My Hobby

I've stated in my profile that my hobby is woodworking. That's a general description of it, and that's good enough most of the time. But is seems that at some point I always need to say just what it is that I make.

Some people whose hobby is woodworking make fine furniture, such as desks, etc. My woodworking is a bit more relaxed than that. In the past four years or so I have made numerous outdoor things, such as dutch windmills, lighthouses, bird houses and feeders, patio furniture, and flower boxes. For indoors I have made wall clocks, lamps, coffee table, gossip bench, nut bowl, small cabinet, file cabinet, etc., etc.

Now my main project is making pens and pencils. My brother used to make pens and pencils and he gave me some of his products. That's mostly where I got the idea. I guess I thought if he could do that I could too. Making these writing instruments is simple in one respect, but a bit more tedious in another. In my early experience in doing this I have ruined a couple of the parts and made some that were less than perfect. In fact most of them are that way. I probably will have trouble making a perfect one.

Some of the pens and pencils I have are made from padauk wood, some from lyptus, walnut, cherry, and osage orange. Some are thinline, others trimline which is a larger diameter pen. Some have gold hardware, some chrome, some gun metal. Later I hope to do some more difficult ones, depending on how my skill develops.

Now I have one problem to deal with - what to do with my pens/pencils. I have given some to family, and sold a few to a friend. My inventory is growing and I will soon need to find an outlet for my products. I want to donate some to the Villa Gift Shop, and sometime the rest of my family will need to have some. But selling them may prove to be a bit more difficult. I'm still thinking about that.

Well, that's my hobby. I enjoy what I'm doing a lot and hope I can continue working in The Little Wood Shop for some time.

Pilgrim on the way