Ancient Kauri wood pens

[Michael Tucker]

On a thread on International Association of Penturners, I saw a reference to ancient Kauri wood so I did some Googling and became really entranced with wood from a 1000 year old tree that has been buried for 50,000 years in a peat bog in northern New Zealand (the 3rd picture is of one of these trees being removed from the bog). So I ordered a board from <http://www.ancientwood.com>, a 6"x1.75"x20" one, that I could cut down for pen blanks or maybe a bottle stopper or two. The board arrived Friday so I made these two rollerball pens (they are sitting on the board from which they came). I figured that a pen made from 50,000 year old wood shouldn't be concerned with how long the hardware plating would last so I decided to use a Hancock kit from Woodcraft (via Laserlinez) that is solid stainless steel (and made in the USA). I'm really happy with how they turned out. The stainless hardware is very nice and the chatoyance of the wood is really cool (as can be seen by the color variation due to the angle that the light from the flash hits the wood). It's not as much grain character as the wood that I usually use but it certainly makes up for it in its age and history. It's almost an honor to hold and work with wood that has been around this long and has such an amazing story and I kinda' felt guilty turning a lot of the blank into chips and sawdust.


I hope you like them,
Mike

[Jim Burr]

Those do start some conversations Mike! As an idea, try a segment using some different woods...Kauri has a great story, but you're right...it's a little dull sometimes.

[David C. Roseman]

Very nice, Mike.

David

[Steve Peterson]

Woodcraft has a sale going on right now. There must be a lot of that wood left underground if it is selling for about $30 per BF. Single pen blanks are $1.49.

Steve

[Michael Tucker]

Woodcraft has a sale going on right now. There must be a lot of that wood left underground if it is selling for about $30 per BF. Single pen blanks are $1.49.

From reading on various web pages, apparently there is essentially a bog age gradient from 50,000 years old to 3000 years old as you go from north to south in New Zealand. The description for kauri at Woodcraft describes the oldest of the bogs but stops short of describing the age of the kauri wood that they are selling. This is not meant as a criticism but instead an observation that may reflect on their price. The wood from Ancient Wood comes with a certificate testifying that radio carbon dating shows that its wood is indeed 50,000 years old.

Mike

[Leo Van Der Loo]

There is a lot of that wood and not all big logs, my cousin was pulling the wood out on one part of his farm, and after drying would use it for firewood.

I have a couple of pieces that my sister brought along last time she was up there, it has a stamp on it, telling it is between 30.000 and 50.000 years old.

I find it a rather soft and bland wood, and would say it is much like the redwood in that regard

[Jamie Donaldson]

I have turner several pieces of this ancient Kauri and it works and looks very much like Cypress. Its a real pain to eliminate all sanding scratches, but has a nice amber chatoyancy unlike Cypress.