Wondering why

[Daniel]

Lou's post as well as a couple of others got me to thinking back just a few years.
when I started turning pens it was pretty much considered a craft for those that wanted to turn or work with wood that really had no skill at either. It was also pretty common for "Real" woodworkers and turners to think that we had no desire to gain any real skills.
In the past few years it has been demonstrated, Not at all by accident, that penturning can and does demonstrate a well honed level of skill. many Woodworking magazines have contained articals specifically on pens in the last few years. and the craft has gained a completely different reputation.
It is growing at an astounding rate. changes are comeing faster than anyone could be expected to keep up with them. This does not mean that improvments cannot or shoudl not be made. corrections in defects identified and fixed. if that fix is lock tight, then so be it. if it is informing a manufacturer of a weak link in a design. this is a better answer in my opinion. either way we are the crafts people. we are the ones that take a material and construct a product. the quality in the end falls on us.

 

[jttheclockman]

John,

I cannot speak for the quality of parts in clocks which I assume from your user name that you have experience with. However, when it comes to pen kits, you need to realize that we are dealing with a hobby craft. If you have ever assembled models, you know that certain parts need to be touched up to have a good fit. To expect a 2 buck slim line to fit together like a Swiss watch is simply unrealistic in my view. Yes, we expect a higher level of quality in the higher end kits, and in my view we get it. If someone wishes to have kits with as few parts to assemble as possible, perhaps this is not the hobby for them.

If a turner desires to improve on the hobby, and make a pen worth a nice price, he cannot simply turn an acrylic to shape and snap the kit together any more than a hobby painter can finish a paint by numbers kit and expect an artist price for his masterpiece.

William

I hear what you are saying. I will tell you of an instance with an American clock insert maker. Not long ago this company was making clock inserts which are used for hobby work such as fret work clocks. The motors they were making, after a short period of time became very loud and became an annoyance to people. Now I and alot of other people have used these motors and were getting complaints about the noise level they made. At first I would take them back and replace with a motor made in Taiwain. Well I called the company on this and as well as others for they got quite afew complaints. They did a redo on their motors and to this day I say they are as good as any Taiwain made motor. My point is if people did not complain nothing would have been done and maybe these would still be on the market today and maybe people would have just stopped buying them and who knows what would have happened to the business.

There are other stories I can tell of instances where complaints have made a difference. Because there are hobby clock parts just like pen parts. So how do you know when a pen kit is flawed??? Do you go on the assumption all are flawed or wait for people to complain. To me people complaining is not good for business.


Well I guess if I want to further myself in this hobby I better start paying more attention to people's complaints and mishaps here so I know what to look for when I run into them and how to go about fixing them. I sure hope more people continue to post their findings and their fixes in the future. Hope my $25 kits get here soon so I can start gluing them up.