Legacy Pens – Hand-crafted pens made from antique and historic wood dating back to the 1700s, connecting our past and our future
Contact me at hooleysteve@hotmail.com for details.
1776 Liberty Oak Pen
$60.00
The original section of the Quincy, Ohio schoolhouse was built in 1876. When the building was demolished in 2002, it had been the oldest schoolhouse in use in Ohio. Large white oak beams in the floor contained over 100 growth rings, meaning the trees were growing in 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of liberty in the U.S.
The pens are white oak, finished with a “whiskey barrel” finish. Tannic acid and iron react in the wood to create a black surface, which is then sanded away in the middle of the barrel to reveal the grain. The whiskey barrel finish is covered with a super glue finish or buffed antique oil for protection.
1870 Clocktower Pine Pen
$60.00
In June of 2012, the Logan County, Ohio courthouse clocktower was damaged by a windstorm. Over the next three years the entire courthouse was renovated, and a new clocktower was installed on 11/10/15.
The structural frame of the original clock tower was made of white pine beams and was constructed in 1870. The new clocktower was made of stronger material.
The pen is made with pine from the original timbers, finished with milk paint and antique oil finish, then hand rubbed to a satin sheen. The pine grain is boring, but the black milk paint is “distressed” enough to give a peek at the antique pine.
1815 Left-behind Walnut Pen
$60.00
In the early 1950s, a Logan County, Ohio, farmer harvested a grove of large walnut trees for veneer. The logs were 11’-12’ long and 2′-3′ in diameter, but the veneer mill could only handle logs up to 8’. The small ends of the logs were cut and stored in an old wood shed. The farmer had the short logs cut up into 1” thick boards, but they sat unsold for thirty years.
In the early 1980s, the farmer learned of my interest in woodworking and invited me to take a look at his treasure trove of walnut. I didn’t have the space or the money, but I couldn’t resist seeing the wide boards he described. The shed looked like it was ready to fall down, but inside stacks of 24-36”-wide lumber, 3-4 feet long filled the space. I stood in awe and amazement. I had never seen such wide walnut boards. I could afford to buy only a couple of the stacks. I made a couple shelves and cabinets, then the remainder of the lumber was set in a corner to gather dust for another 40 years.
When I began working on the legacy pen series, I remembered the walnut hidden in the corner. The math for the average age of walnut trees with this width of boards worked out to 135 years, thus dating the trees at around 1815. It would have been older if I had been able to measure the butt end of the logs. The lumber had been left behind twice, once by the veneer buyer, and a second time by me. Thus, the name “Left behind,” and the two rings burned into the barrel.
The pen is sealed with antique oil , then finished with a high-gloss super glue finish.
1750 Golden Maple Pen
$60.00
Made from the same 1750 Hard Maple as the Pioneer Maple Pen (see below), the wood comes from one of the largest trees in my woodlot. With a trunk of 49 inches in diameter, the tree dates back to before 1750. A large branch was blown from the tree in 2022, and was cut and dried for pen blanks.
The finish is an acrylic varnish mixed with metallic gold pigment. This allows the grain to be seen, but gives a faint golden glitter when held in the light. Three coats of the gold and acrylic are followed by one coat of the acrylic without gold. Then four coats of CA glue (super glue) are applied and polished to give the wet gloss appearance.
The pen is a Slimline kit, using Cross-style refills, allowing a slender look and feel for those who prefer a more delicate pen. Refills can be purchased as generic “Cross- style” refills, 4 ½ inches long. The pen is pulled apart at the middle, and the refill is unscrewed and replaced.
1776 Patriot Oak Pen
$100.00
Made from the same 1776 White Oak as the Liberty Oak Pen (see above), this pen is grain-filled using a white wash technique with acrylic white. The grain is sealed with clear acrylic, then covered with six coats of CA glue. The finish is then polished to a wet gloss.
The pen is made in a Patriot fountain pen kit.
The 1794 Walnut Queen Pen
$60.00
A large black walnut tree was harvested from our woodlot in March 2024. Our logger, Lavoy, liked the tree so well he had us take a picture of him standing in front of the tree.
The base of the tree was 46”, meaning the tree was about 230 years old and dated to 1794.
I decided to call the tree “The Walnut King.” I cut a section from just above where the harvested log was taken and cut it up for pen blanks. After air drying and microwave drying I began to make pens for Lavoy and his friends.
Lavoy’s wife, Linda, kept threatening to steal Lavoy’s pen, so I decided it was time to make a “Walnut Queen Pen.”
The King pen had a band of Inca gold. For the Queen pen, I substituted rose gold.
The finish is the rose gold, sealed with clear acrylic, then covered with four coats of CA glue, polished to a wet gloss. The pen kit is a Cortona kit.
1750 Pioneer Maple Pen
$100.00
The 1750 Pioneer Maple Pen is made from the oldest and largest hard maple in my woodlot. With a trunk of 49 inches diameter, the estimated age would be about 270 years and dates it back to about 1750, an era when the earliest settlers were starting to enter the Ohio territory, and the year when my ancestors (both mother’s and father’s) came to America.
