As the silly season is upon us, it's time for the gift giving tradition. Some people are harder to buy for than others, and I absolutely refuse to give gift cards, as that seems to me just a cop-out. So, I've been making pens and pencils. Wood body, and a small, fairly inexpensive kit (I use Woodcraft, only because it's close), and there are many different styles and finishes. You can buy the kits online quite cheaply (less than $2 each in larger quantities. And, hey, who can't use a nice pen?
I think I showded the first one in someone elses's thread a while back. Made 2 pencils for my boss and coworker, and the maple body is scraps from the custom made engineering table we had built. So, they match. Both receipients were quite pleased, and have been using them daily for the past few days.
Then the maintenance guy - who actually made the table - and was the one to give me the scrap pieces jokingly asked for his pen. Now, Bill and I are good friends, and we tease each other constantly. So, in the spirit of good natured ribbing, I decided to make him his own "special pen". It's made of the same maple, but instead of a pen or pencil kit, I snagged one of my son's crayons. It has an o-ring for the center ferrule, and the wing nut on the end serves to advance the crayon as it wears down. I present the maintenance man marker:
I'll present it to him in front of the guys tomorrow at break. I'm sure we'll all get a good chuckle out of Bill finally having a writing instrument to match his lofty writing skills.
Edit: I know spele two gud.
