# Turning Pine for Pens?



## Rusty914 (Apr 5, 2008)

I received a princely gift today... an antique block of heart of pine.

It's a (short) piece of four inch thick tongue and groove flooring from an old cotton mill.

The piece has a few cracks, but I think it will cut up nicely.

So... can we turn pine into pens, or is it just too soft of a wood?

kind regards,
Rusty


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## fernhills (Apr 5, 2008)

Sure they make nice pens and it smells good. Carl


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## monkeynutz (Apr 5, 2008)

Compared to some of the punky, spalted stuff we work with, old pine is *not* soft.


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## karlkuehn (Apr 5, 2008)

I've got some nice chunks of reclaimed heart pine here that I've made pens out of, and you would do well to have it professionally stabilized (I recommend River Ridge if you decide to go that way - http://rrpwhite.com/stabilizing page.htm). If there's heaving graining, you have to be careful when you're sanding, because the soft stuff will sand much easier than the hard stuff, much like working with cedar, and you'll end up with a textured feel to the pen, which isn't always bad!. 

If you have it professionally stabilized, you'll be able to get a durable glossy finish on it, but if you use it as is, consider doing a wax or oil-based finish and market the pens as 'natural wood that will build a wonderful patina over time, with use'. Even if you put a thick CA (which isn't very flexible) finish on it, it'll look great until they put a fingernail or sharp table corner mark in it, which will degrade the base under the CA, causing it to flake, chip and otherwise erode.

If you use a CA/BLO finish, you've got a bit more 'rubberyness', but it's still going to be easy to mar it.

I'm actually making a skew handle out of the stuff that I have, but I'm planning for it to take some bumps and nicks. By the time I die and leave it to someone special, it'll have lots of blood, sweat and tears worn into it, which makes it cool, too.

Remember in the movie 'Crossroads' where the old blues guy accuses Ralph Maccio of buying that old guitar because he though it looked 'authentic' with all of its wear marks? Yeah...like that.


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## GaryMGg (Apr 6, 2008)

> _Originally posted by Rusty914_
> 
> I received a princely gift today... an antique block of heart of pine.
> ... So... can we turn pine into pens, or is it just too soft of a wood?



I don't think it can be done -- here's proof:






I know it can be done!  75-100 year old crosscut Antique Heart Pine with a BLO/CA finish.


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## loglugger (Apr 6, 2008)

Good one Gary, I was just going to say to cut some  against the grain if you can.
Bob


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## RussFairfield (Apr 6, 2008)

More proof that Pine makes bad pens. These are fat SlimLines made from Pine that I find in the racks at Lowe's and HomeDepot. 

*Image Insert:*


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## Sfolivier (Apr 6, 2008)

Anything softer than your tool can be turned


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## Hello (Apr 7, 2008)

I've got some 150yr old spruce from an old school house near Dear Isle Maine....everygreens look nice I think.


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