Hand turned pens

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
S

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
In Memoriam
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Messages
12,823
Location
Milford, Delaware 19963
Here we are all interested in fine hand turned pens. What I wonder is how many of us bought hand turned pens before we started turning them ourselves?

I bought 1 in 2000 as a birthday gift for one of my sons-in-law, but never bought another before I started turning them myself in 2007.


I ask this because it might help us to understand the market a little better if we factor that into our thinking.


I know people who will not even buy a 10 cent Bic. --- I usually buy 100 or 200 every year to donate for school kids who can't afford supplies and to pass out instead of candy for halloween.


That being the case we might want to start looking at how to get more folks interested in entry level hand turned pens.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
personal connection with the person teaching me to turn.

It only took him 20 years of asking me to come to his to do it. My loss should have done it sooner.
 
I received my first wood pen - a very nice slimline - from a fellow train commuter back in 2002. I asked him how it was made and he said "I make them myself on my lathe." I said "cool". Ten years later I'm making them now. Lots of wasted years. D'oh!
 
A daughter gave me one for Christmas about 12 years ago , padouk , which of course split , it not having been dry to my near desert conditions . Kept the idea in the back of my mind for years until I shed enough jobs to free up some creative time .

No , the engineer in me would not have allowed me to buy a pen at the price I sell them at . But , the artist in me loves to make them , and if the salesman in me can`t sell them , my engineer insists that they will burn in the fireplace and keep the house warm when it`s -40 .
 
I'm not that old (32) but I can't say I've even seen a hand made wooden pen for sale.

Apart from looking online places for comparisons etc as a turner, I've still never seen one offered anywhere.

I've seen and have one or two mass produced wooden pens at gift shops etc, but never one of the kind we make.

Think about it, if you don't specifically search for them online or go to craft shows, when would you see one? Personally, I've always gone out of my way to avoid craft shows (bunch of girly doily stuff,quilts and dolls right? (In my imagination))

There must be all sorts of untapped market space.
 
Last edited:
I have collected rare and beautiful woods from around the world for many years, and made different items from them. I always seam to have that little scrap left over that I hate to throw away. You know the one with the wild grain, or the strange coloration, or the tight knot in it that can't be used in anything useful!! I hated those first wooden pens that people first made. The ones with the weird bumps and knobs. I think my interest was fired up when the internet started up. Now you were able to see what other people all over the world were capable of making, and where you could purchase kits to use with all those scraps of wood that have been piling up. Every day I search the internet and find something pen related that I have never seen before. As for getting other people interested in making or buying pens, it's like automobile, either they are a needed way of transportation, or you love to look at them, drive them, touch them, or take them apart and improve them. Jim S
 
Till my mom bought a kit at woodcraft i had never seen a hand made pen in person. few on internet but that is it. now daily hourly what not its a black hole
 
Saw the 'nicest' looking slimline that a Sales Rep was carrying as his personal pen when we had to sign a contract between our companies. I asked where he had acquired such a beautiful pen. He told me that he 'made' it and I think that I offended him when I doubted his statement. Long story short, he convinced me that he really turned this work of art. At that point I knew that one day that I would accomplish this feat and make my own. This was back in 1995. Fast forward to 2005 and I really did make my very first wooden pen. And yes it was a slimline. That was my inspiration to start this 'obsession' to date.
 
Last edited:
I've been picking up free pens for years. I've always liked nice looking pens but never bought myself one. A few years ago, I saw a nice aluminum pen called a Yafu Imperial. I bought it & was happy using it. I then saw a man demonstrating a Shopsmith at Lowes. He was making pens with it. I decided I wanted to make my own pen one day. I also thought I just had to have a Shopsmith. Well I started making pens but never got around to finding that Shopsmith.
 
Through the years I received a few as gifts. They were so nice and in wooden case I did not dare use them. Thinking about it I still have not used them. I bought a few tools one of them a lath. It sat for a few years. Bought an Bonnie Klein book. Started with tops and Mark at the local WC got me interested in pens. Well now I turn every chance I get.
But what Smitty said is true about the market place.
 
