How long do you spend on a pen?

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bensoelberg

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I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens. I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen. Is that really slow? I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?
 
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hanau

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I am just staring out but i see it as an assembly line.

1) cut multiple blanks
2) drill
3) install tubes
4) turn first blank, sand then keep repeating till all blanks are finished(helps to have multiple mandrels)
5) finish each blank one step at a time unless you are doing a quick type of finish.
6) assemble
 

Midi

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I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens. I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen. Is that really slow? I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?

No help here. It takes me all evening to come up with one set of barrels. Even worse - not all my barrels grow up to be real pens.

I know how you feel. Don't worry, we will speed up...

-Midi
 

jbthbt

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Claude, TX.
When I'm mass producing for an order or for a show and just need to stomp out some quick basic pens to fill the table I average about 15 minutes per pen on slimlines. When I am making something really special or new I can spend as much as a couple days on one pen. I've been turning them for about 2 years. I turn for some extra income, as well as stress relief when life gets too, well, lifelike.
 

phillywood

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I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens. I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen. Is that really slow? I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?

Ben, In my opinion, you try to enjoy it , I am just getting started too, I am not worried how long it takes me, because right now I 'm honing my skills with the tools. Once, the brain start recognizing the feel of the tools and how much pressure or how to orient the tool to the blank then you'd not think about the process and you just turn them faster. for now I am just trying to enjoy the feel of it. I am lucky to have some very good turners here in my town that I pick at their brains and also one is kind of my inspiration and teacher. In few month I am sure this qsn. will sound funny to you. some of the members here have been turning for so many years that I can tell if you put blinders On them they can turn without looking. Butch had the best answer. I f I ever try to make one Butches creations, I'll bet you it would probably take me few days as he has mastered them.
Good luck and have fun.
 

ossaguy

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I'm still a rookie,it takes me probably 2 hours a pen on the average.Sometimes it seems like I'm always "fixing" small mistakes,thank goodness for pen disassembly tools!

I've gotten the knack of CA finishing recently,so hopefully that will help.

I try to remind myself that it's not the destination,but the journey that makes it fun.I have no clock in the shop........I'll leave that for my job.

Steve
 

AKPenTurner

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I've been turning for about two years.
It usually takes me 1-2 hours (depending on the material) to make a pen. I have been getting a little bit faster, though.
To me, it's worth putting the extra time into it if the result is better.
 

Andrew Arndts

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I know of guys that will say, "I can dress out a deer in 3 minutes." First I don't eat at their home and if they offer up I respectfully decline... When I Dress out a Deer, I take my time to do it right.
That being said, it doesn't matter how long you take making a pen. Just do it right.
I drilled and glued (epoxy) up 5 blanks yesterday. Drilled and glued up another in the morning. Started knockin' them out in the afternoon. Completed them all by 1AM. I think I did pretty well far as time goes.

I heard somewhere that making pens is a skill builder. So lay your sharp tools wood.
 

witz1976

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When I turn I always have them in stages, drilling, gluing, turning, sanding & finishing. So in the shop I have blanks that are drilled and glued, rough turned, finished but not polished. I think if I were to take out drying time & degassing (for CA )time I typically can get a pen done in about 1 - 1.5 hours.

That being said my cousin is asking for a drum stick replica and I have been working on this for about a week now as I keep snapping off the "nylon tip"...:mad:
 

mredburn

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It takes me days to build a pen. I feel pretty good if I can knock one out in a day. But are you making a wood pen or a plastic pen. the pr materials are easier to finish.
 
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My guess is, and they'll never admit it, that the ones who say they finish a pen in 15-30 minutes are making slims to sell for $15-20.00, maybe less. It is a b-b slim with a friction polish that will be in the garbage next year. They are not your typical penturners, here.
They are in it for the bucks and thats all. God bless 'em.
After 700 pens, I still take close to an hour for a slim...if all goes well, really well. But it doesnt. I had two blanks of found spalted birch the other day and one blew up, the other was so punky I had to ditch it. 0-2 was no problem, the other four I made yesterday are stunning!
Dont feel because it takes a bit longer to make, you are not doing as well. I get no less than $35.00 for a slim. You can get it if you build your reputation to that level.
 
