Wood blank size

[DoubleDave]

Hi fellas,

I was fortunate enough to find some very nice wood thru this forum and would
like to give (ok, sell) some very special wood back.

The thing is the size of the wood I have is around 0.7x1.75x14" I have a bandsaw
with a very thin blade so I guess I could get 9 blanks out of there sized around 0.7*0.55*4.6 inches.

Is that still workable and sell-able or should I accept only getting 6 blanks
0.7*0.8*4.6 or maybe only even 4 blanks 0.7*0.8*5.25 and a little cutoff piece?

gr. Dave

 

[oneleggimp]

With your original dimensions you could still turn slimlines but for most anything else you'll need something a little bigger like your alternate dimensions.

 

[dankc908]

I prefer my blanks close to .75 x .75 x .5.25. That's just be based on the pens I turn.

Dan

 

[George417]

I prefer my blanks close to .75 x .75 x .5.25. That's just be based on the pens I turn.

Dan

I agree on this.

 

[magpens]

I vote for 0.7*0.8*4.6 ..... that would work for me.

 

[Edgar]

My suggestion would be .7x.8x5.25

If you are cutting them for yourself & you only planned to turn slimlines, then your 9-blank plan would be fine. However, if you want to sell them, I think you should size them for the greatest possible flexibility.

Most commercial blanks are .75x.75x5-5.5 and I try to shoot for that range up to 1x1x7 when I'm cutting pen blanks.

 

[DoubleDave]

Thanks for the input so far guys. The wood in question is pretty crazy expensive
and just the 1 slab cost me around $100 so if I only cut 4 blanks from it they
will be $25 each, the 9 blanks would be $12 each or so.

Does that info sway anyone's opinion?

gr. Dave

 

[Smitty37]

You could look at turning blanks aimed at single bbl pens lots of people turn more single bbl than others. Other wise the 5.25 length would be more popular but with a 14 inch starting length you would still have 2 good single bbl blanks with 4 full sized. At the price range you mention you might have some resistance at either size, but that being said I think the $25 for a full size blank would be more likely to fly. People I know don't put $12 blanks on slimlines.

 

[Lenny]

A blank selling for that kind of money would need to be a highly figured exotic wood or an especially nice spalted or burl piece. Photos would help.

 

[magpens]

You could sell as Sierra blanks and get 12 blanks each 0.7*0.8*2.3 ... assuming you use a saw cutting blade with very thin kerf. Minimum Sierra length is 2.2" so this would be cutting things very close to the length limit !!

You could even go to 0.7*0.55*2.3 but then people get nervous about drilling them straight with the small cross-section. Do you have a way to very accurately drill and sell them as pre-drilled ? Check my math but that would give you 18 pieces.

I think you could do a little better on the cross section with small kerf blade: 1.75/3 = 0.576 ignoring the kerf

I make a lot of Sierras and this would work for me.

What type of wood is it ?

 

[Smitty37]

You could sell as Sierra blanks and get 12 blanks each 0.7*0.8*2.3 ... assuming you use a saw cutting blade with very thin kerf. Minimum Sierra length is 2.2" so this would be cutting things very close to the length limit !!

You could even go to 0.7*0.55*2.3 but then people get nervous about drilling them straight with the small cross-section. Do you have a way to very accurately drill and sell them as pre-drilled ? Check my math but that would give you 18 pieces.

I think you could do a little better on the cross section with small kerf blade: 1.75/3 = 0.576 ignoring the kerf

I make a lot of Sierras and this would work for me.

What type of wood is it ?

I thought of that also but he would need to be a little careful, there are Sierra Clones and Gatsby clones and not all of them need exactly the same length on the tube. My Own Le Roi Elegants have a tube that is a tad shorter than a typical Sierra but there are probably some that are a tad longer. Also PSI in particular has a whole raft of pen kits now that are single bbl but need a barrel around 3" or more.

 

[BSea]

Personally, It would have to be something really unique for me to spend that much on a blank that's smaller than .75"

I think you'll get a more accurate response if you show what you're talking about. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any wood I'd spend $25 per blank. . . . . . . . . . . But I've been wrong before.

 

[Smitty37]

Personally, It would have to be something really unique for me to spend that much on a blank that's smaller than .75"

I think you'll get a more accurate response if you show what you're talking about. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any wood I'd spend $25 per blank. . . . . . . . . . . But I've been wrong before.

I suspect there aren't very many you'd be asked to....I don't recall seeing but one in that range or higher and that was from some really old Chinese chair or something.

 

[Jerry944t]

Really?

For that price the wood would have to jump onto the lathe and turn itself.

I've used some spectacular wood but it cost WAY less than you're suggesting.

A picture would help.

 

[79spitfire]

I wonder myself what kind of wood this is. $25 a blank? It would have to be some pretty unique stuff!!

 

[Smitty37]

Well I saw in another forum just today someone selling Yellow Cedar Burl pen blanks and asking $15 to $18 each which seems like a pretty husky price to me even for burl.

 

[DoubleDave]

There are actually 2 species of wood, Desert Ironwood Burl and Cocobolo Burl, the DIB
would be cheaper since the piece of wood I have for that has a better size to cut pen
blanks from.

I realise $25 per blank is a lot of money, hence my question regarding smaller sizes.

gr. Dave

 

[magpens]

I don't think your price estimation is out of the ball park. I paid over $20 for a really nice Cocobolo burl blank and I have paid around $15 for a really nice DIB blank, both sized at about 3/4" by 5". I assume yours are really nice !

 

[Smitty37]

Well it would have to be extremely nice wood for either of those to bring that money here. Nice Cocobolo starts at around $3.00 USD here and desert Ironwood burl is not at all expensive.

 

[DoubleDave]

Smitty, it's not Cocobolo, it's Cocobolo BURL.

Also, and I do mean this respectfully, I am not really going to debate the price.
It is what it is and if it sells, fine, if not it will stay with me. espescially since I am
not selling these at a profit, just recouping my money from a cut-off piece that I
cannot use for any structural parts of cuebuilding.

gr. Dave

 

[southernclay]

Look forward to seeing some pics, if it's primo stuff you very well may get your price. Either way seeing pictures of awesome wood never gets old!

 

[Smitty37]

No debate intended, I was passing along information. With you being in Europe I am not at all surprised if your pricing structure is different than ours.

There are very different taxing structures and import regulations between EU nations and the USA. Actually we can't sell cocobolo to European customers (at least I can't, there might be a way some companies can) which will also affect the price there. and I do have European customers who ask me to "adjust" invoice prices or mark the item as a "gift" to avoid or reduce some of the taxes and tariffs.