I bought a wood turned pen in Helen, Ga around 1996 or so. I have always been fascinated by hand made pens. My wife bought me a book 1 1/2 years ago about pen making....hook, line and sinker...or lathe, better lathe, and more stuff. I still struggle, but it sure is fun.
 
Sataro said:
I've been picking up free pens for years. I've always liked nice looking pens but never bought myself one. A few years ago, I saw a nice aluminum pen called a Yafu Imperial. I bought it & was happy using it. I then saw a man demonstrating a Shopsmith at Lowes. He was making pens with it. I decided I wanted to make my own pen one day. I also thought I just had to have a Shopsmith. Well I started making pens but never got around to finding that Shopsmith.
Click to expand...

Did Lowes really used to sell shopsmiths?
 
I don't recall seeing any, at least any that caught my attention, which is odd since my wife used to drag me to craft shows in Santa Fe (the art is better there - right?) I really like pens and had a couple of Mont Blancs.

I discovered pen turning when the boys in our Scout troop turned some at winter camp and were bringing them back to camp to show me. I though that was pretty cool that you could make your own pen, so I paid my $5 and turned my first anything with the help of my volunteer teacher. Gave it to my wife, she loved it and I was hooked.
 
I had never seen a hand-made pen before. My Dad took a class at Woodcraft (a store neither of us had heard of before) and told me I should drop in and check it out. I went there, and the salesman on duty was a pen turning fanatic. He talked me into taking the beginning pen turning course. I have been hooked ever since.
 
Dan Masshardt said:
Sataro said:
I've been picking up free pens for years. I've always liked nice looking pens but never bought myself one. A few years ago, I saw a nice aluminum pen called a Yafu Imperial. I bought it & was happy using it. I then saw a man demonstrating a Shopsmith at Lowes. He was making pens with it. I decided I wanted to make my own pen one day. I also thought I just had to have a Shopsmith. Well I started making pens but never got around to finding that Shopsmith.
Click to expand...

Did Lowes really used to sell shopsmiths?
Click to expand...

They had people from SS come demo in their stores. That's how I bought mine. Here is a link to others.
http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/event_schedule.htm
 
Last edited:
I purchased a slimline, a .7 pencil actually, from a turner that displays at one of the yearly art shows in a neighboring town. He displays a variety of work but only slimline pens with a friction finish.
It took a few years but I decided I should make my own ... After all, I already had a lathe so it wouldn't cost me anything. :biggrin::biggrin::rolleyes:
 
Interesting thread & thought!

I don't know that I had ever seen or heard of a handcrafted pen before I started turning! I was surfing the web for information on bowl turning when I came across a You-tube video on pen turning. I then got PennState's dvd on Handcrafted Pens - The Basics, A Beginner's Guide to Pen Turning on the Lathe. And as others have already stated, "the rest is history"! lol I guess there must be a hidden artist in all of us because the search for that perfect pen, perfect grain, or perfect design is a contagious obsession! So now we must learn to enlarge the market-place and awareness of this art form!:tongue:
 
I have to admit I never knew about hand turned pens until 5 years ago when my wife bought me a lathe for my Christmas present. Never taken any wood working classes or had any experience, I looked at her and asked "uh, what do I do with this?" She replied "start with making pens, and see what happens after that." Well, we visited Rockler and Woodcraft, got some tools and supplies, been hooked ever since.
 
Dan Masshardt said:
Sataro said:
I've been picking up free pens for years. I've always liked nice looking pens but never bought myself one. A few years ago, I saw a nice aluminum pen called a Yafu Imperial. I bought it & was happy using it. I then saw a man demonstrating a Shopsmith at Lowes. He was making pens with it. I decided I wanted to make my own pen one day. I also thought I just had to have a Shopsmith. Well I started making pens but never got around to finding that Shopsmith.
Click to expand...

Did Lowes really used to sell shopsmiths?
Click to expand...
Yes & No, I attended several SS demo's at Lowes, usually they would take orders but only while the demo's were being held. SS was responsible for all warranty stuff and you couldn't return the machine to Lowes if it arrived damaged etc. SS was not for sale at Lowes but had made arrangements to have demos there. I imagine Lowes got a cut off each sale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom