I am getting down to the final details on the first two reels of my winter 2011-12 production. This week I am making knobs of a variety of materials.

This is “Alternative Ivory”, a plastic substitute for the real thing.

Plain black Acetal also shines up well when sanded with Micromesh pads.

I also purchased several “stabilized” blanks meant for pen making. (Correction, 15 Dec.: These woods are not stabilized. I had looked for stabilized wood but did not find what I wanted.) I was able to machine these with the same HSS tools that I would use on plastic. This is rosewood.

Here is another rosewood from the same block.

South African Ebony

Black and White Ebony

Walnut

The woods do not seem to respond to sanding with grits finer than 600.