A large branch fell during a windstorm in 2022. I cut some of the wood into thin sections and began drying them. The wood has spalting (a faint gray shade) in areas from early fungal infection that makes the wood more valuable. After about a year of drying, the wood was dry enough to use.
The blank is turned and sanded to 800 grit, coated with six layers of CA glue, then sanded again to 800 grit, followed by polishing to a wet gloss.
The pen is assembled in an Elegant Beauty capped pen, and is available in either a fountain pen or a rollerball pen.
1850 Rushsylvania Curly Maple Pen
$60.00
In the late 1980s, an elderly couple became patients and good friends. When the husband passed in 1990, the wife told me they had a stack of curly maple boards in their hay mow. They had used the lumber to remodel a bathroom around 1950, and stored the left-over wood in their barn. The wife knew of my interest in woodworking, told me of the beautiful figured wood, and said she wanted to give it to me.
The lumber came from a large maple tree on their property, and based on the size would have been much older than 100 years, thus dating back to before 1850.
I used the wood to build a desk top for my wife, then stacked what was left in my board pile. When I began making pens, I found the boards and rediscovered the beautiful curly grain pattern.
The pen blank is turned and sanded to 800 grit. The wood is sealed with urethane oil to make the figure “pop.” After drying, the pen is sanded again to 800 grit. Eight coats of CA glue are applied, then polished to a wet gloss.
The kit is assembled in a Polaris kit.
The 1819 Ivanhoe Chivalry Pen
$60.00
Chivalry is defined as “the combination of qualities expected of a knight, including courage, generosity, and courtesy.” (Random House Webster’s College Dictionary)
This pen design was inspired by Ann Gilmer. I was working on ways to give walnut an instant patina (the dark color walnut develops as it ages without sunlight bleaching it) when Ann contacted me about ideas for pens to give her male relatives. I had discovered that men prefer dark walnut, whereas women like lighter colored wood. I had some walnut that dated back to 1815, so I thought I would make the theme of the pen men’s libraries/studies/offices/dens that were built with dark walnut. I began looking for authors who were favorites in the early 1800s. Sir Walter Scott’s name came up near the top of the list, and his book, Ivanhoe, published in 1819,was noted to be a favorite for many years during that period.
As I read more, I learned that Ivanhoe was a fictional knight who returned to Europe after the crusades. The story is filled with adventure and romance, chivalry, and taking on a corrupt political system. Hmm, that sounded like something we needed today. Ivanhoe was depicted as using a white shield with an orange lion painted on it for his jousting matches. So now I had the key elements I needed for the pen design: dark walnut for Sir Walter Scott’s library, and white/orange bands for Ivanhoe’s armor. (A painted orange lion is beyond my skills.)
I made the tip of the pen thicker and shaped it like the tip of a jousting lance. I gave it some scratches and “wear” for all the years of battle and jousting matches. I changed the orange to copper for more glitter and to give it a metallic appearance. I originally planned to call the pen “Ivanhoe’s Lance,” but when I looked at the definition of chivalry, I changed the name to “The Ivanhoe Chivalry Pen.” So, we have a man’s pen for taking on romance, evil, and corruption – Ivanhoe’s Chivalry.
The 1818 Red Oak – Red White and Blue – Pen
$60.00
Red Oak is beautiful wood. Many of the “solid wood” floors are made of Red Oak. Solid Oak cabinetry and furniture was usually Red Oak. Its grain pattern is very appealing, and the wood can be stained in many ways, or not stained at all. The wood is strong and hard. It stands up to abuse.
Red Oak trees are native to most of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. They are known for growing straight and tall. The fresh-cut wood has a salmon pink appearance.
The grain is an open grain, meaning the cut and sanded surface has a lot of tiny grooves. I had used that with White Oak and the Liberty Oak pen (with black grain fill). I decided to try a red grain fill since it was Red Oak. The look is a slight red stain, with bright, tiny red grain grooves.
The wood was harvested in 1980 from logs 36 inches or larger, making the tree 162 years old or older, and growing in 1818. Interestingly, that is the year the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that the U.S. flag would add a star for each new state, and the red and white stripes would return to 13, and remain at thirteen to honor the original colonies. I added red, white, and blue bands at the top for the flag.
The 1773 Tea Party Pine Pen
$60.00
The Logan County, Ohio, courthouse, built in 1870, was damaged by a windstorm in June of 2012. The entire clocktower was removed and rebuilt. The timbers were White Pine. I was able to collect some of the wood.
In reviewing the history of white pine, I learned that the timber was most likely harvested in northeast Ohio. Trees could easily reach 200 years of age, with 40-inch diameters, and 150 feet of height. Before the Revolutionary War, the best white pine in New England was marked by the British and used as masts for the Royal Navy.
