Boys of summer revisited

[its_virgil]

Some of you have seen these pens and some of you haven't. I made a few of them today and decided to post a picture of one. It is made from some scrap mahonony molding I salvaged from a new house construction. It was a crown molding about 1 ft wide and almost an inch thick. Needless to say the house is not in my neighborhood...but the molding was free. Enjoy and as always comments welcome.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[btboone]

It's a hit! I'll bet people love those.

 

[JimGo]

Looks like you've hit a homerun Don! []

 

[jvsank]

Very nice

 

[gerberpens]

Great job Don. What kind of pen kit is that?

 

[dubdrvrkev]

What timing we have [] I like that kit, a little more authentic than my slimline version.

 

[rtjw]

Great pen. You need to write a tutorial on it.

 

[swm6500]

Very nice Don, I like what you have done.

 

[its_virgil]

Thanks all. The kit is from England. I could not find a baseball bat pen kit anywhere in the US. It is a CraftSupplies UK kit. A special mandrel is needed but I used the desk pen mandrel from woodcraft. Easy pen to make with the proper mandrel. I did divise a way to make the pen using our regular mandrel but once I found the desk pen mandrel is was much easier. The kits are rather pricey. 5 kits for $25 (after currency conversion) or 50 kits run about $4 after currency conversion. I sold 30 last spring/summer for baseball/softball awards at $25 each. Woodchuckers in Canada may have them.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[DCBluesman]

Originally posted by its_virgil
Woodchuckers in Canada may have them.

Woodchuckers does carry them along with the special mandrel. I just received an order from them last week. For those of you with a UK bent, they also carry cricket bat kits (almost the same) at the same price!

 

[Deere41h]

Don that is a neat looking kit. How did you stumble onto it? Has to sell well during baseball season....especially to the kids

 

[Glenn McCullough]

Don,
Looks great! bet it was fun to make. Hard to tell its size, what are the finished dimensions?
Glenn

 

[its_virgil]

John,
I saw some cheap giveaway pens similar and started looking and searching for baseball bat kits and stumbled onto it.

Lou,
I too have the special mandrel that CSUK sells for the pen, but the desk pen mandrel that is sold (or used to be sold) by woodcraft is much better...it has threads onto which the blanks are screwed..the mandrel I was sold had no threads and was confusing for me to figure out. If you know how to use it, bring it with you to Provo and you can teach me how to use it. HINT: Make the handle section a little longer than the (and I use the term loosly) instructions show. I had a few handles break on the first ones, but making it about .25" longer seemed to help. The refill that comes with the kit it terrible (and blue), but I get cross type refills, remove the black threaded thingie and shorten it to match the refill that comes in the kit or make the bat a little longer to handle the corss refill. Glad to know that Woodchuckers carries the kits. May be a little cheaper that getting them from the UK.

Glen,
This particular pen in 6.18 inches long. I make them a little longer sometimes. A fun kit to make and the kids love them. Our HS baseball team is in the playoffs and if they win this weekend they will be in the state tournament, and if they happen to win the whole thing, I will sell lots of them, engraved with State Champions, bla bla bla.

Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[alamocdc]

Cool pen, Don. Just shows to go you... there's always a way. []

 

[jvsank]

Lou, I went to Woodchuckers web site didn't see anything about baseball pen kits could you tell how to find them there thanks

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

Pretty cool pen, Don. Looks like it would be a good seller. I also checked Woodchuckers and couldn't find it. Maybe it's too early in the morning and I'm just not wide awake yet.[]

 

[MDWine]

definitely nifty!

 

[DCBluesman]

The Woodchuckers site is pretty weak, but they carry almost everything that Craft Supplies U.K. carries. The model number is IB441D-5 for a 5-pack of the baseball pen kits. If you want the special mandrel, just ask for it.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Cute Idea, I like it

 

[its_virgil]

They are not on the website which is why I did not know they handled the kit in the beginning and foung them at www.poolewood.co.uk/acatalog/Baseball_or_Cricket_Bat_Pen_Kit.html or use http://tinyurl.com/9c6gd

They show them in 50 pks but will sell in 5 pks as mentioned earlier.

I will check with woodchuckers for my nest order.

Lou,
Did you purchase some from woodchuckers? Did the bat have the chrome end or not? What was the price from woodchuckers.

Maybe we could get a group buy and share a 50 pk or two which makes the kits close to $4.00 from poolewood. Just a thought. I would like to get maybe 20 more if someone else wants to share the other 30. I will need some if out baseball team wins the state tournament.

Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[DCBluesman]

Originally posted by its_virgil
<br />Lou,
Did you purchase some from woodchuckers? Did the bat have the chrome end or not? What was the price from woodchuckers.

Don--per a post you made sometime in the past, I had found these at CS-UK. I think you also pointed us to a tutorial on them. (http://www.stinggroup.addr.com/projects/bat/) I bookmarked Woodchuckers, which is where I got some about 2 weeks ago. I also had the Poolewood link (again, probably from you!) but the postage was much cheaper from Canada.

The kits I ordered have the gold end and were about $4.75 after currency conversion (the weak dollar is killing me).

I'd be glad to order 10 more as these will always be good to have on hand for special occasion gifts.

 

[Fleabit]

Looks good.

 

[jvsank]

Thanks Lou and Don