Let's get into today's project!  I'll walk you through the process of turning a carbon fiber Jr. Gentleman's rollerball pen.

There are so many cool pen blanks available for purchase. Any pen maker's website sells them. From basic wood blanks, to acrylic blanks, to more complicated carbon fiber blanks and circuit board blanks. From only a few cents, to over $20 per blank. Even my customers would agree, the pen blank is more important than the pen kit. 

After meeting in college in 1995 Lance and I decided to combine our woodworking equipment into a single location in his garage and it was dubbed The Old Hippy Workshop. I was learning web design for another company I owned and suggested a web page be created for our woodworking interests and thus was born what would soon become This Old Workshop, a name we felt had a broader appeal.

From that humble beginning nearly 20 years ago Lance and I have shared a woodshop and a passion for becoming an online resource to help connect woodworkers worldwide. Now recognized as one of the premiere tool testing sites, tool companies reach out to us to have their equipment tested and reviewed by our staff of craftsman and writers. Over the years we have added Bloggers, more reviewers, a full time editor and a host of people across the net who contribute to This Old Workshop in one way or another.

Now we have reached another stage in our development, Lance came up with the idea that we should create and produce a podcast showcasing the two founders of This Old Workshop covering a variety of woodworking subjects. I must admit I am usually a shy and reserved person and not attracted to the spotlight in any fashion but the idea seemed like it could add value to our site and possibly reach a wider audience so I decided to give it a go.

Since our beginning in Lance’s garage in central California I have moved back home to Oregon and now he and I work in different shops but keep in constant contact. So these podcasts are recorded remotely and the audio is mixed in my studio to produce the final recordings. I will admit I am new to this process so I hope you forgive our production quality in the beginning and join us while we grow better at this process. We both feel the content is the most Important and we do our best to serve the information before anything else. We are producing this podcast for YOU not for us so our focus is always on the subjects we love dearly.

This project will die without listeners so subscribe, join the forums, share the links and tell your friends. If you have questions, comments or ideas please use the forums to communicate with us and we will do our best to respond to them.

Now a bit of business,

Our podcast has commercials and sponsors. Don’t be disheartened because we scrutinize all of our advertisers and we simply will not present products or services we do not use, respect or support. Our commercials and sponsor comments are produced by This Old Workshop and contain our opinions and not simply us reading the words given to us. If we say we use something in our shop, we use it. If we say we love something, we love it. We NEVER take our representation of woodworking equipment lightly. To us here at This Old Workshop integrity and honesty is our top priority. Yes, commercials are a necessity, we have to pay the bills but we refuse to present substandard products to our global woodshop family.

We both hope you enjoy these podcasts.

Keep making sawdust

For Lance Granum this has been Daniel Carter

 founders of This Old Workshop