Brand New To Turning and Pen Making

[Pridenallcustom]

Hi My name is Aimee and I am a stay at home mom of 4. and I have recently added pen making to my list of crafts I sell. I have never used a lathe. My Pen lathe arrived a few days ago with my starter kit. I have made 3 so far. And a mini baseball bat for fun for my son.

The Kits I got are replaceable ball Point pieces. So my question is... what is the post popular pen type (refillable, replaceable, etc.). And what websites do you recommend ordering Blanks and pen kits from. Thank you in advance.

 

[MPVic]

Welcome from Canada, Aimee! You have come to an amazing group of pen-makers who collectively have many years of experience for you to access.

 

[Alan Morrison]

Welcome to the forum, Aimee.
Ask plenty and check out the library.
I can't help with your question as I'm in the UK

 

[PBorowick]

Welcome Aimee.
Check out the vendors forum here, great bunch of people and they are very helpful with their products.
I'm pretty new to this myself and have been learning a lot.

 

[Stevej72]

Welcome from Montana, Aimee! Looks like you're off to a good start. Cool little baseball bat.

 

[magpens]

Hi Aimee !!! . Welcome to IAP !!!

 

[howsitwork]

Welcome and well done. I started with slim line pens as they're cheap and good for practice . Don't know what sells well over there but this is definately the place to ask

with 4 children How do you find the time to turn ???

 

[Jsavage4]

Welcome! We need more dedicated women in our organization. Try to stay away from Slim Line kits, even though they are cheaper. While you are learning, go for single blank kits. They are so much easier.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[bsshog40]

Welcome Aimee! Looks like you're getting off to a good start. I like your bat. You've done pretty decent on your first pens also. That's a start to getting used to your lathe and tool. I started 1 year ago myself and my first turn is rather comical now. Good luck! You've come to the right place!

 

[jttheclockman]

Welcome aboard. Hope you stick around and jump in the fray. As far as kits go try the one piece kits along the Sierra line. They go by many names but all basically the same with different etchings on them. Also the Zen kit with a magnetic top is a nice kit and longer blank to show off those really stunning blanks. As far as dealers there are many good ones and they all give good service. I won't list them because advertising is not some thing I like to do for these dealers but you may have others jump into with names. Good luck and hope you keep showing us your work and if any questions just ask.

 

[DrD]

Welcome aboard! At UT, Knoxville, had a fraternity brother from Winchester. I grew up in Oak Ridge. Sounds like you have a business plan in place, selling pens with your other crafts. Would love to hear about those crafts.

As to pens - this kind of depends on your target price point. The less expensive pens will generally be ball point with Cross - screw in type refills. There are numerous very attractive pens based on cross refills; favorites of mine are the Euro Twist kits, Streamline 7mm kits and the Roundtop 7mm kits. Easy to make, sell well, and are generally not that expensive. Google the names and you'll find suppliers. Check the suppliers section here and check the recent discussion on pen kit quality.

Keep us posted with pics!

DrD

 

[randyrls]

Aimee; Welcome! The Vendors forum here has people who are dedicated to selling only pens and small turning related items. There are many suppliers of both blanks and pen kits. There are only two or three manufacturers of the kits. Distributors will sometimes (often) rename a pen kit. If you want to see a selection of pens in person, there are Woodcraft stores in Nashville and Chattahoochee. Exotic Blanks and WoodturningZ, are good. The library here has lots of articles on kits and techniques.

 

[hbillings]

Welcome from Dallas!

Echoing jttheclockman - Sierra, Gatsby, Wall Street II are essentially the same kit. These are easy and more forgiving of mistakes on the barrel ends than most. One thing to note, I find these to be a bit thin on the ends which causes the brass tube to shine through on many of the prettiest acrylic blanks. You can paint the tubes before gluing, but this is not something I care to do.

 

[Jim15]

Welcome Aimee.