Custom Orders
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Can't find exactly what you're looking for? Why not create your own pen?
Using our online EOI form, you can let us know what sort of pen you have in mind. Perhaps it's a special interest pen, like the Harry Potter or Game of Thrones pen. Take a look at our timber range below (though there are many, many more in stock!), and choose your pen type and timber colour. We'll be in touch from there to confirm your pen and create an order - just for you! Style Guide and price list
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Each of our pieces is unique because timber never turns exactly the same way...for this reason, there will be variation between the timber representations on this page and the finished product. To get an idea of how these timbers have looked in previous pieces, please check out our Portfolio of Sold Items in the online store.
Ancient Red Gum
Our Ancient Red Gum pens are created from wood salvaged from a quarry a number of years ago. This particular timber has been carbon dated and is approximately 5,000 years old.
Natural Red Gum is close grained and red in colour...being buried for many years the soil has impregnated the wood, turning our timber to near black.
Natural Red Gum is close grained and red in colour...being buried for many years the soil has impregnated the wood, turning our timber to near black.
Bower Wattle/Silver Wattle
Wattles are ‘flash plants’…they spring up in disturbed areas or after fire, their nitrogen-fixing roots helping the soil, and their flowers and leafy branches offering food and shelter for animals, insects and birds. After a few years other trees and shrubs arrive and those first, eager-to-please wattles start to wind down. The fast-growing but short-lived species die out as other species take over, and we give them a new lease on life as part of our pen range.
Cedar
Cedar is one of the largest trees of the Australian rainforests, its new leaves are pinkish, making it easier for early timber getters to spot Cedar trees in the rain forest. It is a top quality timber for cabinet and furniture work, interior panelling, turning and carving, boat building, cigar boxes and even early train carriages. We repurpose discarded building offcuts to keep our pens sustainable.
Cypress Pine
The heartwood of this timber species ranges in colour from light yellow through orange to light brown, with occasional dark brown streaks. The grain is generally straight with a very fine and even texture. The presence of numerous tight knots is a distinctive feature that produces a strikingly decorative feature. Cypress is a popular building material, resulting in supplies of discarded timber.
Rosewood
Rosewood comes from Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, South-East Asia and Queensland. The grain is wavy, interlocked or crossed and the texture is moderately fine and uneven. The timber has a characteristic fragrant odour and is used in furniture, high class joinery and musical instruments, allowing for plenty of sustainable repurposing.
Olive
Olive trees are grown extensively in Europe and Eastern Africa. The heartwood is a cream or yellowish brown, with darker brown or black contrasting streaks. The colour tends to deepen with age. Olive is sometimes figured with curly or wavy grain, burl, or wild grain. Olive is sourced as decorative or finishing timber and so off-cuts are occasional.
Fijian Mahogany
Fijian Mahogany is a true mahogany from Fiji and the Pacific Region. Plantation grown, the heartwood ranges from pinkish to pale red, becoming darker on exposure. The sapwood is light pink to yellow brown. The grain is wavy to interlocked and its texture is fairly even. Used as an economically friendly flooring alternative in Australia, moderate amounts of offcuts are available.
Red Mallee
Red Mallee burl is an incredible species with vivid color and figure. This native Australian timber has a distinctive mix of pink, red, and violet heartwood with contrasting white sapwood. The wood is dense and yields a smooth, durable finish with tight figures and colours. Used for a range of wood working purposes, this beautiful timber is too gorgeous to leave on the cutting room floor. All of our Red Mallee items are made from sustainably sourced timber, making sure that this beautiful Australian native has no wastage.
