DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aaron Lau watches his mother, Carol, sand one of the pens he just turned on the lathe in his home workshop. Since her retirement, Carol has helped her son with his handmade wooden pens. They wear masks as protection from wood particles released during sanding.

Penmanship

A wood craftsman sees pens
as more than mere tools

While many woodworkers enjoy showing their technical expertise in the form of fine bowls, boxes and furniture, you might not notice Aaron Lau's handiwork at a glance. You could even hold it in your hands without recognizing it as a work of art.

"I wanted to make a product that was used regularly and not just for show. -- Aaron Lau

But Lau might change your thinking about the ordinary pen, which he crafts by hand out of exotic woods and embellishes with such materials as ebony, turquoise, stones, mother of pearl, denim, crushed sunflower seeds, bowling ball material and more.

Lau occasionally turns his attention to wooden boxes, but for him the pen should be exalted as an instrument of communication, just as important as today's computers. Without the pen, he said, society might not have reached the Information Age. "This is why the pen still remains timeless in this ever-changing world," he said.

Lau met his muse as a child visiting his grandfather's Nuuanu workshop. "He used to let me tinker with his hammer and nails and let me watch him build simple shelves and fix things around the house," he said.

"I still have his old tools, and I still have the stepladder for the potty that he made for me as a child."

Grandpa also introduced Lau to model building, reinforcing his love for seeing how objects are created and how their pieces fit together.

"My fascination with pens started when my grandma and grandpa gave me a gold Cross pen with my name engraved. It was for my graduation from high school."

While many newly minted graduates end up losing the pens or using them just until the ink runs out, Lau continued to use the gift after finding work as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch.

He once had a whole shoe box full of pens.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aaron Lau turns a pen on his lathe.

These days, he uses his grandfather's old workshop to create his masterpieces, but only after digging "a few feet of ground under the house so I wouldn't bang my head. My grandpa was a lot shorter."

His simpler pens take about 1 1/2 to two hours to complete, providing "instant gratification," he said. "I wanted to make a product that was used regularly and not just for show."

They're also durable. "They can't really dent," he said, adding each pen is unique because wood grain differs from one to the next.

His favorite is always the last one he made. "I'm proud of all of it, like they are my children. It's hard to part with some."

Lau uses exotic woods from the Big Island and around the world. His creations might be fat, thin and in varied colors to suit individual needs and preferences. An assortment of writing tips like roller ball, ballpoint and fountain tips are also available, with finished pens ranging in price from $60 to $250.

Each has a refillable ink cartridge that can be replaced with cartridges from Parker, Cross, Schmidt, Mont Blanc and other manufacturers.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Aaron Lau keeps a store of koa wood to make his pens. He uses many types of wood, as well as inlays of ebony, turquoise, mother of pearl, denim, even crushed sunflower seeds.

During the Christmas season, Lau sold nearly 300 pens, shipping them off to clients in Japan, Canada, Korea and the East Coast. Locally, his pens are available at Neiman Marcus, Na Mea Hawai'i, Island Treasures, and Leather and Soul. He is working on pens for an exhibition in Yokohama, Japan, this month.

His mother, Carol, a former teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, has been helping him regularly since she retired, and understands her son's passion for the craft.

"There is so much satisfaction when you sand the pens from a rough stage to reveal the beauty of the wood," she said, adding that gluing and finishing touches are most time-consuming.

Unbelievably, one of her favorite activities is cleaning up the workshop. "She gets her thrills," laughed Aaron.

"Time flies by," said Carol. "Sometimes we are there for more than six hours at a time. It's just so relaxing."

There are other rewards as well. Grandma enjoys watching the pair create pens and often treats them to dinner at Zippy's at the end of the day.