Excellent Turnout: The Art of Pen-Making

MOST OF US city dwellers (and many suburbanites, too) don't have a lathe sitting around in the spare bedroom. So, Fairfax County Public Schools Adult and Community Education's (ACE) Pen Workshop is a very unconventional offering and an opportunity to learn something of a lost art. The three-hour class gives students a chance to start with a block of wood and leave with a writing instrument.

» THE BASICS
Drew Mitchum teaches the pen-making class almost every semester through FCPS ACE. Students are involved in every aspect of the process, from selecting the wood to inserting the pen blank and finally shaping the pen on a lathe spinning at "ludicrous speed," Mitchum jokes. It's like shop class, except way better. Participants' skill levels vary from never-touched-a-saw-in-my-life to members of local woodworking clubs (the latter offering helpful advice if the teacher is otherwise occupied).

» WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
With a process that involves removing bits of wood from a bigger bit of wood, attention to detail matters. There's no undoing if you cut too far with the lathe. That's what Mitchum enjoys: "When I'm done, I'm done," he says. "I don't turn off the lathe to see what it looks like." Scary words, but after 15 minutes of nonstop whirring noises, everyone in the class has shaped and sanded a pen, ready to polish and burnish. Here's where students' choice of wood really begins to make a difference: what looked like mostly-identical blocks of wood begin to take on rich tones of all different colors.

» WHAT'S THE DEAL?
A one-night class costs $30 for instruction and $30 for materials. Nonresidents of Fairfax County can register, too, but, city dwellers, you'll have to break out the Zipcar because the location isn't exactly Metro-friendly. The next class is Nov. 19; more should be offered in the spring. Register at FCPS.edu/aceclasses.

Written and photos by Rachel Kaufman for Express