Getting to know you

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
swanny70

swanny70

Member
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
71
Location
Monticello, Wi
I thought it would be fun to learn some stuff about fellow penturners. I'm sure this has been done before, but it never hurts.
I would like to know....
How long you have been turning?
What was your best experience?
What was your worst experience?

I will go first (of course),
I have been turning for 9 months and still love it. Even though I am tending to spend more money:cool:
My best experience is showing my pens to one of my uncles and he purchases 6 of them for Christmas presents.:biggrin:
My worst experience was trying to finish an ebony pen for a customer and it took me 4 times to get the CA correct.:mad:
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I don't know for sure how long I've been turning but somewhere around 5-8 years. The most memorable experience is a friends parents were moving from Mich. to Florida to retire. Not long after his parents were married the wife bought a silver maple for her husband in Mich. After all the years raising kids up north they decided to move south to retire so when my buddy went home to help them move he cut some branches from the tree. I pealed the bark off in thin layers and cast it to make an inlay on the top barrel of a twist pen. I then made the rest of the pen out of the maple branch. The Mom and Dad and each of the 4 kids that grew up there recieved a pen. I was told when the pens were passed out there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I've had several down sided moments but nothing too bad to scar me forever. When thinking back even the bad times turning pens beat the heck out of WORK. The fun with pen turning is that everyone uses one so if moneys not a problem you can brighten someone day by giving them one and there are so many things you can play with to make one out of.
 
Turning pens since 1995. Scores of art and craft shows, thousands of pens sold.

Worst experience: Just about done with a gorgeous burl, one last pass to make the sanding easier---BAMM! RUINED----learn new words this way. (This is NOT a one-time experience)

Best experience: Every time I am asked to demonstrate at an event. It's a real joy to have people come up afterwards, even a bigger joy when I hear from them later saying, "IT WORKED!!!" (in a surprised tone of voice!!)
 
I have been turning pens since about 1995.

My best experience was in the spring prior to Russ Fairfield's death. He and I had corresponded via email and phone for several years. But that spring we were both demonstrating at the Utah Woodturning symposium.Getting to meet Russ in person and spend time with him was quite memorable for me. We were planned to do a "dueling CA glue finish" demo next time. He and I had different methods but they both worked and worked well. He referred to me as the guy who did a CA glue finish wrong. :biggrin:

My worst experience happened at the symposium in Texas a couple of years ago. I was demonstrating and the topic was "Alternative Materials." I passed around several pens and blanks made form various materials. One of the pens, a platinum gent, was made from one of Curtis Seebeck's cactus blanks. It was one he sent me to turn and try out. The resin was clear and reverse painted black. The pen was stunning if I do say so myself. The bad part is that pen did not make it back to me. Someone kept it as the pen was being passed around. Bummer big time!! :mad::frown:

Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
Turning since 2004
Best experience - making my first pen, a sassafras slimline, man that was fun and such a rewarding experience

Worst experience - A few years ago I decided to pull that first pen out of its drawer and look it over. My lands is that thing ever hideous. It is one of the worst pens I have ever seen - absolutely awful.
 
Been turning pens since 2008. Planned on learning to turn bowls but cannot find the time. Have not had time to try any arts & crafts shows. I would like to try that avenue one day.

Best moment was this past December. Gentleman emailed me & told me that his wife had received one of my pens two years ago as a gift. His wife thought it was the best writing pen she had ever owned. She lost it this past year & was very distraught over it. So he wanted something to replace it with. The more rare the wood the better. So Exotic Blanks sold me a Historical blanks--Horse Chestnut blank that George Wasthington had planted. Matched this up with a Noveau Sceptre kit. This was my first high end pen sale.

Worst experience--Had an order for 20 bullet pens this past November with company name being engraved on the upper barrel. Had a rush order to get them out. Took them in for engraving. Trophy Shop doing the engraving me told me it would take two weeks. Went back to pick them up & they gave me only 18 of my pens back. Trophy Shop told me I decided to take two pens back home because I thought they was too skinny to engrave. So basically the Trophy Shop I had been dealing with for 4 years decided to keep two of my pens. Needless to say I now drive 80 miles to another shop for any engraving I need done. Live & learn...

Been a very rewarding experience the last 4 years...
 
So many years ago I fell in love with making pens when there was only a Slimline kit available only a Stepdrill to face the blanks.

