Originally posted by TribalRR
Hi everyone! I had thoughts about making these blanks to sell to you all for your pens, but I not sure with all the labor if it would be worth it... Could you give me some feed back as to wether there would be an intrest and how much you would be willing to pay. Obvisouly the choice of wood/woods would effect the price, but I don't see anything short of snakewood being a problem. The blank in the picture is solid wood (Cocobolo), but the herringbone pattern would lend itself to multi wood designs. It is .75" in diameter and 3.75" long. It consist of 76 pieces, so a full 6" blank would be around 122 pieces and would require about 18 cubic inches of wood before milling. I am working on another which uses thiner material. Because of the angles, what was 3/16" thick pieces became 1/4"; though this would mean more pieces... Anyway, I welcome any and all comments. Thanks! -Chip
FYI: I don't care for the solid cocobolo because I think the grain lines take away from the pattern but its my first attempt and I thought it would look good...
I'm with Scott and George on this one. TribalRR clearly began this thread asking if there was interest in buying his blanks. He then goes on to ask us how much we would be willing to pay. At that point his post belongs in the classified .... it's an ad.
It isn't until later in the thread that the discussion turns to the process he followed in making them.
I think the mission of the "Advanced Penmaking" Forum is pretty well spelled out in the introductory post to the forum:
"Welcome to the Advanced Pen Making forum!
The purpose of this forum is to discuss design possibilities and challenges beyond those normally associated with kit pens. Making a closed end pen is a nice modification and is one step away from a total kit pen. Making a closed end pen where you make your own threads in the barrel, and do away with the brass tubes and bushings is another step. Disassembling the nib and making a custom nib holder is yet another step. Deciding to make your own center bands, accent rings and clips is really customizing your craft. The challenges and hurdles you meet along the way to reaching these milestones is what this forum is all about.
It would be beneficial and expected for those participating and posting on this forum to at least have a working knowledge of kit fabricating and finishing methods as these topics are discussed elsewhere on the forum.
This forum is not designed to discourage anyone from continuing to make kit pens but is to explore alternatives and possibilities beyond brass tubes and bushings.
Thanks to George Butcher for recommending that we create this forum, and for supplying the welcome message above. "
Just my opinion but I think it's pretty clear that TribalRR made an honest mistake. Let's give him a little room to breathe and continue to focus the discussion on the process of making the herringbones. Not really a mystery there .... but, a good discussion nonetheless.