I was asked to make a pen for one of the Veterans who reside at the local Veterans’ residence here in Winnipeg. The Veterans list always make me sad because they ask for things like deodorant and soap. Such “routine” necessities in life. It saddens me that society has all but forgotten these people. At any rate, there was one veteran on the list who asked for a “fancy pen” and the Trg Clerk who works in my office asked if I would make a pen. If so, she would adopt this vet. How can I refuse? Such a simple request.
Anyway, bright and early this morning (I probably woke my wife with the machinery) I went down to the shop and made this Purpleheart pen. Like all the other purpleheart blanks, they start as a very purple blank, but when they are turned, they actually turn out quite brown. The ones I have made to this point have returned to a deep purple in about 6 months or so. This is a European Round-top Pen in Chrome.
One of the amazing things about this blank was how “curly” the pen turned out to be. It is one of the most pleasing things about turning. While you can predict to a point what you will see “inside”, there is never any degree of certainty. With the extent of the curl I decided that a still photograph does not do the pen justice and so I took a little video and posted it to YouTube. Here it is:
To Everything, Turn...Turn...Turn 