I had a short time in me workshop today and made a few pens two from trustone of ebay these blanks are very hard I tried hss steel tools first and it soon took the edge of them so I changed over to my carbide tip tools and they worked a treat some of the colours are a bit to loud for me but if you like the colours then they are worth a go I di like the mauve but not the other one but thats just me one but dont make the same mistake I made there must have been a bit of glue left in two of the tubes and the stone cracked on assembly so that one will be stripped down good job its the one I dont like LOL