About us

William Wood-Write Ltd., located in Guelph Ontario, is an independent, family-owned business and Canada's premier, one-stop shopping source for penmaking supplies and other small lathe turning projects. Thank you for shopping with us - we appreciate your support of our family business. 

So who is William Wood-Write?  

First of all, yes, there really is a William (Bill). A carpenter's son and lifelong woodworker with a true passion for the craft, Bill's love of woodturning began 25 years ago when he bought a lathe and a few blanks and pen kits. This led to selling exotic wood pen blanks on a small website first built by his wife called penblanks.ca. By customer demand, pen kits, tooling and accessories began to be added to the mix; William Wood-Write was born in 2006 and thanks to the support of our dedicated customers especially in Canada, has been growing ever since.

Today, he is joined in the family business by his daughters, Chantelle and Celine, who are actively involved in every aspect of daily operations and are continuing the family woodworking tradition into a third generation.

We also couldn't do what we do without our tremendous staff. This team of dedicated women pick and pack your orders, answer your calls and emails, turn samples and more - and one by one, are also becoming woodturners!

A bit of family history

For the last several years, you may have noticed a Royal Canadian Legion digital poppy at the top of our website in November, in memory of Wilfred Collier. Who is Wilfred and what does he mean to William Wood-Write? 

Wilfred Collier came to Canada alone in 1932 at age 16 as a British Home Child, first working on farms in southwestern Ontario and eventually finding a job at a hardware store in Tillsonburg, Ontario. 

He enlisted with the Elgin Regiment in July 1940 and headed overseas in 1942 on the HMT Awatea, a New Zealand steam ocean liner that had been converted into a Royal Navy troop ship at the start of the war. When the Elgins changed to a tank recovery regiment in 1944, Wilfred chose a reassignment to the West Nova Scotia Regiment and served with them, including fighting at the Battle of the Hitler Line in Italy, until the end of the war.

After the war, he returned to Tillsonburg where he worked as a carpenter, got married and raised a family of four spirited boys.

The youngest of those boys, Bill, is the founder of William Wood-Write and co-owns the business today with his daughters. When we mark Remembrance Day, we honour the memory of our father and grandfather and give thanks to all veterans for their service to our country.