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pensbydesign

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ware, ma, USA.
my advice don't try to speed things up, go at your own pace. quality, fit and finish is more inportant. every time i try to make them faster i end up at the start.
 
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Chasper

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I rarely do single pens, almost always do production runs. I don't cut corners, and if it isn't perfect or nearly there the turned tubes don't get assembled. I paint the inside of almost every tube so they need to dry overnight, but there is usually a batch I started the night before that has dried and ready to glue in tubes. None of them are $20 slims.

Depending on the blank I can complete 12-18 pens per 10-12 hour day, day after day. That is an average, it goes up a little when I'm making Sierras or other single part pens, it goes down if I'm making two part pens. The total time includes picking out the blanks and kits, cutting, drilling, painting, glueing, turning, polishing, and assembly. 90+% are resin, finishing wood takes a little longer.

Making production run pens is not nearly as much fun as spending a full day in the shop playing around with a new material or learning a new technique.
 

fernhills

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It takes me all day for one. I don`t assembly line pens, that is a job. I try to make it an experience. But i must confess, i make pens between other projects now. If i am making a jewelry box and i am waiting for glue to dry or a finish to cure i`ll make a pen.
 

MikeyTn

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I cut my blanks and glue my tubes the day before so they can dry overnight. From square blanks on tubes to a finished pen I can do 2-3 in an hour. Those are stock kits and blanks and I find myself doing more and more resin pens. I can't mess up the finish on those.
 

beck3906

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Really tough question.

Those that do one pen at a time have an understanding of what they invest in the pen. If you don't do shows, doing one pen at a time is okay.

If you do shows, you often need to get inventory built fairly quick. This means doing things as efficiently as possible.

I just went through an exercise of getting my slim inventory built up. I selected 140 blanks that I cut and drilled. I tubed about 40 of those. I have turned about 20 of those that were tubed.

The tubed blanks are taped together with a reference number I can use to get the wood type from a separate paper. The untubed blanks have a reference number on each half and loosely thrown nin a small box where I can get to them as needed.

I just try to make my time at each step as efficient as possible.

As for turning, there's been a lot of discussion on how long this step will take. I normally spend about 20 minutes on each slim turning and finishing. Other styles take longer. Some slims take longer because the finsh isn't working well or the wood is open grained. It's whatever it takes to look good.
 

its_virgil

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How Long Does It Take To Make One Of Those?​
Do you mean…​
not plant the tree, but find the wood,​
just 'see' the piece, (as if I could)?​
to find a highly figured burl,​
a crotch, an eye, or pearly curl?​
And once I spy it, perhaps buy it,​
inventory, store, and dry it?​
Then saw or cut it, possibly I kiln it,​
glue, imbue with fill, or drill it?​
You mean, that once I'm satisfied​
it's stopped the warps, checks, cracks, once dried?​
And mounted on the lathe, to turn it,​
(which takes much practice, just to learn it;​
and then employ a gouge, or two,​
or use a skew, which I don't eschew,​
to mold it, shape it (what's your pleasure?)​
by all means, I'm sure to measure,​
then sand it smooth, please wear your mitts,​
from coarse to fine, 10,000 grits,​
then braze, or burnish, paint, or polish,​
(the goal: enhance, and don't demolish)?​
Is that your question, start to end,​
how long's that path, its way to wend?​
Or do you merely want to know how long it turned?​
Ten minutes, or so.​
© John A. Styer, The Lathe-meister
(used with permission)

Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

Lenny

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The first ones went quite slow for me but as I got into it they started coming faster. That was before I really knew what I was doing. :biggrin:

Now that I have "a little more of a clue" it takes much longer!!! :)

It's more of a process! Try not to get hung up on how long it takes but instead enjoy it!
 

rjwolfe3

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I have been doing this for awhile now and it still takes me 1-2 hours per pen total time. I would love to find out how those guys, that post 30 pens that they did in a evening, do it. And the ones they post look amazing so I don't necessarily believe that those that turn fast, turn crappy pens as was suggested. I know Ed turns awesome pens and I believe he can do it in under 20 mins per pen.
 

soligen

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As long as it takes to get it right !!!

