Home Made Acrylic Pen

Overview: I made this pen for my brother-in-law and thought you might like to see it. For more information and supplies you can click here for a company called "Craft Supplies USA" for many wood tools and products. Making a high quality pen is inexpensive if you have access to a lathe and only takes 30-45 minutes. The blocks of material are as low as $2.00 and the hardware (the pocket clip and the actual pen with ink cartridge) can be as low as $4.00.

This picture shows the block from which you make a pen. These are some acrylic blocks. The pen I made came from a block closely resembling the top block.

These are cherry wood blanks.

Here is my finished product for my brother-in-law. I really like the acrylic blocks because they make great designs on the pen. I am sorry there are no step-by-step pictures here. I didn't have my camera while I was making it and was under a timed deadline to get out of the shop.

Living Room Upgrade - Wainscot and Chair Rail

Overview: This was a great project at my friend Greg's home. He wanted to add some character to his living room. Putting up Wainscot and Chair Rail was an easy and fairly inexpensive way to do this since we did all of the labor ourselves. So Greg, Cody, I did this all in one evening. He and his wife painted the room red beforehand and took off the old baseboards. They bought a kit at Home Depot which includes baseboards, wainscoting, and the top/chair rail which assembles easily. They said they spent a little over $200 for this whole room. Check out the before and after pictures below:

Before:

After:

The next step is to caulk any gaps, paint all of the wainscot, and do minor touch up painting on the red walls. This took us about 6 hours to complete and dramatically changed this room giving it a charming atmosphere. Please feel free to ask any questions about the installation. To see a 4 minute video of the product from Home Depot, click here. Enjoy!

The next phase is to put crown molding along the ceiling.