Some people collect things. Others like to travel. Some people play games. Others just like reading or listening to music . . . but . . .

Senior Klayton Kaunert has a unique hobby that many students probably wouldn’t think of—Klayton likes to make pens. And not just any pens: pens with wooden barrels turned on a lathe.

Klayton grew up around woodworking. He started by working with his dad in the garage helping with woodworking and other projects.

“I actually didn’t always like working in the garage; it was more of something I had to do for my dad. It took me taking Mr. Brown’s Manufacturing Class to really get into woodworking,” Klayton admitted.

In Mr. Brown’s class, pen making wasn’t always an option. It wasn’t part of the curriculum for Klayton’s class, but lathes were available in Mr. Brown’s room.

A lathe is a machine that rapidly spins a piece of wood while the woodworker uses sharp tools that resemble chisels to carve or “turn” the wood into its final shape and pattern.

The classroom lathes were usually used to turn bowls, but when Klayton got curious about what all a lathe could do, he learned about pen turning.

“When I first started turning pens, I decided I wanted to turn pens as Christmas presents for my family. Looking back on those pens now, they aren’t anywhere as good as what I make now, but doing that started my passion for pen making,” explained Klayton.

Klayton realized he didn’t want to stop making pens when the school year ended, so he was able to buy himself his own lathe this past summer.

The first type of pen that Klayton was able to make are called slim line twist pens. They are a thin barrel that is glued to a piece of wood and cut down to size to fit with the rest of the pen.

Klayton’s affinity for pen turning has even attracted customers.

Klayton will sell slim lines for around $10 to $15 depending on wood species used. He’s turned pen bodies from a wide variety of woods and even colored epoxies.

Today Klayton can make a wide variety of pens. Some of his favorites are mini bolt action pens which are activated like a bolt on a rifle, traditional click pens which he makes a bit more modern, and tack pens which also include a bolt action but spear a lot slimmer.

Some pens that are made upon request include lever action rifle pens, which usually go for $45 to $50 due to the complexity of the pen and the price of the kit.

Klayton gets his kits and pen blanks at Rocklers (a woodworking store) in Robinson—the higher the price of the kit, the higher of price his finished pen might be.

All the pens Klayton has mentioned aren’t his turning limit, but he expressed those types to be the most fun for him to make and they look the best in his opinion.

If you’re interested in buying a pen, you would have to contact Klayton himself.

“Currently I don’t have an Etsy [account for selling online]. The only thing stopping me from making one is just I don’t know how to set it up, so I should probably figure that out,” laughed Klayton.

When he first started making pens, most of them were made out of cherry wood since that was most readily available.

But after many trips to Rocklers and more time invested into his hobby, Klayton has explored other types of wood such as Eastern Red Cedar, Ebony, Redwood, and Honey Locust which glows in the dark under black light.

He says it’s hard to pick a favorite out of all the woods he works with since he likes all the woods in their own ways.

“If I really had to pick I’d pick Granadillo, also known as Mexican Rosewood, because the color really turns up very pretty. It’s actually [the wood] they make a lot of guitar fingerboards out of so that’s pretty cool too,” said Klayton.

Pens don’t limit Klayton, he has also worked on making bowls, chess pieces, a podium, and he says he has plans to expand what he can make, but pens are still his favorite.

“It’s nice to find out what wood can look like. You look at a log and don’t know what’s in there until you cut into it . . . [Woodworking] is kind of therapeutic when you get the right results. It’s a fun hobby not a lot of people have, and I enjoy doing it because people think it’s really cool, but mainly because I like making stuff. Sometimes I like the process more than the results,” concluded Klayton.