Independence Hall
Wood Blanks

Craft a piece of American history with our exclusive Independence Hall Pen and Ring Blanks. Sourced from authentic wood removed during renovations of Independence Hall, the iconic birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, these blanks offer a unique opportunity to create heirloom-quality pens. Each blank is professionally stabilized to ease the turning process and comes with a 4" x 6" Certificate of Authenticity (COA) featuring a foil-embossed seal, ensuring the provenance of this historic material.

Product Details

Material: Authentic Witness Wood®, salvaged from documented renovations of Independence Hall.

Available Configurations:

• Solid Stabilized Wood Blanks: professionally stabilized with Cactus Juice stabilizing resin. 
• Hybrid Black Resin & Stabilized Wood Blanks: cut offs of the stabilized wood left over from cutting full sized blanks and paired with solid black resin.

Craftsmanship:

Blanks are professionally stabilized with Cactus Juice  stabilizing resin.    

Certificate of Authenticity:

Each blank includes a COA detailing the historical significance of the Independence Hall wood, printed on premium card stock with a foil-embossed seal.

Turning Experience:

The Independence Hall wood turns smoothly, yielding a rich, natural finish that highlights its unique grain. Stamp label cast blanks are vibrant and clear, adding a patriotic flair to your creations.

History of the Material:

The building was completed in 1753 as the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the first capitol of both the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1781, and was the site of the Constitutional Convention, at which the U.S. Constitution, the longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world, was ratified on June 21, 1788.

A convention held in Independence Hall in 1915, presided over by former U.S. president William Howard Taft, marked the formal announcement of the formation of the League to Enforce Peace, which led to the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations in 1945, a quarter century later.

Completed in 1735 as the Pennsylvania State House, it took two years to build Independence Hall home of the 1st Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence and where the Constitution was debated and put to paper.

During the renovation of Independence Hall in 1897-98, 16 of the original beams holding up the floor on which the giants of the era debated the future of the 13 Colonies were replaced under the supervision of the project manager and superintendent of the Independence Hall, Samuel Reeves. Rather than discarding the beams, Reeves retained possession of the old timbers.

Provenance - Independence Hall

Completed in 1735 it took two years to build Independence Hall, home of the 1st Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence and where the Constitution was debated and put to paper.

During the renovation of Independence Hall in 1897-98, 16 of the original beams holding up the floor on which the giants of the era debated the future of the 13 Colonies were replaced under the supervision of the project manager and superintendent of the Independence Hall, Samuel Reeves. Rather than discarding the beams, Reeves retained possession of the old timbers.

In 1912 Reeves sold the beams and other materials including wood interior railings, outer iron railings, and other materials to John S. McQuade a builder and member of the Philadelphia City Council for the purposes of cutting them up and making “relics”, but McQuade stored the beams for 12 years and in 1924 sold them to two brothers Walter and Clarence Deisroth owners of a paper box company in Philadelphia.

The Deisroth’s reduced some beams to 100,000 slivers and sold them as souvenirs during the Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926.

In 1956 the Deisroth’s company went into bankruptcy and at auction Mr. Henry Gouse a retired sales engineer and the Mid-Atlantic Tennis Champion of the 1940s bought the wood at auction, along with what was left of the timbers, thousands of chips, and 20 gallons of sawdust, byproduct of producing the 100,000 slivers was included in the lot.

Grouse stored the beams and other materials in a barn on his property on the outskirts of Philadelphia where he made gavels out of some of the beams and presented them over the years to: President Eisenhower, President Nixon, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and other political leaders. Grouse also gave 4 of the beams to Independence Hall and the National Park Service, confirmed in a National Park Service letter acknowledging “the gift”.

In 1975 Gouse was in his 80s and his ex-wife “reluctantly” sold the remaining woodpile to an artist and attorney from whose estate Bob DeMartino and History Salvaged was able to acquire the remaining Witness Wood®.

Mrs. Grouse only sold the Witness Wood® because of the high cost of living and her economic situation, she simply could no longer afford to keep the timbers and sold the Witness Wood® with the understanding that it would not be desecrated.

The new owners subsequently cut up much of the wood again into slivers, producing thousands of history cards and memorabilia that were sold during the Bi-Centennial in 1976 all over the country and in many major department stores including Wannamaker’s Department Store of Philadelphia.

The remnant wood has dried out and has been deteriorating in storage since the 1970s until the History Salvaged acquisition and repurposing in 2010.

The Witness Wood® was later sold to Hardin Penworks, LLC in 2025 where it was stabilized and processed to make pens and knives from the historic material. Stadium Pen Blanks, a subsidiary of Hardin Penworks, LLC, has made the material available to their customers of historic relics.