Pen set

Material: alder wood
Lacquers:
  heavy oil-based lacquer-mordant compound
  transparent nitro-based light lacquer
Tools involved:
  hand drill
  circular saw (drill addon)
  abrasive head (drill addon)
  8mm & 10mm HSS bits
  angle grinder
  hand saw
Workflow:
FIRST TRY
  I drilled the holes in 5cm thick fir wood
  I had to use chisel to remove the excessive material
  the wood cracked and was trashed
SECOND TRY
  I thought, that cutting multiple thinner layers of wood will be safer and more precise.
  I easily made 4 15mm wide identical shapes
  I realized that the old fir wood I used is crap and it won't suit the color of her desk neither
  Trashed
THIRD TRY
  I bought smooth, 22mm thick, dense and durable alder wood in DIY store.
  Like before, I made 2 identical halves
  I prepared the carpenter glue (the one made from bones)
  I glued the halves and put it in a vice
  The next day, using angle grinder, I made those nice curvatures
  With hand drill I made this series of holes (10 & 8mm)
  The wood chipped off during drilling, so I had to reconstruct it with wooden cement. It was wonderful
  I painted the surface and the holes with 3 layers of heavy lacquer (to mask the imperfections)
  After it dried, I painted the sides with 4 layers of light transparent lacquer.
FINISHED!

This is a birthday's present for ~aida696 . Creating it was really pleasant for me. It demanded lots of patience, determination and motivation. But I didn't lack any of them! I did my best and I'm very satisfied from the result. I hope she'll like it too!