One Sunday morning, a friend showed me a pen that he had made. My initial response was like that of many people. I thought (and probably said) "That's Cool!" Then for Christmas, my friend gave a pen to everyone in our Sunday School class. As I looked at my new pen, I found myself wondering how it was made. Time went by, and eventually I asked my friend to show me how to make a pen. A hobby bordering on obsession was born. Soon a Rikon lathe was in my shop and I had some chisels and started turning. What fun. I had finally found a hobby that I could pursue which would give me a productive way to wind down from my day job AND allow me to create something of use at the same time.
Flint Rock Penworks is the unexpected child of this hobby. As I made more pens and got better at it, I found that I had more pens than I knew what to do with. I also found that as my store of pens grew, my store of extra cash got smaller. I had to find a way to support my pen turning habit, er... hobby.
I've been called an artist. While I don't think that what I do is that artistic, I will gladly take on the moniker of craftsman, should any offer it. Is what I make art? I don't know, My hope is that the tools that I make (for that's what a pen is, after all... a tool for putting words to paper) are both pleasing and useful. I believe that for my work to be a success, both of those things must be present: The pen must be pleasing to the eye and hand, and it must be useful. Without those two conditions being met, the pen would be little more than a sharp stick.
My hope is that you will find on my website a pen that you can use and enjoy for years to come.
Thanks for dropping by.