Corn Cob Pens

Four Corn Cob Pens

Yes, corn cob pens! I’ve made a dozen or so of these over the years, they are very popular around here. We recently brought a bunch of pens in to Legacy Outfitters, a store in Logansport that sells items made by local artists and craftsmen, and several of them sold. One of these was a corn cob pen. The customer who bought it asked if I could make three more. So here they are being made.

Corn Cob Pen Blanks

It all starts with a corn cob. Dry. Don’t go pick an ear out of your garden and chuck it up. It needs to be dry. I bought a bag of ears of corn for feeding squirrels. The were nice and dry, and there were a few different colors. First cut them to length, drill them out, and glue the tubes in.

Gluing In Tubes

CA works well with corn cobs.

Cutting More Blanks

I had five sets of tubes, so we cut up five pairs of blanks.

More Blanks Ready to Glue

Then drilled the rest and glued them up.

Glued Up Blanks

Here are the five pairs of blanks. I squared the blanks up with a squaring jig for my disk sander. This works much better than the barrel trimmers. It doesn’t catch or tear out.

Corn Cob Blank Mounted

I mounted the blank on the mandrel and started turning it down. Corn cob is very soft, so I use a sharp spindle gouge and make light cuts.

Both Parts Turned

Once it’s turned down almost to the bushings, I applied a good coat of thin CA, followed by a coat of medium. This hardens the cob, and the medium fills in the pits and gaps. It may take a couple of coats. I apply accelerator after each coat.

Sanded Corn Cob Blank

Once this is done, I sand it with 13 different grits, from 150 all the way to 12,000. I sand all the way before starting the CA finish. I apply a thin coat with a paper towel, apply accelerator, and then give it a light sanding with 600 grit. I apply 4 or 5 coats like this. Then I repeat the 9 Micro Mesh sanding grits.