Thuya Burl Rollerball Pen

Handmade with precision and care in Reading, MA. The perfect gift for one who appreciates natural beauty, craftsmanship, quality, and language.

Check out a video of how I make the Thuya Burl Rollerball pen here!

Also called citron or thyine, thuya burls grow underground in the Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa - and nowhere else. It has been highly prized for millennia. It is said that the wife of Cicero owned a thuya desk worth the equivalent of $50,000 in todays dollars. It is one of the very few wood species to earn mention in the Bible (Revelation 18:12). The visually striking nature, aromatic fragrance, and extreme scarcity make it highly prized to this day.

I save my most promising pen blanks for the rollerball format. The large uninterrupted barrel allows each piece of wood to tell its story in full. The writing experience is superior to ballpoint pens, but that is almost besides the point. To me, this particular design feels like watching a movie in IMAX versus iPhone.

Refill type: Rollerball

Standard ink type: black, fine