I am currently teaching in Alaska, and travel to MI in the summer. Two years ago I wanted to make a shaving brush handle. I found a old wood worker with a lathe and he showed me a few things. All summer I made some shavings and got a few good handles. I LOVE the brush, but I only need one (and extras didn't get any good hits on straightrazorplace.com).
I started making pens last summer. What a blast. I have seen my pen quality greatly increase and my finishing skills also getting better. My son found it interesting, and through the correspondence school in AK, we got a small $200 lathe in Alaska. Thus far we have ordered some kits from PSI, and my son has been selling some pens (slimline) for about $20 with cocobolo or goncalo alves. I asked a made a christmas present for a friend up here. Upon looking at the pen/pencil set I was amazed at how I was unhappy with the finish now that I've improved a bit. I told him I needed to make a new pen, and he requested bethlehem olive. Upon ordering some, I also got some vertex starter kits from PSI with my son's last kit order. LOVED THEM! Since I don't have an outlet for pen sales, I was going to list on ebay.
Is there another pen kit type I should consider for selling on ebay? I like the zen (only have seen pictures thus far, never ordered a kit), and my wife LOVED the magnetic vertex fountain.
Are there other websites I should consider? (either for ordering or sales) There are so many options, and I've seen questions about quality. It all seems subjective. I would love some advice on how to recover costs for my hobby (as I'm sure you all would as well), or other sources for buying high quality kits.
-Scott
I started making pens last summer. What a blast. I have seen my pen quality greatly increase and my finishing skills also getting better. My son found it interesting, and through the correspondence school in AK, we got a small $200 lathe in Alaska. Thus far we have ordered some kits from PSI, and my son has been selling some pens (slimline) for about $20 with cocobolo or goncalo alves. I asked a made a christmas present for a friend up here. Upon looking at the pen/pencil set I was amazed at how I was unhappy with the finish now that I've improved a bit. I told him I needed to make a new pen, and he requested bethlehem olive. Upon ordering some, I also got some vertex starter kits from PSI with my son's last kit order. LOVED THEM! Since I don't have an outlet for pen sales, I was going to list on ebay.
Is there another pen kit type I should consider for selling on ebay? I like the zen (only have seen pictures thus far, never ordered a kit), and my wife LOVED the magnetic vertex fountain.
Are there other websites I should consider? (either for ordering or sales) There are so many options, and I've seen questions about quality. It all seems subjective. I would love some advice on how to recover costs for my hobby (as I'm sure you all would as well), or other sources for buying high quality kits.
-Scott
