EBENSBURG – It takes about two days of work to make a pen.

Blocks of wood or acrylic need to be drilled, shaped and sanded before they are polished, sealed with wax and assembled.

It can cost anywhere from $1.50 to $10 for materials.

As many schools face cuts to music and art – with many districts eliminating shop classes altogether – the 20 or so Bishop Carroll Catholic High School students who meet regularly after school for pen club said they love the opportunity to work with their hands and make something unique.

Physics, math and computer teacher Ed Graffte, who advises the club, has been making pens himself for about five years, but he said the students he’s teaching, some with only a few months’ experience, might be outpacing him.

“Somewhere in here, these kids are going to be better than me,” Graffte said, and that’s OK with him.

“It really makes me proud,” he added.

Club President Ian Koenig said it’s important to be able to make things with your hands, and he likes seeing a block of wood or acrylic turn into a finished product.

“It’s a good skill to have,” he said.

Koenig and several other club members highlighted their previous work on cars or all-terrain vehicles, and said they’d been building engines or woodworking from a young age.

“I was always hands-on,” Koenig said. “I just loved that stuff. This was a natural transition.”

At a meeting this month, the students showed off multiple styles of pens along with seam rippers and keychains.

Eager to share not only their own work, but each other’s, the students flipped through woodworking books with examples of bottle stoppers, letter openers and pepper mills and excitedly discussed duck calls and shaving kits as possible future projects.

Graffte has even incorporated pen-making into Bishop Carroll’s curriculum, with every junior and senior physics student assigned to make a pen in his or her class.

They’ll learn the concepts behind shaping the pens, he said: How friction is used to sand and polish, and to calculate the revolutions-per-minute of the lathe as it turns. Students also will learn why the blocks need to start out at a certain dimension in order to make a pen and, of course, proper safety skills.

Isaac Freidhof, the club’s junior president, bought a lathe – spending hundreds of dollars of his own money – so he could continue his hobby at home.

“I think it’s really cool to know how to turn stuff on a lathe,” he said. “I go to craft shows and stuff like that, to try and sell them.”

Graffte said Freidhof’s work is impressive, and his skills have grown since joining the club.

“Some of his stuff I’m jealous about,” Graffte said. “They get to be very, very good at it.”

Freidhof said he likes that no two pieces are the same, and that drives him to make more.

He said he hopes to be able to pay off his investment, but as his hobby expands, he buys more accessories.

Freshman Rebecca Watt said she joined the pen club after encouragement from classmates and quickly learned the joy of making things to suit her own style.

Currently, Watt is making a pen using a piece of acrylic called strawberry daiquiri, named for her favorite virgin drink.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. You get to make the pen how you want it; you get to pick your own acrylic,” she said, turning the block over in her hands.

Graffte said the club is good for the students because they support and teach each other as they learn new skills, and they’re always trading ideas.

“If someone sees something, they have another pair of eyes,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kelly Cernetich is at 946-7520.