The Question
My name is James Sutton; I own and operate The Texas Penwright. In 2007, when I was a psychologist and speaker/trainer getting close to semi-retirement, I took a long look at the brush country where I live. It was mostly inhabited by scrubby mesquite trees, prickly pear cactus, shed antlers of whitetail deer and the not-so-occasional rattlesnake.
A challenge came in the form of a question: Could this be repurposed in some way and made into a nice gift, a gift with a story; a gift that’s a keepsake, also?
The Answer
I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart; not one easily to give up on a good idea. So, after many trial-and-error attempts (with overflowing trash cans to prove it), the answer came in the form of a handcrafted, lathe-turned ballpoint pen. It was literally made from “pieces” of Texas, thus our trademark, “Taking Texas with Me”(TM).
Putting it All Together
Working with mesquite was no problem, although where I live in south Texas often finds this beautiful reddish hardwood in someone’s BBQ pit. The cactus, however, was a challenge, a messy and sometimes painful challenge. After we found the right “formula,” the process hasn’t changed in more than 15 years.
First of all, the thorny pads of the prickly pear are harvested in the field … without quarreling with the rattlesnakes. Then it’s cut up into pieces small enough to fit into a coffee cup. Next, it’s chopped into a slimy slurry that’s poured onto mesh frames to dry in the blazing Texas summer sun.
When sun-baked into large patties, the cactus is re-chopped into tiny bits, thorns and all, and mixed with a special resin that makes the cactus durable and workable. (We have service-marked this delicate stage as the Duracacting Process [SM].)
These two native resources, wood from the mesquite tree (Prosopis) and prickly pear cactus (Optunia), are combined and worked on a wood lathe to create this truly unique keepsake. Colors, texture and markings on each piece are completely natural. These pens use the standard and readily available Cross(R)-type pen refills.
Key to Success: Our Master Craftsman
From early on, a very important part of the production of this special line of writing products was Tom Hester, our master craftsman (now retired). That’s Tom in the photo; he’s creating a pen from mesquite and the antler of a whitetail deer.
Tom and I go a long way back, all the way back to Vietnam in the late ’60s. Tom was a marine and I was a “borrowed” sailor working with Tom and his fellow marine intel specialists at a Naval Security Group radio battalion that was part of the Third Marine Amphibious Force. We were up in I Corps, where the action was non-stop. And, oh yes, we happen to be brothers-in-law.
Texas Proud
We have been quite proud of the success of our company and its line of crafted products, and we are proudest when our work is presented as specially engraved corporate, university, association and conference VIP gifts and awards. We’re also proud of the fact that the Texas Department of Agriculture has licensed our craft as an official GO TEXAN agriculture-related product.
