Hello from Beirut

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Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,900
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
Welcome Pierre, happy to have you with us.

I believe that you are our only member from Lebanon.
I see you like to turn local olive wood - it is one of my favorites.
 

rcbennett

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
7
Location
Satellite Beach, Fl
Welcome from Florida, Pierre. Don't get too down about being the lone pen turner in Lebanon, you have plenty of new friends in the IAP, and I am sure things will work out and you'll find or make new turners at home. Pen turning is contagious.
Cliff
 

stuckinohio

Member
Joined
May 3, 2015
Messages
1,695
Location
Columbus Ohio
Welcome from Ohio.

Trust me, introduce a few of your friends to pen turning and you won't be the only pen turner in Beirut for long! As mentioned, it's contagious.
 

Hawkdave

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
243
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Welcome to the site. I am sure if there are any pen turners from your country, they will soon come to light.

In the mean time, have fun checking out this site.

Dave
 

PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
Beginner story

I have thinking about penturning about a year ago. My main problem was not finding any relavent supplies. Starting from books, to pen kits, to lathe and pen making tools. Thank God for online sales. I started making my first set of pens just before Christmas 2015, with acceptable results that got the attention of nearly all viewers. I am trying to excel and improve the quality but too many problems are arising and am dealing with one at a time.
 

PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
Welcome to the site. I am sure if there are any pen turners from your country, they will soon come to light.

In the mean time, have fun checking out this site.

Dave

Dear Dave
I am buying online from an Australian pen kit supplier that i have found online. Timerbits. Are you familiar with this supplier and what do you think about those guys? Do you recommend?
Regards,
Pierre
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Welcome from the land of the kangaroos...!

Its the International community on this IAP forum that makes it a very special one, not only from the ideas created based on background experiences but also, the diversity of materials found in each country.

You will find no difficulty is getting your questions answered among a very knowledged team of IAP members.

Beirut is not an easy country to post stuff to but, I have had worse so, is good that you seem to be able to get your supplies from overseas and from one of the best pen suppliers in Australia, the Timberbits.

David (Timberbits owner) is a young guy but very professional in his business, his conditions, prices and shipping charges, are some of the best out there so, you are in good hands, many here, buy from him...!

Best of luck,

Cheers
George
 

PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
I am quite happy with Timberbits products and prices. However shiping costs are a little bit high. I am only making small batches for now. Since i am only working with local olive wood i prunned from my village in South Lebanon. You are right about posting to my country as these activities (penturnning) are not known. I am having too many problems due to glue availability and other tools, but timberbits is very helpful and their products range covers penturnning from all aspects. Only problem is shipping delays which sometimes take more than one month, one nearly forgets that he ever requested anything. How i do my pens is by applying thin ca to a drilled blank, then installing the brass tube with medium ca. And after turning to final shape i use one layer of this ca followed by 20 layers of medium ca. Then sanding at low rpm starting with 400 grit all the way up to 12000. The finished product is very nice but; first it takes too much time. And secondly removing the bushings chips off some of ca coating close to the edges. I tried to use a cutter to cut through the ca on the edges. But still chipping occurs.
 

PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
How to stamp your work.

Dear Penturners,
I tried lots of methods to stamp my pens. I need to see if any of you guys have tried to stamp his pens before finishing. I do ca finish on my pens and i am searching for a method to mark my pens after sanding on the lathe and before applying the ca layers. What i am using now is to stamp the letter "P" only and highlight it with black ink. But am not satisfied with the end product. I use only Olivewood from my own land and that adds one problem since olivewood has lots of black strips that have irrgular patterns. Please advise :confused:
 

stonepecker

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
4,382
Location
central Minnesota
Dear Penturners,
I tried lots of methods to stamp my pens. I need to see if any of you guys have tried to stamp his pens before finishing. I do ca finish on my pens and i am searching for a method to mark my pens after sanding on the lathe and before applying the ca layers. What i am using now is to stamp the letter "P" only and highlight it with black ink. But am not satisfied with the end product. I use only Olivewood from my own land and that adds one problem since olivewood has lots of black strips that have irrgular patterns. Please advise :confused:


Would a decal work? This might also give you ideas for designs on your pens.
Good luck and Welcome to the IAP.
 

stuckinohio

Member
Joined
May 3, 2015
Messages
1,695
Location
Columbus Ohio
I have thought about stamping or marking my pens somewhere, but never followed through with it. I'm interested in this also.
 

Hawkdave

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
243
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Welcome to the site. I am sure if there are any pen turners from your country, they will soon come to light.

In the mean time, have fun checking out this site.

Dave

Dear Dave
I am buying online from an Australian pen kit supplier that i have found online. Timerbits. Are you familiar with this supplier and what do you think about those guys? Do you recommend?
Regards,
Pierre

G'Day Pierre... You couldn't do better than 'Timberbits'. They are the suppliers I use and they are very good. Don't forget to check out all of their videos and instruction sheets as well.
Let me know how you got on with them please?

Dave.

I have sold a number of pens to one customer who gave them to his staff in the bank he is manager of. He had their name engraved on the clip. Another method you might use is, Pyrography, you could burn the name in with a pyrography pen or maybe a branding iron.
 
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PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
G'Day Pierre... You couldn't do better than 'Timberbits'. They are the suppliers I use and they are very good. Don't forget to check out all of their videos and instruction sheets as well.
Let me know how you got on with them please?