The beams from the courthouse were harvested and placed in the clock tower in 1870 and were over 100 years old, possibly 200 years. That means they were growing in 1773, the year of the Boston Tea Party. So, the 1773 Tea Party Pens were designed to commemorate the Boston Tea Party and the beginning of the quest for freedom.
The pens are made from the Logan County courthouse timbers. They are covered with an acrylic white wash, sealed with clear acrylic, then sanded back to a weathered look. The lower barrel is cut, burned, and painted with bands of red, white, and blue. The pen is coated with an additional two coats of acrylic, sanded to 800 grit, then coated with four coats of CA glue, which is polished to a wet gloss. The pen is assembled in an antique silver kit. The pen takes six days to make.
The pen kit is currently available in silver only.
The Deep Fake Sapphire Pen
$60.00
Win a chance for a free Deep Fake Sapphire Pen by signing up for Debbie Burke’s newsletter at https://www.debbieburkewriter.com/ then entering announced pen drawings
Inspired by Debbie Burke’s book, Deep Fake Double Down, in which a gold mine with secret Yogo sapphires leads to motive and murder, the Deep Fake Sapphire Pen is designed to look like a pen made from a large Yogo sapphire. In reality it is crafted from 1850 Antebellum Black Cherry wood, dating back to pre-Civil War days. The blank is turned to shape, then covered with multiple coats of sapphire-blue acrylic, followed by a couple coats of clear acrylic for a sealer, then finally 4 – 8 coats of CA glue. The pen is polished to a wet gloss and assembled in a Polaris pen kit.
The Flathead Cherry Pen
$60.00
Win a chance for a free Flathead Cherry Pen by signing up for Debbie Burke’s newsletter at https://www.debbieburkewriter.com/ then entering announced pen drawings.
Inspired by Debbie Burke’s book, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, in which the setting includes a Lapins Sweet Cherry orchard where multiple plot lines intersect, the Flathead Cherry Pen is designed to remind us of the color of a ripening Lapins Sweet Cherry. The pen is made with 1850 Antebellum Black Cherry wood, dating back to pre-Civil War days. The blank is turned to shape, then covered with multiple coats of Lapins-Sweet-Cherry-colored acrylic, followed by a couple coats of clear acrylic for a sealer, then finally 4 – 8 coats of CA glue. The pen is polished to a wet gloss and assembled in a Protura pen kit.
The Propeller Pen
$80.00
Win a chance for a free Propeller Pen by signing up for Kay DiBianca’s newsletter at https://kaydibianca.com/ then entering announced pen drawings.
The Propeller Pen was designed in honor of Kay DiBianca’s new series, Lady Pilot in Command, and the first book in the series, Lacey’s Star. Kay found a pen kit (the metal parts) that included components representing parts of a propeller airplane.
The wood used to make the pen was chosen to honor Wilbur and Orville Wright and the first airplane flight in 1903. Wilbur and Orville built their first plane in a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. One of the woods used in its construction was Ash. The early airplane propellers were made from Walnut or Mahogany.
The pen is handcrafted from western Ohio Ash, then stained with a custom two-step stain to create the dark patina of aged mahogany. After sealing and grain filling with clear acrylic, the finish is covered with several coats of CA glue and polished to a high gloss.
The 1794 Walnut King Pen
$60.00
A large black walnut tree was harvested from our woodlot in March 2024. Our logger, Lavoy, liked the tree so well he had us take a picture of him standing in front of the tree.
The base of the tree was 46”, meaning the tree was about 230 years old and dated to 1794.
I decided to call the tree “The Walnut King” and make some pens from the wood. I cut a section from just above where the harvested log ended and cut it up for pen blanks. After air drying and microwave drying, the wood was ready for pen making by late 2024.
After cutting the blank to size, it was drilled and a brass tube was glued in the middle. The blank was turned to shape and the ends squared. The walnut was stained with a dark stain to give the wood the deep brown patina of aged walnut and to accentuate the grain. The grain was filled and wood sealed with clear acrylic. After drying and sanding, the tip was cut and burned, and a band of Inca gold was applied. The pen was then covered with four coats of CA glue, and polished to a wet gloss. The pen is assembled in a Cortona kit.
The Baseball Ash Pen
$60.00
North American Ash trees are disappearing. The culprit: the Emerald Ash Borer, EAB. The Emerald Ash Borer is a beetle that was first detected in Michigan and Ontario in 2002. As of 2018, it had spread to every eastern state except Mississippi and Florida. It is considered the most destructive forest pest ever seen in North America, and may well destroy every ash tree in North America.
Ash wood is a beautiful wheat-colored brown with open grain. It has been used to make a multitude of tools, furniture, and athletic equipment, including baseball bats. But that may be coming to an end. Ash lumber is still available, but may not be in the future.
Pens made from ash are not antique, but may be considered historic in the future, when it is no longer available.
The pen is grain-filled with bright red acrylic to simulate a baseball’s stitching. It is covered with clear acrylic, then finished with several coats of CA glue, and finally polished to a wet gloss.
Grab a future legacy, and hang on to a link from the past.