Making 90 pens

[yorkie]

Time to get ready for some upcoming shows and top up my pen inventory.

Here are 90 pens I have spent the day organizing and getting ready to start cutting. I have also included the excel spreadsheet I built for planning out and keeping track.

Wish me luck!

 

[firewhatfire]

Whats the big hunk of wood in the 3rd pic?

CA Finish on all of em?

 

[magpens]

You seem to be incredibly well organized !!! Good for you !

Third pic, bottom row ... all the pen kits seem to be in the same packaging. I can't read the name on the packaging partly because it is upside down and partly because it is obscured by blanks and other stuff. Looks like "Accord". Can you please tell me what it is , please .

 

[Charlie_W]

You seem to be incredibly well organized !!! Good for you !

Third pic, bottom row ... all the pen kits seem to be in the same packaging. I can't read the name on the packaging partly because it is upside down and partly because it is obscured by blanks and other stuff. Looks like "Accord". Can you please tell me what it is , please .

Accord pen kit is available from Woodcraft!

 

[Charlie_W]

Stephen....Go Man Go! You must be running off a Duracell battery and coffee!
Can't wait to see the after pic!

 

[Tom T]

Amazing, lots great turning.

 

[yorkie]

Whats the big hunk of wood in the 3rd pic?

CA Finish on all of em?

Big hunk of wood is USS North Carolina Teak.

Yes, all of them will have CA finish. That's what takes a long time.

 

[yorkie]

You seem to be incredibly well organized !!! Good for you !

Third pic, bottom row ... all the pen kits seem to be in the same packaging. I can't read the name on the packaging partly because it is upside down and partly because it is obscured by blanks and other stuff. Looks like "Accord". Can you please tell me what it is , please .

They are Accord from Woodcraft. $20 a kit but fantastic qualify.

 

[yorkie]

Stephen....Go Man Go! You must be running off a Duracell battery and coffee!
Can't wait to see the after pic!

Thanks a lot.

 

[WriteON]

Get your lathe hummin'. Have fun...$ell those pen$.

 

[yorkie]

My process is that I cut them all-takes a day.

Tube them all and then shave them all close to the tube-takes a day.

Mill the edges with a pen mill and then drip a little thin CA onto the tips, around the tubes, and wipe off any excess.

After all that, they're ready to turn.

I'll pick about 10 to 15 each weekend and turn them all on one day and then CA them the same day. Leave them overnight to cure and then sand the tips to get off the CA overlap and square the blanks one last time (I use a Jet 9" cabinet sander for that) I then dip the tips in thin CA to seal them before I polish them and then assemble them.

That's my system. A little nutty in places, but it works for me and I don't have any problems with blistering, cloudiness, spotting or cracking of the finish.

 

[Tom T]

Thank you for that run down on what you do. I will give it a try, but not on 90 pens. I hope the process works one at a time.

 

[jfoh]

I finished my last large batch of pens for the local high school graduation. Just over 200 pens with the names and date engraved. Takes about a hundred hours spread out over a few months working in batches of 25 to 50 in each step. This is my last year doing it so I am both happy to be done and sad at the same time. Your system looks fairly well organized and works for you which is all that matters. Good sales.

 

[Kragax]

I finished my last large batch of pens for the local high school graduation. Just over 200 pens with the names and date engraved. Takes about a hundred hours spread out over a few months working in batches of 25 to 50 in each step. This is my last year doing it so I am both happy to be done and sad at the same time. Your system looks fairly well organized and works for you which is all that matters. Good sales.

How do you do the engraving?

 

[hcpens]

How are keeping track of the cost / sale / profit #'s? Liked the spreadsheet, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[yorkie]

How are keeping track of the cost / sale / profit #'s? Liked the spreadsheet, thanks for sharing it with us.

I use quicken to keep track of all sales.

Typically, I make about 400 to 600 percent markup per pen. I sell them between $80 to $140 And upwards of $190.

 

[yorkie]

Here they are: Marked out, Cut, Drilled, Tubed, pen milled, reemed and tips dipped in thin CA. By the time I was finished, it took me an hour to get them all back on the right kits.

Now, my plan is to take 15 at a time, each weekend, to the lathe and turn, sand, CA and assemble.

I should be done late April. Then I'll be all ready for the shows and on to another project; probably a coffee table!

 

[OZturner]

Stephen, Your Organisation is Incredible.
I think I commented last year, on how Impressed I was.
I am envious of your Organisation.
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[dartman]

Good luck at your shows.Sell sell sell money money money win win win....

 

[yorkie]

First 20 pens

Firrst 10 of the 20...Left to right: English Wych Elm burl with Blue Lapis stone inlay, Jerusalem Olive Wood, Chechen burl with steel powder inlay throughout, English Holly Oak, Crosscut Cocobolo, black line spalted English beech, Curly Afromosia, American Big Leaf Maple burl and curly two-tone Maple.

All are on Accord pen kit with CA finish.

 

[yorkie]

Here are other 10

Second 10 of the 20...From left to right: Curacao burl, Thuya burl, Black & White Ebony (I was toying with whether or not to fill the hole in the middle but decided to leave it alone and place on the center of the pen), Crosscut Cocobolo, Cloud Figured Ziricote, Afzelia Xylay pair from the same block, Shakespeare acrylic, two-tone Red Mallee burl with brass inlay and After the Fire acrylic.

