# OK...You Pen Turners



## 3192 (Dec 30, 2004)

From the Corpus Christi paper........

http://www.caller.com/news/2007/dec/17/man-uses-cow-patties-in-unusual-pens/
*Man uses cow patties in unusual pens*

*Writing tools have turned into popular gag gift*

By SARA INES CALDERON
San Antonio Express-News
Originally published 03:36 a.m., December 17, 2007
Updated 03:36 a.m., December 17, 2007

 *Associated Press ABOVE: It takes John Lopez about six to eight hours to make a batch of pens at his shop in Poteet. The cow excrement is ground up and mixed with resin to create the pen casing.*

 *LEFT: Lopez said he started making the pens out of boredom. 'There's not much money in this area, so I need to make things with the finances (I have) and I need the materials the same way,' he said.*


http://www.caller.com/news/2007/dec/17/man-uses-cow-patties-in-unusual-pens/?commentprinter=1/




POTEET -- One cow's excrement is one man's fine writing instrument.

At least it is for John Lopez, 42, who began making his South Texas Cow Patty Pens six years ago with local, natural materials.

He perfected the process through trial and error. The result: flecks of brown suspended in a clear plastic, looking almost like wood from a distance.

"I take my pen kits and feed 'em to the cows and then go out in the pasture and pick 'em up," Lopez joked, stroking his mustache from behind the desk at JS Shop, his lawnmower repair business in downtown Poteet.

Cow patties may be Lopez's current specialty, but when he began the craft in 2000 he used wood, bone, deer antler and other materials to encase mail-ordered ballpoints.

"I was bored, poor," he said. "I had bought some tools" and decided to give handmade pens a try. But after hawking them at craft shows and county fairs, he realized his wares looked like everyone else's.

So he started looking for a way to distinguish his work. Exotic materials were hard to find in Poteet, but he came across the solution in his own backyard.

"There's not much money in this area, so I need to make things with the finances (I have) and I need the materials the same way," he said.

His original brand name for the pens included a vulgar barnyard term, but it offended customers at craft shows, so he retreated to the safer "South Texas Cow Patty Pen."

Listening to Lopez describe how he arrived at his production method is like listening to a scientist describe a breakthrough discovery. The cow patties can't be too dry but they can't be too fresh, either. Also important is the type of feed the cattle in question are eating.

Eligible patties must be made from pure coastal grass, never grain, Lopez said adamantly, gesturing with both hands, otherwise the patty "won't be natural."

Once selected and harvested, the winners are ground into a powder, placed in a tray and mixed with a plastic resin. After four days, he can cut the hardened plastic into small blocks for further custom milling. He said it's the hardest substance he ever has cut because of sand ingested by the cows along with the grass.

The blocks are spun on a wood lathe at 3,900 revolutions per minute, worked into a cylinder, assembled with parts bought from a catalog and polished. The process yields 10 to 15 pens and takes six to eight hours, Lopez said.

The finished product goes for $45.

A jack-of-all-trades, Lopez has made everything from patio furniture to metal coat racks and even earrings, but only pens, darts, knife handles and letter openers from cow patties.

*View latest stories with comments »*


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

All I have is cat poop and dog poop and I ain't even gonna go there


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Make all you want...I promise I will not get into the patty pens LOL

I don't like the smell of deer antler.....I don't even want to find out with these pens LOL


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## 3192 (Dec 30, 2004)

Gives new meaning to 'crappy work'! I'll stick to mesquite!


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

Hey ! That might make a great looking duck call.... Oh, wait a minute....never mind.


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

I would pay a dollar to see that....LOL what a great idea...you could laugh everytime someone used it


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

At last !!!!!! Something to do with the 'souveniers' this danged wienie dog leaves all over the house...:idea:

Size wise ???...just about perfect...and wouldn't have to fool with the acrylic...

Availability ???...prolly enough for about 3 pens a day....:wink:

I KNEW I was putting up with this danged dog for some reason....

Bobby...you handle the antler biz.....I'll be the "S*** Man".....:tongue:

Heading out to the lathe with a 'handful' now......:rotfl:

(serious part...just turned out the most beautiful pen yet...slimline from a mesquite burl chunk I think I got from GB...muchas gracias,Jim)


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## trodery (Sep 13, 2006)

Tortuga said:


> At last !!!!!! Something to do with the 'souveniers' this danged wienie dog leaves all over the house...:idea:
> 
> Size wise ???...just about perfect...and wouldn't have to fool with the acrylic...
> 
> ...


LOL.........Jim, you are one funny dude!!! I was reading your post to Marilyn and the both of us were cracking up   

Marily told me to go out in the yard and pick you up some big stuff for those huge Emporer pens


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Tort, give a pic of that mesquite burl. Sounds like it would be a great lookin pen. Would love to see it.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

OK..Slip, here ya go..First pix is the mesquite burl..Now wish I had saved the wood for a Biggie...The other pics are some of the Christmas Inventory...AND, I AM gonna give that 'doggie-doo' a shot and send the results to Troddy..:rotfl: 

(Oh, and Trod...think I'll pass on those 'elephant droppings' from that dang dawg you tote up and down the stairs....too long a 'drying time' I'm afraid..) 

Think the 'Visitors' down here are ready for some more pix...You other guys join in with some shots of what you're doin'.....:biggrin:


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Tortuga said:


> (Oh, and Trod...think I'll pass on those 'elephant droppings' from that dang dawg you tote up and down the stairs....too long a 'drying time' I'm afraid..)


Note to self -- do not post picture of elephant droppings...

Nice pens Tortuga!


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

The burl looks great but think you are right. It woujld have made a great biggie. But then again, I am partial to the biggies. The last photo of the biggies look great, expecially the burls. I just love burl. I bought a new rifle a couple of years ago, the White Gold Medallian Browning and it comes with walnut burl and it beautiful. Although, it got broke in a 4 wheeler and tree incident right at the trigger which is a weak point, Browning replaced it with a new one just as nice at no cost. It made me sick to see it broken. They said it happens all the time because burl is much weaker than straight grain, so they replace under warranty even though it was a incident, it probably wouldn't have broke if it wasn't burl. I still didn't care, I wanted burl but they try to put the burl in the heavy part of stock and straight grain in the trigger area. Sorry to rant, just love that burl wood.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Many people reinforce the wrist with a piece of threaded rod on the inside to try to cut down on the stock breaking there. I usually only hear of it on heavy-recoiling rifles though.

There are people that can repair a wrist break, supposedly as if it never happened.


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## 3192 (Dec 30, 2004)

Dang....you pen spinners are going to put Mont Blanc and Cross Pen companys out of work! What an inventory! Thinking on that broken burl stock.....hmmmmmm, wonder what they do with the broken ones??? Maybe worth a call to the company for someone.? gb


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