I've often been asked, "How can you hand craft a pen?" or "Do you really make these pens?" So I thought I would include a brief explanation here of the steps involved in making a hand-turned pen.
I am a professional handcrafter and woodturner. I do not manufacture the gold-plated pen parts for my pens, but I do create the turned-wood barrels (and other materials) that make my pens special and unique.
I turn the pen barrels by hand, one set at a time. I do not use duplicators or automatic cutters of any kind, just my own two hands, a lathe, and some good chisels and gouges, (turning tools.)
When I am done with shaping the barrels on my lathe and sanding and polishing them, I then assemble each pen by hand, putting the turned pen barrels and the gold-plated parts together to create one-of-a-kind writing instruments.
Below is a short summary of the steps it takes to create a fine writing instrument.

Step 1 - First I select a piece of beautiful wood or other interesting turnable material.

Step 2 - I then cut the wood to size for the type of pen or accessory I am going to make.

Step 3 - I carefully drill the centers for brass tubes that will hold the ink refills and other pen parts.

Step 4 - I then turn (shape) the barrels for the pen on the lathe.
Crushed Velvet on the lathe


(you can't see me working on it, because I'm taking the picture (:-)
Step 5 - I sand... and sand some more.
(I usually start with 220 grit sandpaper and go through finer and finer grits, to 1,000 then Micro Mesh all the way to 12,000 grit. (That's 12 thousand, not 12 hundred) for a beautiful, glass-like finish.

Step 6 - I finish the turned barrels with lacquers and/or waxes, taking the time and care to apply whatever is best for the type of material I am working with.

Step 7 - I assemble the pen.

Step 8 - I make sure the pen works smoothly and properly.
The finished pen

(Crushed velvet pens are available on the "Alternative Materials"  page 3, see link to the left.)