First five are Emperor kits from Woodcraft, middle two are Liberty kits, then a Inertia kit and the last two are Phoenix rising.

All are CA finish, except acrylics of course.

 

[Charlie_W]

Great job on your pens Stephen! They should sell quickly!

 

[magpens]

Those look beautiful !! Thank you so much, Stephen, for posting pictures and for the kit and blank details !!

 

[PenAddict]

I shop Woodcraft and never see such a selection of wood blanks. What's your source and do you hand pick them. It would take me forever just to collect such a wonderful collection of blanks. Great job!

 

[yorkie]

I shop Woodcraft and never see such a selection of wood blanks. What's your source and do you hand pick them. It would take me forever just to collect such a wonderful collection of blanks. Great job!

Sorry it's taken me a while to reply. I've been turning all 70 blanks that are left and getting set up for the sanding and the finishing of them all.

I've been collecting blanks for years. Mostly, I get them from Ebay and then contact the guy directly to see what else he has and if I can buy his private stash. Mostly, be willing to pay for the best of the best. I bought some Malaysian Blackwood burl a couple of years ago and paid $30 per blank and it is ugly wood when finished; what a waste. I like black line spalted.

 

[INSierra]

Whats the big hunk of wood in the 3rd pic?

CA Finish on all of em?

Big hunk of wood is USS North Carolina Teak.

Yes, all of them will have CA finish. That's what takes a long time.

Did you order the teak from the museum? I'm was looking at ordering one of the pieces they sell for $35 and make some blanks out of it. I was just worried that the wood would not be good. If you did get it from the museum, was the quality decent?

Thanks!
Brian

 

[PR_Princess]

What a wonderful assortment of pens Stephen! I am always mesmerized by looking at your wonderful creations. You are indeed a master with wood!

 

[yorkie]

Whats the big hunk of wood in the 3rd pic?

CA Finish on all of em?

Big hunk of wood is USS North Carolina Teak.

Yes, all of them will have CA finish. That's what takes a long time.

Did you order the teak from the museum? I'm was looking at ordering one of the pieces they sell for $35 and make some blanks out of it. I was just worried that the wood would not be good. If you did get it from the museum, was the quality decent?

Thanks!
Brian

Yes, Brian. I buy the $35 blocks. The wood is perfect but I always crosscut it. It makes it quite a challenge to drill and turn, but it gives you that nice shimmer and crosscut pattern. I save the sawdust to repair it if I need to or sometimes I fill with aluminum or brass powder. Good luck.

 

[yorkie]

The remaining 70 have all been turned and now everything is set up and organized for sanding and applying BLO.

I am most excited about the graduate magnetic with crosscut zebra wood and the Smoke Tree, which is bright yellow and has quilting and burl throughout.

 

[yorkie]

All sanded and BLO applied. Now, getting set up for the long process of Ca finish on each one.

 

[Charlie_W]

All sanded and BLO applied. Now, getting set up for the long process of Ca finish on each one.

Don't bump that table

Looking good! Go Stephen Go!

 

[yorkie]

The remaining 72 pens have all been CA'd, shaved and the tips CA'd for sealing and are ready for the final fun part-polishing and assembly.

Here are the first 4. All Celtic Cross pens with the addition of the Celtic clip. From left to right:

Ancient Irish bog Oak
Gold Amboyna burl
Quilted Sapelle
Two tone Verawood

All are CA finish of course.

 

[magpens]

Those are SOOOOOO nice !!! Any problems with the Celtic transmission ? I understand it can give trouble but maybe PSI has had that fixed.

 

[yorkie]

Those are SOOOOOO nice !!! Any problems with the Celtic transmission ? I understand it can give trouble but maybe PSI has had that fixed.

I did have some trouble with them. too tight when the cap is pressed on and squeaky. A little fussy to get the refill into, so finesse is advised. I added a couple of drops of fine light oil and it is now quite smooth.

 

[Tom T]

Amazing sir. Great work they are beautiful. Wishing you the best in selling them all.

 

[WriteON]

Nicely done. Thanks for posting. I'm a big fan of the Celtic.

 

[Quality Pen]

That bog oak is gorgeous... really a fan of the texture it shows.

Do you ever have problems with it cracking though?

 

[yorkie]

That bog oak is gorgeous... really a fan of the texture it shows.

Do you ever have problems with it cracking though?

First time I've ever turned it, but it went straight forward.

 

[yorkie]

Here are tonights finished pens:

Quilted Smoke Tree burl (rarer than Hen's teeth) on full sized Statesman. The photos do not do it justice; possibly the most exceptional piece of wood I've ever seen and a challenge to pull a blank out of the block.

Crosscut Zebra wood on Graduate RB. Crosscut Zebra wood is so difficult to turn. Eventurally, I just switch to 100 grit sandpaper and take it down using that. Takes a while but well worth it.

Laminated Walnut and Cherry burl (not mine, I bought it this way) very tricky to turn. I originally planned it for a different pen and it shattered. I was able to recover the remainder of the blank and get a sketch pencil out of it.

All are CA finish.

 

[JimB]

You get an amazing CA finish. Thanks for sharing your work as you progress through the stages.