Beads?? Help please

[Erik831]

Hey guys didnt know where to post this question, hope this is the right place. So there's a lady that wants me to turn some beads for her shes sending me the wood but I rarely turn beads so I don't know how much to charge her a piece . Beads will be approx 23-25mm. Wood provided is one pen blank 1"x1"x5 and one 1.5"x1.5" by 18". Maybe is not worth the hassle?? Thanks in advance.

 

[HamTurns]

So she wants you to turn (about)1" balls with a hole in them? How many does she expect from the blanks?

If you have a sphere tool this would be easy, do you? Without a sphere tool they can be hard to get "round" without making a bunch beforehand as practice.

So it will be labor only because she's supplying to the wood. As far as how much to charge her, that will depend on how long it takes you to turn and finish each one.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

Happy turning
Tom

 

[Erik831]

So she wants you to turn (about)1" balls with a hole in them? How many does she expect from the blanks? If you have a sphere tool this would be easy, do you? Without a sphere tool they can be hard to get "round" without making a bunch beforehand as practice. So it will be labor only because she's supplying to the wood. As far as how much to charge her, that will depend on how long it takes you to turn and finish each one. Good luck, I hope it works out for you. Happy turning Tom

Hi Tom I don't have a sphere tool I don't even know what it is.. She wants something like this

 

[eranox]

You can probably rig up a makeshift mandrel from an appropriately sized bolt and nut, maybe chucked in a drill chuck. Drill the blank first, then slice off bead-width pieces, mount and turn.

However, I would think that people who are used to buying wooden beads at third-world labor prices might be a bit shocked at what each bead would cost for your time. There's nothing wrong with doing someone a favor and working for less than you normally might, but it can cause problems down the road when she or her friends want repeats of the deal, and it cuts into your normal business.

 

[Erik831]

You can probably rig up a makeshift mandrel from an appropriately sized bolt and nut, maybe chucked in a drill chuck. Drill the blank first, then slice off bead-width pieces, mount and turn. However, I would think that people who are used to buying wooden beads at third-world labor prices might be a bit shocked at what each bead would cost for your time. There's nothing wrong with doing someone a favor and working for less than you normally might, but it can cause problems down the road when she or her friends want repeats of the deal, and it cuts into your normal business.

Thanks for your input , I did forget to mention that I don't know this lady personally , she contacted me to my etsy store. I'm afraid this would be time consuming . She suggested 1.50 -$2 per bead(finished with oil) any one here interested in doing it?

 

[Woodkiller]

I have done something similar once, and this is how I did it. Might help you, might not. Turn it round between centers, then take an xacto saw and while running, cut it most of the way through spaced however wide the beads need to be. Then with the point of the skew, round over the edges and then sand. Remove and cut apart with whichever saw of your choice and drill your hole. Should take very little time and you don't have to worry about doing a bunch of little pieces.

 

[Dan Hintz]

Thanks for your input , I did forget to mention that I don't know this lady personally , she contacted me to my etsy store. I'm afraid this would be time consuming . She suggested 1.50 -$2 per bead(finished with oil) any one here interested in doing it?

At $2/bead, you could grind a tool just for this job and come out WAY ahead within an hour. I bet you could get a bead in every 30 seconds once you got poppin'...

 

[Erik831]

At $2/bead, you could grind a tool just for this job and come out WAY ahead within an hour. I bet you could get a bead in every 30 seconds once you got poppin'...

She didn't want to do it for $2 a piece she said $1.50 , and I'm just guessing it'll be around 30 beads so that's $45 bucks i told her I couldn't do it for less than $2 . If you want to do it I'll send her your email and you guys talk it over

 

[Dan Hintz]

Pffft, if she only wants to do a handful of beads, you'll lose your hat just making up the custom tooling designed to make the process quick.

Not worth it unless someone is really bored... I'd pass.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

I have a mandrel(mini) with a 60 degree angle for the tailstock. Made these mandrels justfor this type of turning (bead making). Contact me if interested.

 

[monophoto]

I don't try to make money with my turning - it's a hobby and I do it for fun.

That said, if I were asked by a total stranger to take on this assignment, I would set a price that I consider reasonable for the work based on my material cost and time. If the person who asks for the work accepts that price, then we proceed. Otherwise, I have other things to do.

On the other hand, if I were asked by a real friend to do it, I might look at it as an opportunity to have fun and possibly learning some new skills, and the price could be quite different.