Cygnet Hand-Crafted Pens » Explore

Maple and Box Elder Burl Pencil

Mike — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:25:24 +0000

Hardware is Rhodium (a member of the Platinum group of metals)

Acrylester Click Pencil

Mike — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:35:35 +0000

I wanted to see how a light colored acrylester work out: to what extent you can see through the material and how well the inner sleeve color combined with the outer barrel. I have done something like this before, but not with material this light, and I have painted the inner barrel black in the past to avoid bleed-through. As you can see from the photo, there is a certain amount of translucence to the barrel. You’re actually seeing the color of brass sleeve coming through. I like it and will play with this some more in the future.

Emerald Acrylester RB

Mike — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:05:47 +0000

With African Padauk accent.

Nouveau Scepter FP in Cocobolo

Mike — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:24:47 +0000

Yup, it turned out as nice as it looks here. This is just a gorgeous piece of cocobolo. I could see the grain in the rough piece, but I couldn’t see the different colors. I just love having things like that appear as I’m working the wood. Particularly when it gets down to the finishing stage, since that is when the real details come out.

Brazilian Rosewood RB

Mike — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:57:28 +0000

Curly Eucalyptus and Acrylester Pencil

Mike — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:02:53 +0000

Sorry, this product is sold. If this was your favorite let me know. I would be happy to make something similar.

Buckeye Burl #3

Mike — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:58:34 +0000

This is material waiting to be used. Email me if you are interested in a pen or pencil using this piece. This is not quite a final finish, just turned, sanded and polished fairly to give you an idea of the color and figure of the wood.

Black Palm

Mike — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:53:35 +0000

Cocobolo and Acrylester FP

Mike — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:45:15 +0000

Brazilian Rosewood RB

Mike — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:58:46 +0000

Brazilian rosewood is very rare and is no longer legal to import. I fully appreciate how lucky I am to be able to use such small pieces of wood. Scrap pieces from projects by earlier woodworkers are plenty large enough for me.

Dot Ebony Fountain Pen

Mike — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:14:49 +0000

Dot ebony is a particular type of ebony that is shot through with streaks of white. This particular piece looks almost like bone in person.

Sorry, this product is sold. If this was your favorite let me know. I would be happy to make something similar.

Katalox Ballpoint with Various Inlay

Mike — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:57:01 +0000

Shown with Leather Sleeve.

Vitiated Cocobolo Ballpoint

Mike — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:10:34 +0000

I will be sad when I have used up the last of this piece of cocobolo, but in the meantime here’s a ballpoint pen. Hope you like it.

Grape Vine Knot and Lignum Vitae

Mike — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:33:02 +0000

The cap for this came from the knot of a grape vine. I was wondering what the grain could look like inside that convoluted mass, but I couldn’t foresee the pineapple that appeared. My wife says it’s a wolf instead, but I still say pineapple. I may remake the body in grape vine also, but the lignum vitae is such a lovely wood to work with and the color seemed to work. Let me know what you think.

Acrylic and Acrylester

Mike — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 07:30:32 +0000

I like Acrylic and Acrylester as accents to wood. Wood is still what it’s all about for me at this time, but this seemed like an intriguing combo all by itself. Sort of a fade from night into day, although the purple in the middle is a bit “purple-y” for that metaphor. If you’ve got a better metaphor let me know.

Lacewood, Zebrawood and Cocobolo

Mike — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:52:19 +0000

This was just fun to make, picking and choosing colors and textures and creating a pen from the ground up. The top of the cap is Lacewood and the bottom of the pen body is Cocobolo. The rest is bits and pieces of a variety of woods and acrylics.

Majestic Jr. – Cocobolo and Acrylic

Mike — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:02:05 +0000

This is slightly larger than most of the pens I make. Personally I am not a fan of anything bigger than this, but I am willing to make larger pens if you want the big “signing the peace accord” kind of thing. The quality of the parts for this are very good and this has a nice heft to it.

Cocobolo, Chakte Viga, Acrylic Rolling Ball

Mike — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:26:15 +0000

Katalox Ballpoint

Mike — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:55:49 +0000

Katalox is a very hard wood. It has the feel of Indian Rosewood or perhaps Ebony. Medium weight. I will likely make some sets out of Katalox at some point. It just has a solid, smooth feel to it.

Bubinga Calligraphy Set

Mike — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:24:59 +0000

Each calligraphy set comes as standard with 6 nibs, extra ink cartridges and 1 converter for using bottled ink. Either “boring-but-appropriate” plastic case or “pretty-but-impractical” wood case included (For now. I may end up making my own cases). Bubinga is also known as African Rosewood. Frequently used for musical instruments and fancy furniture. Also used for the dashboard in your second cousins Lexus.

Yellowheart Pencil

Mike — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:53:38 +0000

Tulipwood Pencil

Mike — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:21:13 +0000

Thuya Burl Fountain Pen

Mike — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:18:37 +0000

This is available if I can convince my wife that it is for sale. It really is very beautiful. Email me if you want me to sneak it out of the house. The material is not easy to come by, but when I see it available for a reasonable price I buy it. This might be my favorite wood… except for some of the others.

Cocobolo w/ Inlay Fountain Pen

Mike — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:16:35 +0000

Cocobolo Burl and Pau Ferro w/ Chakte Viga Inlay Ballpoint

Mike — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:55:56 +0000

This piece of cocobolo shouted at me from the shelf. It was just a small scrap, useless for furniture or the like because of the huge knot in it. I absolutely couldn’t pass it up. I decided not to dodge the rough part of the knot, and I’m glad I did. The swirl of grain on the opposite side is just lovely. These are a bit more difficult to make, but if they all turned out like this I might not do anything else.

Brazilian Rosewood Set

Mike — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:57:29 +0000