Ringed Gidgee
Ringed Gidgee is a unique and rare Australian hardwood. This difficult to find timber is highly sought after by knife makers. It is known for its depth of colour, beautiful figure and extreme hardness. Gidgee is classified as the third hardest wood in the world, according to The Wood Data Base. The Ringed Gidgee is a member of the Acacia family. It grows in arid regions of Australia resulting in dense hard wood. The gidgee thrives in challenging terrains. It both provide nutrients and protection, thus fostering a mini ecosystem in and around them. The slow-growing gidgee may hang on for hundreds of years and produces one of Australia’s hardest and most durable timbers. It's not often that timber of this quality can be sourced sustainably, and our timber is provided by Gidgee trees that have already died.
Western Australian Sheoak
The colour range in Western Australian Sheoak is golden orange to red-orange to nearly burgundy, with the sapwood being pale yellow. Sheoak displays very tight grain and is not dissimilar to the burl effect in other species. Sheoak grows primarily in a small area on the south coast of Southwest Western Australia. It is mainly used for furniture and small decorative items, due to the cost of the timber. We use furniture off cuts for sustainability.
Figured Eucalypt
The eucalyptus tree is an Australian icon. Most eucalyptus species produce figured wood, however some species regularly produce more distinct figuring. While figure in wood is desired for decorative work it has results in a down grade for structural timber and is often a problem for sawmillers. We give this beautiful timber a new lease on life and reduce timber wastage.
Queensland Maple
The attractive Queensland maple has long been appreciated as a shade tree for Australian parks and gardens and also for its striking pink wood, which adorns many heritage homes and distinctive wood pieces. Historically, it was widely used for aeroplane propellers, coachwork, carriages, and boats. It was also popular for picture frames, and for musical instruments components such as guitar necks and piano parts. We source our maple from furniture making discards.
Silky Oak
In Australia, Silky Oak has been widely grown as an ornamental tree for almost 100 years. The species is very drought tolerant, grows on a wide range of soil types, has a tough bark (making it suitable as a shade tree), produces flowers and gum that support native wildlife and can grow large enough for milling within a reasonable time.
The common name reflects the silky texture of freshly split wood and the prominent ray cells that resemble those found in English Oak. The attractive wood was traditionally used for furniture, particularly table tops, and can be seen in a lot of antique furniture. We source our stock from off cuts used to repair and restore antiques.
The common name reflects the silky texture of freshly split wood and the prominent ray cells that resemble those found in English Oak. The attractive wood was traditionally used for furniture, particularly table tops, and can be seen in a lot of antique furniture. We source our stock from off cuts used to repair and restore antiques.
Tasmanian Myrtle
Myrtle is a large, spreading evergreen tree up to 40 m tall with a stem diameter between 150 and 250 cm in favourable environments, but is often a dense understorey shrub 6–18 m high in wet eucalypt forest and at higher altitudes. It is an excellent cabinetry timber which is hard with strong, tough, close grain. It is a soft pink, often figured and can be polished to a fine sheen. Used for flooring, joinery, cogs of wheels, and furniture. It is harvested from old growth forest but the vast majority of the timber is left on the ground as it grows with the heavily harvested mountain ash.
Straight Grained Gidgee
Gidgee has traditionally been used by Indigenous Australians for boomerangs, sticks for digging roots, spears and nulla nullas. In Australia's recent past gidgee has been used
for making bowls, jewellery boxes, pens, paper knives and souvenir items. As gidgee produces a resonant note it is now used in musical instruments. Both in it's straight grained and figured forms gidgee is known for it's hardness and lustre, making this wood very desirable. In our workshop, we use gidgee offcuts to keep our use sustainable.
for making bowls, jewellery boxes, pens, paper knives and souvenir items. As gidgee produces a resonant note it is now used in musical instruments. Both in it's straight grained and figured forms gidgee is known for it's hardness and lustre, making this wood very desirable. In our workshop, we use gidgee offcuts to keep our use sustainable.
Snakewood
Snakewood is a large bush, or a small tree with numerous spreading branches and is commonly found in the southern Pilbara, Gascoyne and Murchison, in the drainage areas of the Gascoyne and Ashburton catchments. The heartwood is a very dark brown with some darker grain and golden flecks, and sapwood is yellow. Timber is very hard and close-textured. This timber is traditionally used as firewood, however is becoming increasingly popular with craft makers due to its beautiful finish. Our Snakewood is sourced sustainably from trees that have already died.
