Penning an honor to our veterans

When Jack Engelke meets military veterans, the first thing he will do is shake their hands. The second thing he does is hand them a pen.

A “pen” does not really describe Jack’s gift. It’s much more personal than that. The hand-crafted pens are actually small works of art, fashioned from old military shell casings.

Jack collects the “brass” anywhere he can get it and turns the shells into unique writing implements, some are shiny, silver nickel, but most are brass.

Jack and his wife Beth, who live in Kyle, operate out of Booth #170 at Wimberley Market Days where they make and sell the pens. The money they make helps finance the real mission: thanking veterans for their service.

“It’s not about me,” says Jack. “It’s about the vets we give the pens to. It’s about the people who served in the military.”

The idea of making pens came from Jack’s father, who served in the Army for 33 years. “Dad had built me a pen (out of a bullet casing) in high school,” recalls Jack. “I don’t know where it got to. Some time over 40 years it got misplaced.”

When Jack retired in 2009, after working 20 years at Texas Instruments and 10 years operating his own business designing circuit boards, he was looking for something to do. So, he got into the pen making business.

Passes pens out

Jack served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1964 -1970 and decided his pens would be a good way to show gratitude to veterans. He takes his pens to area Veterans of Foreign Wars posts where they are distributed.

He sells his pens at Wimberley Market Days and he’s also under the big tent at the Old Gruene Market Days, which is held the third weekend of the month.

He laughingly refers to his business — Pens4Vets — as a non-profit because he gives away so much of his merchandise. There’s not much profit there, but a lot of satisfaction.

Jack figures it takes him about half an hour to make each pen. Some of the pens are carved from wood while others are made from the shell casings from old military M-1 and M-14 rifles.

In addition to his pens, Jack and Beth make “mini-cabins” out of 2,600-gallon water tanks. There’s one on display near their booth at Market Days. They take the tank, cut a door, install windows and install a bunk, basin and desk into the tank which has an eight-foot diameter. The mini-cabins are priced at $1,500.

Tough to work with

His pens start at $20 for the basic brass model and go up to $45 for a pen using deer antler. The deer antler is “nasty” to work with because of the smell and dust it creates when it’s cut and shaped. “It’s not something you want to breathe in,” says Jack.

His wood pens are typically made out of mesquite, purpleheart wood and red cedar — much of which he collects on the family ranch in Oklahoma. The mesquite comes from a Market Days vendor who makes wooden crosses and saves the scraps for Jack.

As you would expect, the pens made from the violet-colored purpleheart wood are reserved for veterans who were wounded in action and awarded a Purple Heart medal.

The brass bullet casings are “everywhere,” he says. Most of the bullets are brass, but some are shiny nickel. The nickel is getting harder and harder to come by.

Sometimes, a VFW post will collect the brass after a ceremony and give it to Jack. Sometimes, he buys the cartridge casings. A man in Niederwald recently offered to sell 13 pounds of M-1 casings and 27 pounds of M-14 for $4 a pound. It’s safe to say, Jack will be making bullet pens for a good long while.

The reactions he gets when he hands over a pen vary. “If you give it to a Vietnam vet, nine times out of 10 he won’t say a word. Then after two hours or two weeks he’ll come back and thank me. That’s the kind of thing that keeps you going,” Jack says.

To find out more go to: www.pens4vets.us