+1. I've spent as much as 20-30 hours on one pen (learning new things :) )

For a straight forward pen - 3 to 4 hours if all goes well - I'm a very picky so the time depends on how many times I need to re-do things. I also spend time sitting in my shop looking at the parts ... thinking (some may say over thinking :wink:)

I have no intention of making this a business. Perfection is a stronger motivator than profit.
 
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KenBrasier

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Salem, MO
I've never measured the time to make a single pen, I do everything in stages, generally 20 to 30 pens at a time.
1. Select the blanks
2. Cut the blanks for the specific pens
3. Drill the blanks for the specific pen it will be
4. I usually sand the tubes before I stock them, if not,
5. Sand and glue the tubes in the blanks
6. Square the ends after an approbate drying time
7. Rough turn most blanks on a mandrel
8. Finish turning and sanding the blanks between centers
9. Apply finish, CA or other
10. Assemble

At any given time I'll have 75 to 100 Blanks glued up and ready to turn. I'll take many of these to the Craft Shows we do and turn pens at the Show with a HF Mini Lathe. I can complete a Slimline for a customer at the show in less than 20 minutes with a CA finish.
 

bensoelberg

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Thank you for all the responses. I don't want to give the impression that I am impatient with my turning, so perhaps a bit more information would be helpful. I am a full time teacher/debate coach with a two year old at home. My wife and I just bought our first home and are a couple of weeks away from closing. My tools are currently set up in my father's garage. On the rare days when I feel I can sneak away to turn something, I always feel rushed because time is short. (I imagine that this problem will mostly go away once I am in my own place and can just slip into the garage for a bit.) I just started selling a few pens, (buying MM pads to use on my CA finish has really increased interest) and I hope to be able to continue to sell. Going into this hobby, I had no idea how long it would take me to turn a pen. Based on the posts that I mentioned before, I could only conclude that I was extremely slow and was wondering what I was doing wrong. After reading what the rest of you have posted, I am feeling much better. :)
 

Dudley Young

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I to do not have a clock in my shop. I do have a watch and when my stomach growls I look at my wash to see if it's lying to me. I never was a clock watcher even before I retired. So I just have fun and don't worry about how long it takes. Happy turning.
 

GoodTurns

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As long as it takes to get it right !!!

I have made a complete pen (from blank to finished) in 15 minutes. I have pens in my shop that I have spent hours on and they're not even close to done. I have stripped and refinished many pens...does that count as twice?

Take your time and enjoy the process, as your confidence with each step improves, the required time will drop to a point where you are comfortable.
 

Lenny

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I have been doing this for awhile now and it still takes me 1-2 hours per pen total time. I would love to find out how those guys, that post 30 pens that they did in a evening, do it. And the ones they post look amazing so I don't necessarily believe that those that turn fast, turn crappy pens as was suggested. I know Ed turns awesome pens and I believe he can do it in under 20 mins per pen.


There are some incredible turners on this forum .... I think there are some fisherman, too! :biggrin: ... just sayin'
 

HSTurning

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I have done about 200-250 pens to date. I just made 4 pens (2 single barrel, 2 double barrel) and I added the time it took over the days I worked on them. I took 9 hours to complete 4 pens with all step included. They were segmented but it big easy pieces.
When I was making a run of Inlace Slims I was drilling, tubing, turning, finishing and assembling 10-15 pens at a time ad was down to an average of 30-40 minutes per pen. I was not happy with many. I had an issue with the assembly on them.
I could do it again and make them better now but I want to enjoy this stress relief now and not stress about a dead line of a pen that didnt come out right working at a hobby that was ment to be a stress relief.
Enjoy the ride. Speed will come overtime if you want it.
 

BigguyZ

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I guess I'm one of the assembly line turners. I'm trying to build up enough stock to do shows. Also, I don't find drilling, painting (for acrylics), and gluing fun- so I prefer to do it all at once. It's just that much more efficient. Especially if there's an error when turning the pen to size, I can just move to another pen.

But I do take my time with each pen, on each step. I don't rush, as I know that'll lead to errors.

