Did Something Change At CSUSA?

[Jim in Oakville]

Did Something Change At CSUSA?


I have long used the crimson red blanks (050-0101) from Craft Supply USA. This is my best selling acrylic over all my others combined. This week I was working through some orders and I found an old blank I must have bought 4-5 years ago, it was at the bottom of a box of other blanks. It looked intense to me in rough and when I finished it I was amazed what I saw. I compared it to my current inventory of the same blanks and it looks so different.

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The lower pen is made with my most recent shipment of blanks, the upper is the older one.

I am wondering, has something changed over the years and I just noticed this now? I make 80-100 pens a year with this acrylic and I do not remember the blank changing in look, so is this just a one off or did the supplier to CSUSA change their mix?

Thanks

 

[PenMan1]

Jim:
I have noticed a good many changes in materials from many vendors, not just in materials, but kits as well. I attribute it to a slow economy, where EVERY company is looking for ways to reduce costs.

 

[Drstrangefart]

While both pens look specTACular, The one on does show way more personality and makes me think of lava instead of acrylic.

 

[BKelley]

I have experienced this problem, a nice looking blank on the outside and after turning it it was blah, no figure. There is no way of knowing how a finished pen will look by looking at the design or figure on an unturned blank. Forrest Gump said it best
"Life is like a box of chocolates, you don't know what's inside until you open it up"
Blanks are much the same. Good luck.

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Jim,
I would contact CSUSA and let them see the photo difference. This is only a guess and by no means trying to imply anything bad. I would imagine that the time difference in creating the blank material is substantial. There would be you major cost in production. I would also wager a guess that they have less failure (bubbles and voids) in the newer version. It could also be that you got a blank that was missed by quality control. The 0101 that we have on a pen from two years ago looks like your top pen. We have not purchased these for a while so I could not compare with our stock. if you do talk with them, please post what they respond with.

 

[aggromere]

I'm trying to reduce costs as well so I have a guy in India make my pens, but now i'm outa work and can't afford to go to walmart where he sells the pens I got him started making. What a world!!, LOL

 

[toddlajoie]

I've seen similar amounts of variation in the same types of blanks hanging on the wall at Woodcraft, so I would say that you may just have one of the extreme variations. Quality control may not have flagged that, as the unusual one is still very desireable. If the plainer one is the norm, I would have let the wild one go, whereas if the wild was was the norm, the plane one should not have gone out...

 

[jttheclockman]

I have to ask because no one else did. 100 pens in this blank????????????????? What, where, how, and why???????????? How many pen do you make a year?/ Are you selling this many ??? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Texatdurango]

I agree with Mike and Linda and send Craft Supply the photo asking for an explanation.

If they reply with some song and dance nonsense, I would send the photo to other suppliers of those blanks and ask them which they carry... wild or mild! I believe Beartooth Woods and the outfit in Hawaii both sell those designs.

 

[Moosewatcher]

I just had a customer order a pen in purple crushed velvet. She got the idea from another pen I had made a couple of years ago. I got some more purple crushed velvet at PSI where i got the original and it didn't match well. The new supply comes from India and I guess they didn't get the formula right.

Ken

 

[JimMc7]

I have nowhere near the experience with these blanks that you do. Just adding more data: I've done about 20 of these blanks and your top pen is an exceptional example of the "wild" look and the bottom is about the "mildest" I've seen. I did have one of the 20 almost as mild but the others are somewhere in between. I just wrote it off as variability in the manufacturing process. FWIW, I buy mine from Ernie at Bear Tooth Woods (he calls the blank Lava Flows aka Scarlet Mesh).

 

[Jim in Oakville]

I have to ask because no one else did. 100 pens in this blank????????????????? What, where, how, and why???????????? How many pen do you make a year?/ Are you selling this many ??? Inquiring minds want to know.

I make about 400 pens a year and sell .hmmmm well lets say I do well ;-)

 

[jttheclockman]

I have to ask because no one else did. 100 pens in this blank????????????????? What, where, how, and why???????????? How many pen do you make a year?/ Are you selling this many ??? Inquiring minds want to know.

I make about 400 pens a year and sell .hmmmm well lets say I do well ;-)

That is alot of pens. What do you make so many of these kind for??? Is it just because they are a good seller or because you have a certain customer that needs that color. It is just a curious observation.

 

[Jim in Oakville]

I have to ask because no one else did. 100 pens in this blank????????????????? What, where, how, and why???????????? How many pen do you make a year?/ Are you selling this many ??? Inquiring minds want to know.

I make about 400 pens a year and sell .hmmmm well lets say I do well ;-)

That is alot of pens. What do you make so many of these kind for??? Is it just because they are a good seller or because you have a certain customer that needs that color. It is just a curious observation.

It's my best seller, on almost any pen, mostly Zen's, Cigars, Barons and Sierra's....

 

[jttheclockman]

I have to ask because no one else did. 100 pens in this blank????????????????? What, where, how, and why???????????? How many pen do you make a year?/ Are you selling this many ??? Inquiring minds want to know.

I make about 400 pens a year and sell .hmmmm well lets say I do well ;-)

That is alot of pens. What do you make so many of these kind for??? Is it just because they are a good seller or because you have a certain customer that needs that color. It is just a curious observation.

It's my best seller, on almost any pen, mostly Zen's, Cigars, Barons and Sierra's....

Thanks I agree these are nice blanks and I actually like all the colors in this line.

 

[Jim in Oakville]

Thanks I agree these are nice blanks and I actually like all the colors in this line.

Thanks, I find that painting the tubes either white or silver really make this acrylic glow, sold an El Toro today with the same blank

 

[Jim in Oakville]

I am following up, I found the blanks I wanted at William Wood Write, they are like the pen in the top of the picture in my first post...I'll be moving my purchases over to Bill and Lilian for these now

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Jim did you ever get a clear response from CSUSA?

 

[Jim in Oakville]

They said nothing had changed, still the same supplier, but they did say the pens looked different...I have moved my business

 

[Wildman]

Not sure it is a quality control issue.

If you are going to wallpaper a room always try to get all rolls with same batch number.

I found getting paint mixed with same formula not alway a perfect match. Come pretty darn close though.

Not sure any vendor can guarantee color consistency on acrylic blanks even from same manufacturer.