Best Wood and Kits for Pens

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DonFaulk0517

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What is your favorite wood and pen style? I am just getting into pen turning and there are too many choices... which are the best (moderately priced lits) and best wood choices?
 
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witz1976

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What is your favorite wood and pen style? I am just getting into pen turning and there are too many choices... which are the best (moderately priced lits) and best wood choices?

Not sure what you consider moderately priced, but I like the Sierras, the Flat top rollerballs & fountains, & Jr. Gents. As for wood. Yes to all, but really any burl is nice, for something really nice I like thuya & amboyna burl. But I also have some cherry, apricot, olive, Ironwood...yea I see your point :biggrin::biggrin::eek:
 

mredburn

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If your just starting there are several nice woods that are not too expensive to work with that still have great style and figure and wont break the bank. Walnut, Cherry, maple, Oak,they can have great figure at a buck or less apiece. You may be able to find local hardwoods pretty cheap also.
Mike
 
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SDB777

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Wow! This such a loaded question...at least for me.

I like the Sedona/Baron kits in either rollerball or fountain.
I like just about any wood that has some figure to it(crotch/burl), but the crotch might fall into the 'moderate' price range.....




Scott (don't think I've put $12 blank on a slimline) B
 

toddlajoie

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I've gone through about 4 or 5 "favorite" kits in the year or so I've been turning.

First Favorite: Euro Ballpoint - Like a slimline, but with a bit more style (slims with style take a bit more thought/effort than I had in the beginning, and maybe still...)

Second Favorite: Sketch Pencil - I have a lot of artist type friends, and this is such a unique writing instrument that everyone I know wanted one. Real easy to make, and a substantial feeling piece in the end...

Third favorite: Zen - I liked these from the beginning, but I didn't order anything from CSUSA for a while in the beginning.

Fourth Favorite: Wall St II/Sierra - Nice look/style, great variety of kit styles/finishes, and a quick, single barrel design makes it easy to turn, and only using 1/2 a blank, makes it great for making matched sets.

Four Point Five Favortie (My wife's at the same time): Atlas/Polaris/Carraba - Same simple single tube turning, nice slightly smaller overall length, slightly bulkier body, so it feels good in larger hands (and you can get one of these out of the leftover blank from the Siera).

Current favorite: Tie between Jr. Gent and Navigator/Barrons - I REALLY like just about everything about the Jr. Gent, except having to mail order them. I don't tend to plan that far ahead. So I've only made a few of them. I have a local Woodcraft store, which makes buying one or 2 navigators at a time very easy, cutting down on having to drop $50-100 to make shipping worth while. They also started carying the closed end mandrels for them, greatly expanding the flexibility of the kit.

As for materials, it has changed just as much. In the beginning, I had a bunch of Ipe left over from my deck, so I did one pen of each style out of that first, which was great, since I made a LOT of mistakes (buy extra tubes is my new rule of thumb..) I also used a bunch of my firewood, and some Home Depo variety oak scraps left over from framing all the windows in my house. Early on Free ruled... Went through a cool colors phase, bloodwood, blackwood, bubinga, purpleheart, lignum, holly, and buckeyburl. The buckey turned me on to anything stabilized, which turned me on to worthless wood. A local chapter meeting at Bad Dog burls turned me on to so many of the Aussie burls, as well as Desert Ironwood Burl. Around the time I got into Stabilized woods, acrylics ran along parallel and are always present...

My suggestion, try something new every so often, and see where life takes you.
 

Brooks803

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I'll turn a designer over a slimline any day. I also like the classic americans and the executives over the sierra models. Cigars are versitile for modifications and stuff. For rollerballs I like Jr. Gents and tycoons. and for higher end pens gotta go with statesmans and majestics (without that stupid pimp crystal!) in the full size and jr sizes.

As far as wood goes...any nicely figured burls or wood with history behind it (jack daniel barrell blanks,100yr old barn wood blanks, etc.) Then you get into acrylics and PR and worthless woods, trustones, all kinds of goodies! There are several vendors here you can buy from at very reasonable prices as well as members here with their own websites that carry blanks (www.exoticblanks.com & www.randbcrafts.com are the first ones to jump to mind).

welcome to the site and can't wait to see some of your work!
 

johnnycnc

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Try comfort style 7mm pens for an little bigger slimline style,
and Cigars are hard to beat for the price.
Woods.. depends on your budget. I find a good curly maple hard to beat
for domestic, and cocobolo is reasonable and pretty for an exotic.
You'll branch out as you get your feet under you, so these are just very basic starting points that may work well for you :)

John
 

jskeen

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I personally still prefer antler (cap and centerband) and desert ironwood (body and finial) on a jr gent fountain pen. But the Best kit/wood combo is the one that a customer orders and gives you the 50% deposit up front on!
 

Smitty37

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Comfort

I like comforts...a little bigger than a slimline and show the wood a bit better. I also like Sierras...easy to turn and show off the wood real well.

Amboyna Burl is spectacular...I also like some pens I've made with a curly maple.

But really, the best kit for you is the one YOU like best.
 

Willee

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Don, I limited my kits to two style when I started making pens 9 years ago.

Slimline ... because of its tremendous versatility.
American Classic ... because it looks good cut straight and can be easily customized.

I added the Sierra style when they first came out because they were good looking and required only one barrel to be turned.

I do on special request turn other styles but these are the three I stock and stick with.

Materials .... Chrome plating for long lasting wear ... Dymondwood cause it needs no finish ... Cocobolo looks rich ... Pink Ivory for the ladies.
Everything else that can be turned on a lathe is also fodder for the pen machine.

I am sure you will soon find what you like and that is what you should focus on.
Dont try to be a master of all ... pick a few and do them well.
 
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Gofer

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Aug 16, 2009
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Morinville, Alberta, Canada
Favorite kit is the cigar, and I will state that I have not used very many different kits ... yet. As for wood types I think it is more a question of what will sell or what the person recieving the pen would like if it is a gift.

Bruce
 

snyiper

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I like the slimline and Monets there is a lot you can do with a slim and if ya blow it so what!! Wood I like is walnut and Maple both finish very nice...also give corian a try nice to work with as well.
 
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