Olive wood Cave Art Fountain Pen

[ValleyBoy]

Bit of a whimsical pen that I had intended to keep for myself. That is until I spotted my mistake.

First a few details. The pen is olive wood. The cap is fully lined and the barrel is partly lined using acrylic. It takes a Jowo no 6 nib and the ink is delivered via a screw-in Schmidt converter.

The barrel of the pen is engraved with cave art. Something I’ve had an interest in since I was a kid. I even considered getting a tattoo of a similar scene on my back when I was younger. But I used the money to buy the latest Smiths album instead as far as I can remember. (Either that or it went in the bookies).

Anyway I really like the way it came out. I left the cap untouched but I still may engrave a band near the opening. I haven’t decided yet as I quite like the look of the plain cap against the engraved barrel.

And the mistake I made? It’s subtle but some of the more observant may have already spotted it. I’m right handed but I’ve engraved the pen in such a way that the imagery is correctly oriented when held for writing with the left hand. It appears upside down when held in the right. Schoolboy error I know, but my wife is a leftie so she now has a new pen.

Cheers
Ash

 

[flexi]

Ash your wife is a very lucky person!!
That Olive lends itself extremely well to the engraving...very nice indeed.
I would leave the cap unengraved, it may look too busy then or if you do feel the need maybe go around the pen in a band

 

[Doug]

Lovely pen Ash

 

[ValleyBoy]

Ash your wife is a very lucky person!!
That Olive lends itself extremely well to the engraving...very nice indeed.
I would leave the cap unengraved, it may look too busy then or if you do feel the need maybe go around the pen in a band

Thanks Mark

Yes the olive wood took the engraving really well. That’s the hardest part - every material, even different wood species, can react somewhat differently so you have to do a fair bit of trial and error to get the settings dialled in. (It also helps if you do things the correct way up too ) .

 

[ValleyBoy]

Lovely pen Ash

Cheers Doug!

 

[alan morrison]

I like it Ash.
Cave art from your man cave?

 

[Meisear]

I really like that, it’s so nice to see something a bit left of centre and out there.

 

[Padster]

I like that a lot - partly I think because it is different - but in a good way!

 

[alpha1]

Nice well done.

 

[pittswood]

Very unusual concept and design Ash. Love olive wood myself and always keen to make a pen in that wood. Did you get any burning from the oil retained in the wood?
Kelvin

 

[Tom.1946]

Bit of a whimsical pen that I had intended to keep for myself. That is until I spotted my mistake.

First a few details. The pen is olive wood. The cap is fully lined and the barrel is partly lined using acrylic. It takes a Jowo no 6 nib and the ink is delivered via a screw-in Schmidt converter.

The barrel of the pen is engraved with cave art. Something I’ve had an interest in since I was a kid. I even considered getting a tattoo of a similar scene on my back when I was younger. But I used the money to buy the latest Smiths album instead as far as I can remember. (Either that or it went in the bookies).

Anyway I really like the way it came out. I left the cap untouched but I still may engrave a band near the opening. I haven’t decided yet as I quite like the look of the plain cap against the engraved barrel.

And the mistake I made? It’s subtle but some of the more observant may have already spotted it. I’m right handed but I’ve engraved the pen in such a way that the imagery is correctly oriented when held for writing with the left hand. It appears upside down when held in the right. Schoolboy error I know, but my wife is a leftie so she now has a new pen.

Cheers
Ash

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[Tom.1946]

Very nice pen valleyboy I'm sure your wife will love it.....
Tom

 

[ValleyBoy]

Very unusual concept and design Ash. Love olive wood myself and always keen to make a pen in that wood. Did you get any burning from the oil retained in the wood?
Kelvin

Yes, a bit different this one Kelvin!

The olive wood engraved really well without any issues. I did run quite a lot of tests on various woods, just using the square blanks, to see how each reacted because burning and charring around the edges was my biggest concern. I found that using the recommended engraving settings for basswood ply (which is a popular material for laser work) gave good results with almost all of them and no issues with burning. Even stabilised wood worked really well.
I have seen people cut segmented pens with lasers, often quite detailed work, and I haven’t tried cutting yet but I think the burning issue might arise then because even using the recommended settings on basswood ply often creates a small flame and charring. That’s the next thing I’ll be looking at!

 

[Gadget-UK]

Agree with Flexi, the cap left as it is, looks great Ash.
Love this one, something VERY different and Unique

 

[pittswood]

Good luck with the laser work. Will wait with baited breath.
Kelvin

 

[howsitwork?]

Beautiful and think of the brownie ( or tool ) points earned by such a gift to SWMBO.

I agree that the plain cap off sets it perfectly

 

[Adal6]

Lovely pens ash

 

[Rocketman]

Bit of a whimsical pen that I had intended to keep for myself. That is until I spotted my mistake.

First a few details. The pen is olive wood. The cap is fully lined and the barrel is partly lined using acrylic. It takes a Jowo no 6 nib and the ink is delivered via a screw-in Schmidt converter.

The barrel of the pen is engraved with cave art. Something I’ve had an interest in since I was a kid. I even considered getting a tattoo of a similar scene on my back when I was younger. But I used the money to buy the latest Smiths album instead as far as I can remember. (Either that or it went in the bookies).

Anyway I really like the way it came out. I left the cap untouched but I still may engrave a band near the opening. I haven’t decided yet as I quite like the look of the plain cap against the engraved barrel.

And the mistake I made? It’s subtle but some of the more observant may have already spotted it. I’m right handed but I’ve engraved the pen in such a way that the imagery is correctly oriented when held for writing with the left hand. It appears upside down when held in the right. Schoolboy error I know, but my wife is a leftie so she now has a new pen.

Cheers
Ash

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What brilliant carving. As a beginner in pens could you tell me/us what method of carving or burning you used. Love the cave art images.