Many people turn to their hobbies as an escape from the daily grind -- some like extreme sports, others more relaxing past times, and some, like Josh Nay, enjoy creating things.

The tenth-grader's hobby is making pens. Not your plain and simple Bic pens, but works of art that draw the eye to any hand that might be writing with one.

Turning two matching blocks of exotic wood on a lathe, Nay takes a file to them and slowly begins the careful process of grinding down the wood into smooth cylinders. It may seem like a simple job, but the tall, young man, bent over almost double, keeps a close eye on his movements and the spinning wood he works on.

"I specifically think about what I'm doing," said Nay, not wanting to make mistakes or find a flaw and waste his time. "I always catch small things I do or things I could do ... and pick up things that I can improve on so I can get better."

Sometimes Nay can be too focused on his work, letting all his other thoughts and worries slip away as he shapes the wood on the lathe.

"Whenever I do go out, a couple of times a week, I'll say I'll be back for dinner and I'll be back four hours later just because I get carried away."

He has even missed appointments while being too engrossed in his pen work, and had his mother go out to remind him.

"When he starts something like that, he's just really focused and he can stick with it for a long time," said his mother, Michelle Nay. "It's something he enjoys doing and was not told to do."

The process of making his pens starts out at a craft supply store in Provo, where Nay shops with his father and selects the wood he'll use. With hundreds of different colors to choose from, Nay can create some interesting and eye-catching pieces, each unique. As he searches through the different colors Nay also looks deeper to the patterns that will be revealed when he shapes and sands it for his pens.

With each piece costing several dollars, wood shopping can quickly become an expensive outing.

"It's really cool to go shop until you find out how much you spend," Nay said.

Back in the work shed, Nay powers up the lathe and carefully begins to file, the hum of the lathe and the buzz of his file strokes the only sounds. Slowly the hard edges of the blocks begin to round and the pile of sawdust beneath the lathe grows. The process is slow, the change in the shape barely noticeable at first. But Nay watches closely, his eyes following his file, making small adjustments to his motions.

Once he has given the wood a nice round shape, Nay switches his files for sandpaper, using finer and finer grains as the wood smooths out, nothing like the rough block it once was. His hands slide the sandpaper back and forth, stopping and checking every now and again before switching to a finer grain.

When the shaping and sanding is finally complete, the pen is assembled using different colors and styles of fountain and ball point pen kits. Nay carefully matches up the pen kits with the wood he chose.

Nay has been making pens and even selling them since he was in eighth grade but can't see himself making a steady living at it, as business has been too inconsistent. But he enjoys it as a hobby nonetheless.

"It's definitely going to be a lifetime hobby, but not a career or anything," he said.

Nay charges customers a very fair price and will even fill out custom orders allowing people to choose the wood, style and kit for the pen. He'll even engrave it. Many of his creations have been given to family and friends as gifts.

And no matter whether he has an order for a pen, needs a gift for a parent or has 15 extras made and waiting for buyers, Nay enjoys escaping to the work shed and his hobby.

"You forget about everything and it's kind of like 'This is just my time.'"