Dave.

I have sold a number of pens to one customer who gave them to his staff in the bank he is manager of. He had their name engraved on the clip. Another method you might use is, Pyrography, you could burn the name in with a pyrography pen or maybe a branding iron.
Dear Dave,

Don't you engrave ur mark on the pens u make?
So people can distinguish ur work, like a trade mark.

Thank you about ur feedback about Timberbits. Well they are very good and the prices and shipping r good.
 

stonepecker

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2012
Messages
4,382
Location
central Minnesota
[/quote]What do you mean by "decal"?[/quote]

Go to the very top of this page and you will see some headings there. Click on the Library and wait a few seconds. Then 'search' the library with the word DECAL.

Several items will come up but just down a little there is an artical about how to make and use decal on pens.

I don't know if this will work for you but you could give it a try.
 

Hawkdave

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
243
Location
Adelaide, Australia
G'Day Pierre... You couldn't do better than 'Timberbits'. They are the suppliers I use and they are very good. Don't forget to check out all of their videos and instruction sheets as well.
Let me know how you got on with them please?

Dave.

I have sold a number of pens to one customer who gave them to his staff in the bank he is manager of. He had their name engraved on the clip. Another method you might use is, Pyrography, you could burn the name in with a pyrography pen or maybe a branding iron.
Dear Dave,

Don't you engrave ur mark on the pens u make?
So people can distinguish ur work, like a trade mark.

Thank you about ur feedback about Timberbits. Well they are very good and the prices and shipping r good.

G'Day Pierre...I have only been turning pens for about 3 months. All of my customers know me before they bought their pens. What I have done is include a set of instructions on how to look after their new pen...This has my makers mark at the top.
So, I am looking forward to seeing all of the replies from your query to see what the members suggest.

Timberbits uses Australia Post to dispatch all of their parcels (as do all suppliers in Australia) whether it be locally or Internationally. Their postage rates are better than some suppliers as they charge very little for handling. To show how popular they are, they have just moved into larger premises due to demand of their products. Be aware also, that a lot of lines are out of stock and they are on a boat from China. Hopefully, not a slow boat from China. :biggrin:

Dave.
 

magpens

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
15,911
Location
Canada
Part of Post by HawkDave:
Timberbits uses Australia Post to dispatch all of their parcels (as do all suppliers in Australia) whether it be locally or Internationally. Their postage rates are better than some suppliers as they charge very little for handling. To show how popular they are, they have just moved into larger premises due to demand of their products. Be aware also, that a lot of lines are out of stock and they are on a boat from China. Hopefully, not a slow boat from China. :biggrin:

Dave.
I just received a package from Timberbits. . They use DHL to ship to Canada.

5 day delivery. So I'm smiling !!! :biggrin:
 
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PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
What do you mean by "decal"?[/quote]

Go to the very top of this page and you will see some headings there. Click on the Library and wait a few seconds. Then 'search' the library with the word DECAL.

Several items will come up but just down a little there is an artical about how to make and use decal on pens.

I don't know if this will work for you but you could give it a try.[/QUOTE]
Thank you. I will give it a try and keep you posted about the results. Regards
 

Curly

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Messages
4,853
Location
Saskatoon SK., Canada.
Part of Post by HawkDave: I just received a package from Timberbits. . They use DHL to ship to Canada. 5 day delivery. So I'm smiling !!! :biggrin:

First welcome to the original poster. I had a boss that was from Lebanon, so that's as close as I can get.

Mal in a few weeks you will probably get a bill from DHL's brokers in the US. They will charge you the GST & PST and a BIG charge for brokerage fees. If you buy from Timberbits again you will want to specify your order be mailed and take your chance with Revenue Canada doing the same for a lot less. Seems Canadians are the only ones that ripped off with the brokerage fees. Let me know if you get dinged or hopefully are lucky.
 

PNajem

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
17
Location
Beirut, Lebanon
Olivewood is such a beautiful material, the irregular dark stripes make it pretty. I do not usually put a finish on olivewood - it polishes well.
It really is. I personally prefer the wood feel so i use only danish oil finish with micromesh sanding on some of my pens. Followed by a day or two in the sun for the oil to dry. The end product feels and smells great. As for the natural black lines they make each pen unique which makes pricing problems, as i like to keep the best pens for me and my loved ones and not sell them.
 

Hawkdave

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
243
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Part of Post by HawkDave:
Timberbits uses Australia Post to dispatch all of their parcels (as do all suppliers in Australia) whether it be locally or Internationally. Their postage rates are better than some suppliers as they charge very little for handling. To show how popular they are, they have just moved into larger premises due to demand of their products. Be aware also, that a lot of lines are out of stock and they are on a boat from China. Hopefully, not a slow boat from China. :biggrin:

Dave.
I just received a package from Timberbits. . They use DHL to ship to Canada.

5 day delivery. So I'm smiling !!! :biggrin:

Hi Mal....thanks for the heads-up on DHL being the carrier that Timberbits uses for international deliveries. I can see why you are smiling, 5 days is a very fast turn around.
I can remember using Australia Post to send a package from Adelaide to England, it was an Ebay item. I posted it on the Monday and received feedback on Thursday of the same week. Very fast.

Dave.
 
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