Tiger Myrtle
The Tasmanian Tiger has come to life through this most incredible timber. Tiger Myrtle is so rarely obtainable that many people do not even know of its existence. Unlike its famous namesake, Tiger Myrtle, exists only in the deepest, almost inaccessible temperate rainforests of Western Tasmania. The wood has been in use since European settlement and has become a sought-after cabinet timber. Colour varies from pink to a deep red brown and fiddle-back grain, stripey colour and burl figure varieties are highly coveted.
Tiger myrtle is the rarest of the myrtle colour decorations, the “tiger stripe” of contrasting dark brown - black is caused by fungal discolouration. Tiger myrtle is most often produced from cull trees with too much centre defect to meet pulpwood specifications. We take this timber that is unsuited to larger building projects and turn it into something truly special.
Tiger myrtle is the rarest of the myrtle colour decorations, the “tiger stripe” of contrasting dark brown - black is caused by fungal discolouration. Tiger myrtle is most often produced from cull trees with too much centre defect to meet pulpwood specifications. We take this timber that is unsuited to larger building projects and turn it into something truly special.
Rock Maple
Rock Maple is a medium to large hardwood from Nth America. This tree produces maple syrup. Its heartwood is a pale yellow brown with sapwood that can be hard to distinguish. The grain is very fine and sometimes exhibits birds-eye figure and fiddle back. Rock maple is one of our lesser used timbers as it is difficult to source sustainably, however we do purchase our supplies from a company that segments timber from trees that have already died.
Camphor Laurel
Camphor laurel yields a beautiful, rich honey-coloured timber with a clean, fresh camphor smell that is perfect for furniture, carving, and cabinetry. The tree is native to Taiwan, southern Japan, southeast China and Indochina, where it has great cultural significance as a source of scent, oil and crystallised blocks for use in religious ceremonies and for medicinal purposes. It is used as a valuable timber for furniture and carving icons.
In Australia, the camphor laurel has a less respectable reputation. The 20 – 30 metre tall evergreen tree was introduced in the 1820s and quickly displaced and inhibited native vegetation. It was widely used for windbreaks and as a measure against soil erosion and as a result has proliferated on disused pasture along the coastal hinterland of NSW and parts of Queensland. It is now categorised as a weed and can easily be identified by its glossy, waxy leaves that smell strongly of camphor when crushed.
Nevertheless, camphor laurel timber is excellent for creating fine furniture. Its heartwood varies widely in colour from pale to mid brown and is often streaked with darker brown or red. The sapwood is very wide and pale brown. The timber’s grain is usually interlocked with a moderately fine and even texture. The camphor laurel's extraordinary strong dark grain against a yellow base creates distinctive furniture. Our pens are created from Camphor Laurel off cuts of parts used to restore antique and high end furniture pieces.
In Australia, the camphor laurel has a less respectable reputation. The 20 – 30 metre tall evergreen tree was introduced in the 1820s and quickly displaced and inhibited native vegetation. It was widely used for windbreaks and as a measure against soil erosion and as a result has proliferated on disused pasture along the coastal hinterland of NSW and parts of Queensland. It is now categorised as a weed and can easily be identified by its glossy, waxy leaves that smell strongly of camphor when crushed.
Nevertheless, camphor laurel timber is excellent for creating fine furniture. Its heartwood varies widely in colour from pale to mid brown and is often streaked with darker brown or red. The sapwood is very wide and pale brown. The timber’s grain is usually interlocked with a moderately fine and even texture. The camphor laurel's extraordinary strong dark grain against a yellow base creates distinctive furniture. Our pens are created from Camphor Laurel off cuts of parts used to restore antique and high end furniture pieces.