Two bones & a nut

[PenWorks]

Here are a couple of elk antler havana's I finished last night and a macadamia nut from Bill at AS in a Ligero.. Anthony

 

[wayneis]

Pretty nice Anthony. Was the Nut stabilized? I bought four blanks and had one or two stabilized and have not got around to turning it yet. How did it turn?

Wayne

 

[PenWorks]

Non stabilized, very dense hard wood. it cut & finished nicely. This was allot darker than the others I cut, this is real black, the others I did before were light brown with lighter brown spots.

 

[Fred in NC]

Very nice pens, Anthony !

You sure like to make the high end pens. By any chance are you in direct competition with Omas, Delta, etc?

 

[PenWorks]

I am Fred, I stock many Delta, Nettuno, Krone, Visconti, Stipula and others. When they come in and see the prices on those, they think mine are a bargan. It's a lot easier to sell a 100.00 pen when you have a 200-500 next to it. Also makes the Jr's and others in the 45-65 range seem like a steal. I also notice most customers will ask, if I made it, before they start looking more closely. 9 out of 10 buy my pens over the other brands. Anthony

 

[wayneis]

I have found that for me at least it is much easier to sell the high end pens than the others. I started out like most making slimlines and liked it but could not sell them. It was only after I started making the Gents and Jr. Gents and the El Grande's that things really took off in the sales area for me. What I finely realized is that what ever pens that I really like are the pens that sell the best for me. I was in sales for quite a few years, I contracted with top importers and sold to gift stores. What I found back then was the only products that I had any success with selling were the products that I liked myself. I sold Reuge music box's from Switzerland, hand painted Christmas ornaments from Germany and Poland and Linens from Austria. I limited myself to only being able to sell in the best of stores but it was worth it in the end.

The moral of my story for me is that I sell what I like the best because I can't sell what I don't care for. I would think that it is the same for most people, what ever it you prefer yourself, it will be easier to sell that item, than something that you don't care for.

Wayne

 

[WoodChucker]

Anthony, fine job on the pens. I wish I could get my antler pens to turn out that good. Mine always look yellow for some reason. Yours look more like ivory, really nice!

R.T.

 

[PenWorks]

RT, I think it is a crap shoot on anlter. I try to take as little material off as possible, to stay in the white, I try and match my blank size to the hole size, and I realy like when it does not have to be turned completely round and still fit the pen, that leaves the antler look. But you can look at 10 antler pens and find them all really different, that's what's neat about antler. Anthony

 

[dougle40]

Well after seeing the different posts using antler , I'm going to have to try it myself . I've had 2 sets of deer antlers downstairs now for over a year but haven't gotten up the courage to try it .

 

[PenWorks]

Doug, just wear a mask and open the windows, el stinko when your cut & drill,,,Anthony