robutacion
Member
Hi Everyone,
My name is George Valentine, "robutacion" on all woodworking forums where I'm a member of, male, 51 years of age, early retire due to spinal complications, Portuguese born (you will see that from the way I write stuff...!:biggrin, in Australia for 21 years (already?), totally timber addicted, born around sawdust, lived with sawdust on my nostrils, and I hope to get a bit more of that before is time for me to go...!:wink:
I reckon there will be a few people here that already know me from the Aussie and from Penturner's Paradise forums, as I use the same name, avatar and signature.
I collect lots of timbers, that would normally and otherwise be burnt or destroyed in some way, take it home, well the home is full so now I rent a small open paddock near the house. I started by turning lots of it into bowls, plates, platters, vases, etc., selling some of the blanks also and in between. After getting to the conclusion that, these items don't really sell that well around here, and that is only some many bowls one can offer as a gift to the same person, I decided to cut some of my 30 timber species that I have all from the local area (town) or within 30km radius, make them into pen blanks and offer pen makers a number of blanks in return for a finished pen of any kind. The idea was to basically exchange some of my wood with finished pens so that I could have something else to offer as a gift, not having to make the pens myself. To cut a long story short, I in the process I got very involved with pen making and pen makers and certainly, I got totally hooked with the world of pen making. I should say that the process of utilizing and processing my timbers as pen blanks, did please immensely, as I finally could use all those nice smaller bits of wood that I just couldn't dump or burn (oh yeah, I use lots of firewood, so nothing is wasted!). After building a reasonable stock of pen blanks, I started to offer some of them for sale, as I just had too many of them and I needed to recover some of the costs involved in the process (pocket money). I started to make also my own pens, one every couple of weeks or so, and people that used some of my woods, started to request some of the blanks they liked the most within the ones I send on the blanks to pens offer, so I decided to make a pack mix with one of each species I've got, allowing people to try a few not known Aussie woods, not available commercially. These packs were requested from places all over the world, mainly Canada, US and the UK, and now people are requesting some top-ups of the blanks they like the most. I also started to make my timbers available on eBay to help the sales, and on my web site, you will find lots of info on lots of stuff I do.
I'm very passionate about my timbers, and I post regularly about them, providing always lots of pics, which people seems to like. Be worn, I write funny and long posts...!
I'm not a business, nor I want to become one, my timbers are sold because I just never stop collecting them (I'm getting pretty slow with it now), I can't turn them all and I need to recover some of its costs so I sell them at a very economic prices, I sent them everywhere, which pleases turners and pen makers with less economical "capabilities", but it seems to displease some of the business people, that don't like me much! don't be offended, I understand...! don't worry my sales are too minimal to even bother, and I spent all my money back into the industry, in pen blanks, consumables, tools, equipment, etc.
There is someone that doesn't like this putting all the pocket money back into the industry (sort of thing) and that is my lovely wife Merissa, which without I couldn't handle half of what I do. She is my helper from the very beginning of the process (normally cutting the trees, or cutting the timber after the trees have been felled), loading them into the trailer, etc., etc. In the pen making process, she's got the job of sanding the blanks down, numbering them with the respective identification number, and wax them, so I can understand why she gets a bit "off" with the pocket money issue but, she loves collecting and using hand made pens so, every time she sees a pen made on the forum (any forum) that she likes, I will do my very best to get it for her, regardless of costs! I'm a lucky man...!:wink::biggrin:
Enough of this for now, thanks for your time and I will see you around!
PS: Sorry , I forgot to tell that Fleureau Peninsula, is situated about 80km south of Adelaide in SA, just on the edge of the Adelaide Hills!
Cheers
George
My name is George Valentine, "robutacion" on all woodworking forums where I'm a member of, male, 51 years of age, early retire due to spinal complications, Portuguese born (you will see that from the way I write stuff...!:biggrin, in Australia for 21 years (already?), totally timber addicted, born around sawdust, lived with sawdust on my nostrils, and I hope to get a bit more of that before is time for me to go...!:wink:
I reckon there will be a few people here that already know me from the Aussie and from Penturner's Paradise forums, as I use the same name, avatar and signature.
I collect lots of timbers, that would normally and otherwise be burnt or destroyed in some way, take it home, well the home is full so now I rent a small open paddock near the house. I started by turning lots of it into bowls, plates, platters, vases, etc., selling some of the blanks also and in between. After getting to the conclusion that, these items don't really sell that well around here, and that is only some many bowls one can offer as a gift to the same person, I decided to cut some of my 30 timber species that I have all from the local area (town) or within 30km radius, make them into pen blanks and offer pen makers a number of blanks in return for a finished pen of any kind. The idea was to basically exchange some of my wood with finished pens so that I could have something else to offer as a gift, not having to make the pens myself. To cut a long story short, I in the process I got very involved with pen making and pen makers and certainly, I got totally hooked with the world of pen making. I should say that the process of utilizing and processing my timbers as pen blanks, did please immensely, as I finally could use all those nice smaller bits of wood that I just couldn't dump or burn (oh yeah, I use lots of firewood, so nothing is wasted!). After building a reasonable stock of pen blanks, I started to offer some of them for sale, as I just had too many of them and I needed to recover some of the costs involved in the process (pocket money). I started to make also my own pens, one every couple of weeks or so, and people that used some of my woods, started to request some of the blanks they liked the most within the ones I send on the blanks to pens offer, so I decided to make a pack mix with one of each species I've got, allowing people to try a few not known Aussie woods, not available commercially. These packs were requested from places all over the world, mainly Canada, US and the UK, and now people are requesting some top-ups of the blanks they like the most. I also started to make my timbers available on eBay to help the sales, and on my web site, you will find lots of info on lots of stuff I do.
I'm very passionate about my timbers, and I post regularly about them, providing always lots of pics, which people seems to like. Be worn, I write funny and long posts...!
I'm not a business, nor I want to become one, my timbers are sold because I just never stop collecting them (I'm getting pretty slow with it now), I can't turn them all and I need to recover some of its costs so I sell them at a very economic prices, I sent them everywhere, which pleases turners and pen makers with less economical "capabilities", but it seems to displease some of the business people, that don't like me much! don't be offended, I understand...! don't worry my sales are too minimal to even bother, and I spent all my money back into the industry, in pen blanks, consumables, tools, equipment, etc.
There is someone that doesn't like this putting all the pocket money back into the industry (sort of thing) and that is my lovely wife Merissa, which without I couldn't handle half of what I do. She is my helper from the very beginning of the process (normally cutting the trees, or cutting the timber after the trees have been felled), loading them into the trailer, etc., etc. In the pen making process, she's got the job of sanding the blanks down, numbering them with the respective identification number, and wax them, so I can understand why she gets a bit "off" with the pocket money issue but, she loves collecting and using hand made pens so, every time she sees a pen made on the forum (any forum) that she likes, I will do my very best to get it for her, regardless of costs! I'm a lucky man...!:wink::biggrin:
Enough of this for now, thanks for your time and I will see you around!
PS: Sorry , I forgot to tell that Fleureau Peninsula, is situated about 80km south of Adelaide in SA, just on the edge of the Adelaide Hills!
Cheers
George
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