200 pens, 489 days: Cambridge man transcribes the entire Bible by hand

Cambridge man transcribes entire Bible by hand From CTV Kitchener's Natalie van Rooy: Hadley Burns says it took him about 200 pens and around 489 days to complete the project.

A Cambridge man spent 489 days transcribing the Bible by hand.

That's well ahead of schedule: Hadley Burns says he began this project with the goal of finishing it in five years.

He had the idea years ago when he asked his wife to write out the Bible because of her beautiful handwriting. He thought it would make a nice collectable item.

When she declined, it became his own passion project.

That's when he began putting pen to paper.

"I started off allowing myself an hour and a half to two hours a day," Burns says.

"I thought it would take about five years, three to five years. But I found as I got into it, it got exciting."

On most mornings, he would wake up hours before sunrise, carefully writing out every single page of the Bible.

Sometimes, he wrote hundreds of pages for hours. One day, when he was sick, he wrote only a single word.

Through his project, Burns says he went through about 200 pens.

So what's next for the handwritten Burns Bible?

"I'm going to keep it, display it and enjoy having created it and owning it," he says.

"After that, I have no idea."