Gift Pen - Wenge and Unknown (Goncalo Alves??)

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jrista

jrista

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Aug 12, 2021
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I recently made a pen as a gift for a friend who has done a lot to help me out this year. He really loved this one gunmetal and plum wood pen I made earlier in the year, but it sold. I decided to make him a pen from darker woods, as it seemed more his style, and in the end he really loved it. This was also one of my key confirmations that GluBoost IS indeed a premium finish, as he has still not stopped talking about how great the pen feels, and that despite being smooth, the finish still grips very well.

I am also not 100% certain what the wood is for the pen body. It came from a large grab bag of blanks that I bought years ago, and have slowly been using over time. There was no indication what woods were in the bag, so I've had to guess a lot. Originally, the color and way the grain shimmered and its hardness, I seemed to be Goncalo Alves. But, after turning, and on closer inspection, the grain does not seem to fit any GA type wood I know of... Anyone have any idea what wood it is?

In any case, I really like how everything came together...the dark reflections of the gunmetal, with the two darker woods. I want to try and revisit this style, but with some simple segmented blanks that mix and match the two woods across the body/cap boundry, maybe with a little bit of metal.

Baron - Gunmetal - Wenge - Goncalo- - Daniel Droughard - 3.jpg


Baron - Gunmetal - Wenge - Goncalo- - Daniel Droughard - Pen Only - 1.jpg


Baron - Gunmetal - Wenge - Goncalo- - Daniel Droughard - Pen Only - 3.jpg
 
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sorcerertd said:
Nice. You've been busy. Someone was just saying they hadn't seen you here much lately. I think that main barrel is Padauk.
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Thanks, Todd! Yeah, I've been a lurker lately. @Hippie3180 brought me out of my cave. ;) I saw an email from her for a PM, and I had recently listed these pens, so I thought I'd share. I appreciate her, though! :D I love her pens, too.

Regarding the wood...I think it is shown more red here, than it is in actuality. Its a brown, with a slight reddish tint. I think the warm light makes it look redder than it is. It is also harder than Padauk? I have LOTS of Padauk wood, blanks, lumber, etc. Its an distinct orange-red, but this blank was more of a brown, and the grain....seems different? I think that's what is really tripping me up here...the grain doesn't seem like any other wood I have, except maybe Thuya, but I don't think this is Thuya (doesn't smell the same.) The last photo shows the grain better...those dark crescent-like grain pores... Maybe its Padauk, just with a bit of figure or something? The hardness is also different, its a lot harder than any Padauk I've turned (although to be fair, I can't say I've turned every variety of wood.)
 
SteveJ said:
Nice pen, it could be bubinga.
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Thanks! Bubinga...I have some of that somewhere. I need to do a comparison... I just compared with one of my Padauk blanks, and there are some similarities. I guess it could be something similar?

Wood id - is it padauk or bubinga - 1.jpg


Its more brown. The grain pores seem more pronounced... There seems to be a bit of a...weave (?) in the grain, that I don't think I've seen in Padauk. I would really like to figure out what this is, though. My photos really don't do the pen justice...in the right light, both the wenge and this wood's grains shimmered with their chatoyance SO nicely. I want to try and do a segmented pen like this, with a couple slivers of both types of wood segmented into the others, with some metal layers. I feel it would add an interesting element to a pen like this. I just need to find more of this wood...
 
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