How To Billet and Dry Small Pieces of Salvaged Wood for Pen Making

You can find a lot of real neat woods in a wood pile. They are small and wet but for a small project like turning a dip pen or pen kit they are perfect. Watch this video to learn how to dry the wood so it does not twist and warp on you. Similar principals apply when drying large boards but you will of course need stronger materials.
Here are some tips:
When sawing think of the direction you are cutting the grain.
Look for wood with a lot of character.
You can often find spalted or wormy wood in a wood pile.
Knots are pretty but can split so use them with caution.
Look for pieces that come from a crotch in the tree, Saw it right and you will have more character to the wood.
Saw the wood so you have both sap wood and heart wood. This will give you two colors.
Look for woods that you can not easily purchase. Some of my favorites are Apricot, Plum, Apple, Peach, Lilac and Juniper.
Don't be afraid of small pieces like Lilac. You may only get one pen but some of those woods are very nice.
Don't cut the wood so the pithy heart is in the piece you want to keep if you can avoid it.
Experiment with new woods, every now and then you find something fun. I cut a pallet once and found a brown wood that smelled like cinnamon. It was a great wood. Once I cut a board to find a bullet that I had sawn in half deep in the log. The bullet was fused to the wood and could be kept in the board and used that way with care.
ALWAYS be on the lookout for stables, nails etc and get them out before you cut.
Lastly, Have fun.

[@Trees2Pens]

Very cool little billet. I will try this for pen blanks.