This pen is from the other wild olive blank I got from Zambezie Exotics that I turned with my barrel/band style. The black band in the middle of the pen, separating the two segments of the pen, is actually two pieces of thin laminate glued to the ends of the blanks prior to turning. With the lighter woods, it really stands out and ties in nicely with the black band on the pen clip (not visible in the pic). The pen was finished with shellawax.

I've been doing a lot more work with Black Walnut on the lathe (actually, I've been doing a lot of work on the lathe, and just not blogging about it), and I'm really liking working with that wood. I've been able to get a lot of the black walnut from Anna's grandfather from his stock on the farm in Kansas. Here are just a few of the projects I've been doing out of the black walnut.



These toothpick holder/keyring kits came from Craft Supplies USA and were my first real non-pen projects. I turned these about a month apart. Both were finished solely with walnut oil.



Yeah, I've still been doing pens with the black walnut, too. I've been incorporating some differences in the design. I'm still using the slimline pen kits, but I'm turning a wider barrel in the middle by leaving out the center band and using a larger bushing on the mandrel. I've also started adding some black wood laminate at the joint of the two pieces of the pen. Still have some tweaking to do with the process, but I'm pleased with how it's turning out. All of these were finished only with walnut oil.



This perfume pen was also from Craft Supplies USA and was intended to be a present (and may still be, but it's kinda out in the open now). I have one more of these kits and may do something a little different with it, but the look of the straight turn with the black walnut just looks really nice. Finished solely with walnut oil.