I'd still say that it takes me a total of 1-2 hours per non-wood pen, and 2-3 hours for the wood pens. But if you take into consideration additional time factors that go into the projects, like stabalizing all of my wood blanks, that adds more to how many hours it takes.

When people ask how long it take me, I usually say that a pen will take me anywhere between 2-4 hours to make. Given the $60-$70 average cost of my pens, that isn't a very high hourly wage, so it makes people feel better that I'm not making too much off of them (people are funny that way).
 

Rick_G

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I can spend most of a day on a slim. It's getting a CA finish on it I'm happy with that takes the time. I don't use accelerator so I put on a coat of CA then go do something else for 15 or 20 minutes. Repeat till I get the buildup I want then sand and polish. Then start the other barrel. Good thing I'm not in this to make money.
 

DBMyers

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A lot depends on the type of pen you're turning but in general it usually takes me about an hour and 15 minutes "maybe a little longer" to complete a pen. Now if you don't want to apply a CA finish or caliper the fit than you could turn one in about 15 to 20 minutes, but where is the fun in that?
 

spnemo

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When everything goes "perfectly" I can turn a single tube pen in about 45 minutes. However, most of my pens take about 2+ hours. If I screw up, it will take much, much longer.
 

lazyguy

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The Colony TX
Thank you for all the responses. I don't want to give the impression that I am impatient with my turning, so perhaps a bit more information would be helpful. I am a full time teacher/debate coach with a two year old at home. My wife and I just bought our first home and are a couple of weeks away from closing. My tools are currently set up in my father's garage. On the rare days when I feel I can sneak away to turn something, I always feel rushed because time is short. (I imagine that this problem will mostly go away once I am in my own place and can just slip into the garage for a bit.) I just started selling a few pens, (buying MM pads to use on my CA finish has really increased interest) and I hope to be able to continue to sell. Going into this hobby, I had no idea how long it would take me to turn a pen. Based on the posts that I mentioned before, I could only conclude that I was extremely slow and was wondering what I was doing wrong. After reading what the rest of you have posted, I am feeling much better. :)

About an hour and a half plus or minus thirty minutes. Given your situation you might want to cut drill and tube up a hand full so that the next time at your father's you can feel more productive.
 

rjwolfe3

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When you guys refer to how long, are you including how long you are waiting for the glue or finish to dry? Or is that the time that you actually spend actually working on the pen?

For me I like to wait over night for my tubes to dry after gluing even though I am using 5 min epoxy. I also like to wait for my CA finish to dry overnight before wet sanding. I know neither are necessary but both seem to work better for me.

I do believe that production turners like Alan Shaw and Brian Goulet turn out many, many pens in a day or else how would they be able to complete 1,200 pen orders? Having seen their work I would definitely call it professional (not fishermen:rolleyes:).

I think for those that turn as a hobby can take as long as they want on a pen. But I think that for those that want to do this full time as a business, they have to learn the tricks to turn out quality pens quickly. I wish I knew those tricks because it takes me forever to turn out pens.:redface:
 

azamiryou

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A great question, and something I've been wondering about. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in not being able to crank out dozens of pens a day.

I also spend time sitting in my shop looking at the parts ... thinking (some may say over thinking :wink:)

I do this, too. Every pen I make, I carefully consider which fittings to put with a blank, which end is which, where the center band will go, what shape I want to turn it.

I have no intention of making this a business.

I do. But I'm trying to reach a market where I can "create" rather than "produce". (Good thing, too, given how long it takes me to make a pen!)
 

mrcook4570

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While I agree that most people who claim to make pens quickly also make poor quality pens, I can assure you that it is possible to make excellent quality pens with a CA finish in a short period of time.
 
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ed4copies

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While I agree that most people who claim to make pens quickly also make poor quality pens, I can assure you that it is possible to make excellent quality pens with a CA finish in a short period of time.


And, if you use resins, that time is further shortened.

As has been mentioned, if you do shows, FAST is important. Since we quit nearly all shows, I have no deadline and enjoy turning more.

So, take your time and have fun---what difference does it make how fast someone ELSE can do it???
 
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