vangas pens
vangas pens |
If you've been surfing the net looking for handmade pens, you have no
doubt been overwhelmed with the thousands of companies and individuals
touting their products.......there is a reason why....Turning pens is
easy!! I've seen ten year old children and folks who have
never
held a claw hammer in their hands, pick up a gouge and turn their first
pen with incredible ease.
But, that's where the easy part
ends. There are numerous steps to follow when making pens, the two most
important being wood selection and methods of finishing. You can pull a
branch off a tree in your backyard and make a pen with it, but if the
grain patterns do not lend to stability, the wood will surely crack. Or
if the wood is not treated and stabilized properly, the wood will
shrink away from the inner brass tube and your pen will literally fall
apart.
Although wood selection and stabilization are extremely
important, how the wood is protected with a coating will determine, not
only how good the pen will look, but also how long it will last.
There are products out there that make the finishing process
go
quickly and easily, but do not hold up well to everyday use...your pen
will very shortly lose its luster.
So, what makes Vangas Pens writing instruments so special?
When
selecting material for the body of your pen from a block of wood, we
look very closely at the grain structure and for grain patterns that
will enhance the aesthetic qualities of the pen. We cut these pieces
from the wood blank, then through a special technique we developed
here, we stabilize the pen blanks, which depending on the species and
the moisture content could take as long as two weeks. This process
displaces moisture with resin and reduces water vapor transfer by
sealing the cell walls in the wood,
thus "stabilizing" the blank. Only then is the blank ready for turning
on the lathe.
Once the pen blank is turned and sanded, the real work begins.
Finishing
is the most time consuming part of making pens. Like I mentioned
before,
there are products that make this process easy but don't lend to
longevity. We offer three finishing options, meticulously
applied,
that will maintain the luster and protective qualities of your pen for
many years to come.
French Polish
This
process using shellac and oils has been used by furniture makers for
hundreds of years. In my opinion, nothing brings out the inherent
qualities of wood or results in a more lusterous finish, better than
French Polish. The process involves padding numerous thin layers of
shellac and tung oil in a burnishing fashion. A very time consuming
process but well worth the effort. The result is a glass like finish
with perfect clarity that brings out all the grain patterns in the
wood. And if the high gloss doesn't appeal to you, it can be rubbed
down to a soft satin appearance without sacrificing clarity. This
finish, simply put, just looks and feels right. French Polish is also
reparable. Get a scratch on your pen? Just rub it out with steel wool
or a soft cloth dampened with denatured alcohol, apply a coat of wax,
and it will look like new. Depending on the porosity of the wood, as
many as twelve coats will be applied to your pen.
Cyanoacrylate
(CA)
CA
is a "super glue" that is usually used to adhere the pen parts to the
pen blank, but recently has been used extensively as a finish by many
pen makers. Not the easiest method of finishing a pen, but the result
is a highly protective finish with a glass like appearance. Pen makers
all have there own tried and true method of applying the glue. Here, we
incorporate tung oil in the process to help deepen the color and grain
of the wood blank while the CA glue permantly seals it in. This finish
is highly resistant to scratches and abrasions, but on the other hand
is not reparable if it does happen.
Oil/Wax
If
you prefer the look and feel of real wood in your hand without the film
finish, then this method might be more desirable. The process involves
applying multiple coats of pure tung oil (usually as many as six
coats), and then polished with beeswax. The oil brings out the natural
beauty of the wood and along with the wax helps protect it from
moisture and abrasions. Easily repaired or brought back to life with a
coat of paste wax.
Acrylic and
Gemstone
Finishing
an acrylic or gemstone pen blank is not quite as involved as with wood,
but is just as time consuming. It involves a seventeen step process of
wet sanding starting with a relatively course grit sandpaper and ending
with micro-fine paper.
So, since there are many other
pen makers out there that are professional and incorporate
similar
finishing methods....and price there pens accordingly, be prepared to
pay a reasonable price for quality workmanship.....you
know the old cliche:
"You get what you pay for..."!!!