Cutting

Because the blanks of exotic wood come in inconsistent sizes and shapes, they must first be normalized by running each blank through a bandsaw. This squares the blanks and keeps them at consistent widths. After normalizing, the blanks are cut using a specialty miter saw built for detailed applications. A stop fence on the miter saw keeps our cuts consistent in length.

Fusing

Here, the general design of the pen's body is laid out. The two mitered pieces of complimentary woods are glued using industrial strength superglue. Then the glued pieces is drilled to allow the pre-cut dowels to be inserted using the same glue. It is important that all the pieces fit snug together for great unity in the pen body.

Preparing

It is essential to provide a square pen body for quality assurance. Everything must be match-up perfectly so the turning and assembly process go smoothly. To make a consistent fitting for bushings, we drill for and insert a tube inside the pen body. To facilitate square ends for hardware, a specialty pen mill is used to drill out the edges.

Turning

This is where the transformation really comes about. A square blank is set upon the lathe and material is gradually removed using a roughing gouge. Digital calipers are employed to make sure each end of the pen body compiles with its matching hardware pieces. The body is then dry sanded from 220 grit all the way through 1000 grit creating an incredibly smooth surface.

Finishing

Once the pen body is sanded down to its extremely smooth surface, the finishing process begins. This process includes seven layers of finishing compound to create an exeptionally durable and long lasting finish. There are ten levels of wet sanding and then seven variations of polishing micromesh pads used to remove all visible scratches. A polishing compound is applied as a last step to create a beautiful, final shine.