I made some new dip pens

[amk]

My latest batch of dip pens. The neighbours cut down a big old hedge and I had some of that wood to work with, plus a couple of nice bits of plum that turned up in our firewood.

For two of these pens I decided to use the lathe - one plum pen, nice and dry, but the other was wet thuya. i haven't turned wet wood before - it was like turning a mixture of celery and butter, very soft and made little crunchy noises like chomping. The plum pen had some nice bark on the underside so I left that unturned at the 'feather end of the quill pen' so to speak.

https://imgur.com/fbGWjWEl.jpg
The freeform spiral pen was made out of a bit of fresh hazel, another donation from a neighbour who was trimming one of her trees. I've played around a bit with the grip - I am doing a lot of work on changing the grip sections to make them more comfortable, motivated by my own experience of rheumatoid arthritis.

I'll be working on a few more. I quite enjoy making dip pens - relaxing in between more important, or bigger, projects in the workshop.

[Marsilius]

Very nice pens. These remind me of a small figure carved from Yew I was given by someone who I think also made archery bows. Will the wet wood will warp or bend still? If so, will be interesting to see the outcome, too.
And those look like great holders for someone whose hands crab up whenever writing with skinny handles. Good stuff.

[grainweevil]

Proper job. Unusual designs too, which is nice. My own nib holder dalliances have been strictly of the straight taper variety. Boring! I envy you finding plum in your firewood; fruitwoods are wonderful to work.