soggy waterproofs so at least the couple of locks we had to negotiate were quick and simple, then it was a right hand turn through a swing bridge and keep our heads down out of the drizzle.

About an hour outside Fazeley, just passing the industrial estates on the edge of Tamworth the sun started to come out and dry up all the rain. We carried on past a few early traders and turned (winded) the boat ready to take our place on our allocated mooring space. It wouldn't be the last time we'd move though. There's always one isn't there? Someone was digging their heels in, not happy with either their mooring place or the curve of the towpath. It's not easy to trade on the wobbly bits but someone has got to and the mooring plan is drawn up at random and emailed to us in advance so we can easily chose not to attend if it's a problem.

Whilst Debbie had walked (hiked) into town I moved the boat one final time and started catching up with the increasing pen turning list I had given myself. It was a great market and lovely to see so many happy people visiting from the locality and farther afield. Hopefully the local pub will get on board next year and maybe get a band and a BBQ organised and there is plenty of space for a few local charity stalls too. I can easily see this turning into the Fazeley Junction Festival in the future.