Portion from the 2023 Pen Addict interview.

Photo by Toni Palumbo

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Adolphus Smith, the man behind Darail Penz was working for a furniture company when he saw a perfume atomizer someone had hand turned, and he thought, “I could do that.” Soon there was a Jet Mini wood lathe in his garage in Ohio, and he was making atomizers, bowls, furniture, and also kit pens. In the absence of the multitude of online resources available today, there was a lot of trial and error and learning by doing. However, he persisted to the point that he needed a company name for his work; he started with his first name, but then settled on Darail, his middle name.

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Initially, the materials available for making pens were limited – most kit pens featured wood, and there was not the range of colorful materials available now. About seven years ago, he was introduced to kitless pens by a young maker who said, “Once you do these you’ll never go back.” He acquired the necessary taps and dies and found guidance through YouTube videos of makers turning kitless pens. Both kit and kitless pens remain important to his portfolio, however. First, “My wife likes kit pens.” But in addition, he has found that people new to pens or intimidated by fountain pens can still walk up to his table at a show and buy a rollerball or ballpoint kit pen and have a good variety of attractive affordable pens to choose from.

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In addition to the universe of available materials, he particularly enjoys turning soapstone and alabaster, using the same tools as for the acrylics – as long as they are kept sharp and in good working order. Soapstone presents a favorite challenge. “It’s soft, you can’t rush it, you can be almost done and it will shatter.” His stone pens usually are sold before he can display them at a pen show.

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Although he has dabbled in casting his own blanks, “it doesn’t call out to me.” He has a son, however, who enjoys casting and has been making blanks for his pens. And following what calls out to him keeps him happy with what he does. “To me it’s relaxation. I don’t look at it as a job.”...

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Read the full interview with Adolphus here.