Woodworking Blog

What a wonderful week it was at Sturt. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the entire week, I had to miss out on the Friday lesson because I was dragged screaming and kicking to a conference at Darling Harbour. Luckily I managed to work quick enough to...

I am back to school this week to learn a bit more about wood carving. I am attending Winter School at the Sturt - School of Wood for a 1 week course on wood carving with Grant Vaughan. It was a very cold start of the week in the Southern Highlands but the

Going through a large rack of Jarrah boards, I found a short length of Jarrah full of leopard spots. I like making boxes out of Jarrah because its beautiful to work and I enjoy the fragrance of Jarrah when its machined. I also like to use the Baron Pen...

Having completed the cot - which may I add, was a cot which got high praises from all the friends and family members, I continued to keep building furniture. One piece at a time, 2 hours a day for weeks if not months at a time. Rather than sitting in...

When I first started making pens I was always frustrated by the fact that we didn't have any pen kits specially designed for the Australian market. Putting Australian timbers on the pen kits was always a selling point for the pens that was sold at the...

What a fantastic pen this kit turned out to be. The pen blank is Burl Tasmanian Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii). I didn't think much of the blank but decided to make it because there was a defect in the blank which meant that I didn't want to sell it...

This year's Timber and working with wood show - Sydney was on over the weekend. I attended the show again as a customer with a pocket full of cash, rather than as a exhibitor. I have been thinking long and hard about whether to exhibit or not. I will...

Were the first in Australia to introduce the 7mm streamline pen kits in Titanium gold. Titanium gold is a durable, long lasting gold coloured plating that will outlast the standard 24ct gold or 10ct gold platings. Widely used in the upmarket brand name...

Just completed a JR Victor Fountain Pen in Tasmanian black wood over the long weekend break. Blackwood is beautiful to turn along the grain, I really like the fiddleback pattern on this timber. Fiddleback black wood is highly prized by the Luthiers...

I often get asked what's the difference between upgrade gold (also known as tree gold or rack gold) plating and normal gold plating. My last trip to Taiwan, I went sight seeing to all the different factories to see how the pen kits that I sell are made...

Burl Brown Mallee Majestic Rollerball. This desert timber is hard and dense, beautiful to turn with a nice pleasant Australian outback smell. After sanding it to 1,200 grit the timber takes on a really nice glow. This timber is magical - the grain and...

A beautiful example of what wonderfully figured timber can do to change the appearance of a box. This Bee's Wing PNG Rosewood box set shimmers and changes tone when you change the angle of light source. We sell these wonderful pen blanks so you too can...