My best experiences have included on our 50th Wedding Anniversary giving the extended family Tasmanian Huon Pine Burl pens all round to our ie Wilma and me our kids their kids and their kids around 60 pens. That was over 7 yrs ago.

Worst experience quick starting a Demo of Penmaking at a Working With Wood Show, saying this is how I drill a blank on the lathe fit my favourite new drill burn burn, red hot drill on a VL100 Lathe. Well some goose had reversed the direction took me a few seconds to realise cause not ever have I reversed a wood lathe nor will I ever again (no need IMHO).

Such a rewarding hobby that has enabled me to make so many more friends.

KInd regards Peter.
 
Been turning for about 6 years now
Best experience the look on people's face and they ask 'how did you do that'???
Worst Experience; turning a spalted bowl with SWMBO watching and WHAM!!!! wood flying all over the shop; breaking a florescent light and the wife saying this is dangerous I'm leaving. She said she will never be in the shop with me again while turning wood.
 
I think it's been about 12 years or more since I started turning... been in love with it ever since... it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on...

So many good experiences with it, it's hard to say really what the best is... one in particular comes to mind... the first year in TN (about 2005 or 6) I did a show a little ways south of here... first day was a bust... second day, the place was overrun with shoppers... one lady walked into my booth, handed me 3 $100 bills and said, let me know when they're used up... I had a variety of products, pepper mills, bowls and pens... she used up the $300 + about $50 more.... I've had other sales bigger, but the way she went about it just seem kind of special...

Can't think of a worst time... lots of missteps and mistakes, but not really earth shattering, unless I count the bowl to the face incident... it was more face shattering than earth.
 
Been turning for about 19 months. Absolutely love it.

Best experience: Getting a set of Tru-Stone blanks correctly shaped without a single problem the first time around.

Worst experience: Having the next three Tru-Stone turnings blow up on me as I was just about down to the final measurements.
 
I spent most of my working life in the greeting card business. In the 1970s a co-worker left and went to work for Hallmark, he worked on a wood pen project for them. We got together and made a few pens that he used in setting up the project.
Bought my first lathe in 2000, made a few pens early but not much until 1995-96. I've made 10s of thousands of pens since then, pen making is my primary occupation now; one of two full time jobs I do.
Best experience was my last show; they had their wallets out big time.
Worse experience: a corporate order for 1100 wood pens. I'm a non-wood turner, I only make pens out of wood when I'm under the pressure of high monetary return. When/if the world supply of poly resin is used up I'm going to quit turning rather than make wood pens.
 
I started Febuary of 2012 just shy of a year.
Best experience a visiting secretary using our facility confrence room needed a pen so let her have one of mine (a slim line with a home case worthless wood blank). She was very impressed and about a month later she called me to place an order for 100 Mesa pens with presentation boxes.

Worse experience I was turning some mesquite burl on a Sr. Gent. The wood matched beatifully and as I got so close to finishing then it blew up. I have learned to strenghtened the burl wood with a thin layer of CA helps to keep this from happening
 
I started turning in 2006 then had health issues in 2008 and stopped turning but I just started back a couple of weeks ago.

My best moment was when I had a guy place an order with me using some wood from his family farm to make pens for his whole family. He then sent me an email saying how much everyone loved the pens and that everyone was fine until him mom started crying cause she was so happy then everyone else teared up as well.

Worst moment would be when I was turning a bowl out of maple burl and just as I made my last cut the bowl cracked in half and hit me in the head, only my pride and wallet were hurt though.
 
Turning about 5 years or so.

Best experience was when I gave my son a pen/pencil set and my grandson said "Gee Grandpa, where's mine?"

Second best experience was when I had a blank made using the face and parts of a watch that I gave to my dad more than 50 years ago - then passed that on to my son with instructions to pass it on to his as a way to keep my dad's memory alive.

Worst experience was turning what was up until then the nicest pen I had ever made using the most expensive kit I had ever used and when I assembled it, it didn't work. I was so new I had never heard of IAP and had no idea how to fix it or where to find help in doing so and ruined it trying.
 
about 2 years but if you add up the actual time turning maybe a month. Funny how that works. Worst experience. I am going through it right now. I have destroyed in one way or another everything I have tried to turn over the last month and a half. I have stopped for a little to see if I can get my mojo back. A close second was a very sharp piece of acrylic up my nose and the resulting pain of removal. I now wear my face mask religiously.

Best experience, to soon to tell but my first pen designed and made specifically for me makes me smile.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom