which supplier?

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tbrock

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Feb 2, 2010
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44
Location
Ringgold, GA
Hey Everyone,

I am a newbie to your site and have been turning for about a yr now. What I was wondering, for your standard gold pen kits, who has the best quality? The kits I am looking at are the Slimlines, Cigar, European, Wall Street II, Hart and Navigator. I am looking at Woodcraft, Rockler, Craft Supply, Beria, Penn State, and Arizonia Silohouette. I have priced several kits from all the suppliers, and some are way cheaper priced than others, but I don't know about the quality of kits. How would you rate each of the suppliers I have listed.
 
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ldb2000

ldb2000

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Laurence Harbor, NJ, USA.
Welcome to the group .
If you are buying the 24k gold kits , they are all pretty much the same . The plating will start to show signs of wear fairly quickly .
If you are buying the Ti Gold and other better platings , they are also pretty much the same but the platings will all last much longer .
Most of the vendors you mentioned sell either the Dayacom or Berrea kits packaged for them and they are the higher priced kits and much better quality then the Chinese kits that sell for a lower price like the funline kits from PSI and thier resellers and the apprentice kits from CSUSA .
 
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Wildman

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Joined
Jan 12, 2008
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1,390
Location
Jacksonville, NC, USA.
Woodcraft & Rockler sell Berea Hardwood kits, names may be different. Some stores also carry Penn State & Chinese kits too.

Arizona Silhouette is a reseller of Berea Hardwood Kits. May have better selection of wood pen blanks. I go directly to Berea for their kits, have nothing bad to say about AZ.

Penn State has several resellers, woodnwhimies.com, woodturningz.com just an example of two.

Berea Hardwoods, Crafts Supply provide a plating wear rating chart at websites and in their catalogs.

You can also check out other vendors in link section.
 
Daniel

Daniel

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Jan 1, 2004
Messages
5,921
Location
Reno, NV, USA.
As a rule of thumb there are only three companies that sell different kits.
Penn State Industries (PSI) Craft Supplies USA (CSUSA) and Berea. all others are simply resellers of these kits even if they are selling them at lower prices. Get familiar with the pens offered by these companies and then shop. Best to start your shopping spree here by asking for best prices on specific items since the members of this group know about everything all the time. even the unpublished specials and what not. The best deals seem to come from the members of this group anyway.
 
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Smitty37

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Slimline Kits

tbrock said:
Hey Everyone,

I am a newbie to your site and have been turning for about a yr now. What I was wondering, for your standard gold pen kits, who has the best quality? The kits I am looking at are the Slimlines, Cigar, European, Wall Street II, Hart and Navigator. I am looking at Woodcraft, Rockler, Craft Supply, Beria, Penn State, and Arizonia Silohouette. I have priced several kits from all the suppliers, and some are way cheaper priced than others, but I don't know about the quality of kits. How would you rate each of the suppliers I have listed.
Click to expand...

I probably have the best prices you'll find on Fancy Slimline Kits in my store. They are xiamen-rizheng from China. They take a lot of flack about "quality" but I've sold over 25000 kits and have only had to replace about two dozen kits and only 4 of those due to poor plating. They sell to members for less than the 'funlines' and are certainly worth a try.
 
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