How not to sell your pens.

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Band Saw Box

Band Saw Box

Passed Away Dec 8, 2021
In Memoriam
Joined
Sep 21, 2013
Messages
3,670
Location
Hampton, VA 23666
Hello all
Evelyn and I went to a local festival last night for some what we thought would be good seafood but was not good at all. We did walk around looking at all the craft and other items for sale. There were two or three people selling pens and other turned item most were really nice and well made and finished. There was one person who did not plan on selling any of his wooden pens or other wooden turned items. The pens felt bad in your hand kind of like a hold a dowel rod, they were not well sanded and I'm not sure if they had finish on them or not but they sure did not feel like it. I've never don't a craft show but I would not put things like that on display for sale or not, even the things I've made that I've given away or made for prizes at a place Evelyn worked were to quality in fit and finish. This is not the first time I've seen poor quality wood working items for sale at craft fairs and it always makes me wonder what were they thinking or maybe it just as a woodworker I look at things in a different light. What about you?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I am with you. I did a show this summer. Tge promoter put another woodworker fight across from me. (Boo Hiss LOL).

Anyway, I looked his work, shook my head, walked away and cancelled the Boo Hiss. Prople looked at his stuff and walked dmpty handed to my booth.
 
Hmmmmm - Let me offer a thought....

I go to many craft shows where I find all sorts of wood working items for sale, many of them are made from, or carefully constructed to look like they were hand made from, old weathered wood - the older and more weathered the better. I myself make bird houses and other items from "barn boards" where I have to take some pains to avoid newly sawn edges showing.

Many people like such items...things that don't have that newly made by a great craftsman look - they can find them anywhere. They like things that look like stuff they have to search antique shops for, pay through the nose for when they find them and have to put them in their house where no one can really do anything but look at them. But, they want to be able to use that stuff so there is what we now call "cottage furniture" - my house is full of it, some made by me and some made by others, but it all looked "well used" when it was brand new. In a setting where things like that are being sold some "rough" wooden pens might fit right in, not as an item for sale but as a prop, like the rusty old Prince Edward Tobacco can.


I also collect pens - I have over a hundred hand turned pens that would be fairly valued from < $25 to > $500 most of them are very nicely turned and finished and look like they could have come straight from a "pen factory" - in short a non-turner would not know, unless I tell them, that they weren't made and bought in the same store where you'd buy a Mont Blanc, or a Cross, or a Parker or another high class pen. Being perfectly honest if I leave one of them lying around away from my collection case it looks "out of place" because it looks seems too well made to be where it is.
 
Hello Dan,

We do a lot of shows and sometimes there are no other pen turners. Most of the time there are a few others. My wife goes around looking and of she sees something new or different I try and take a peek. Guys come I to my booth all the time and comment on all the different "styles" I have. What I have found is many of these folks turn what I call bushing to bushing and have no imagination when it comes to making a pen. I don't think they are wrong just very limiting. But I have noticed several times fine scratches, generally poor finish, cuts that are not squared. Acrylic is the worst. I can't tell you the number of times other wood turners come into the booth and the wife proudly shows me an acrylic pen that looks like it has been through a wire brush. When they see my acrylic finish they think it is glass. They ask how I get it that way and I tell them that is how it should look and that a buffing system and micro mesh is a must.

I always find something positive to say about their work and give tips if they are receptive. I have found woodworkers are the most sharing group of artists around. We love to share tips and tricks. I have sent a number of turners here for better guidance than I can give. But I can't imagine putting sub standard items out either.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To that craftsman, he may think his pens look and feel fine and yours look "store bought".

I make some wooden toys. I once sent in a piece as part of the application process to join a crafts guild. I was rejected because "it did not look well finished and you could see the nail holes". Well, that is what I wanted to show, that it was hand made. Since that time, I have never joined nor supported that crafts guild but I have sold MANY wooden toys to satisfied customers.

Just a different view point.
 
Thanks for your replies. You all make good points. I guess if the person selling the pens and other turned items was selling barn board items they would fit, and it is turn that beauty is in the eye of the beholder I could not find any beauty in his pens not when you looked at the other pens people had. Maybe it just the way I look at things I made, I very picky in the final product. I made a 5 drawer scroll saw box that had small drawer pulls, when I looked that the box one of the pulls did not look as if was centered on the drawer and it was not it was off by about 1/32 of and inch. I could have left it that was but I could not and I fixed it.
 
Band Saw Box said:
Thanks for your replies. You all make good points. I guess if the person selling the pens and other turned items was selling barn board items they would fit, and it is turn that beauty is in the eye of the beholder I could not find any beauty in his pens not when you looked at the other pens people had. Maybe it just the way I look at things I made, I very picky in the final product. I made a 5 drawer scroll saw box that had small drawer pulls, when I looked that the box one of the pulls did not look as if was centered on the drawer and it was not it was off by about 1/32 of and inch. I could have left it that was but I could not and I fixed it.
Click to expand...
I fully understand that not everyone has my (and my wife's) attitude. I have 20 odd pieces of wood furniture in my house that I made myself mixed among 8 or 10 pieces that I bought. All of it is "cottage" style and looks like hand made old furnture. The finish is generally milk paint (that will send some of the readers to google) that has been rubbed to simulate wear. We love it, but I am totally aware that most folks wouldn't.
 
Smitty I know about milk and the kind of look you and you wife like. I was looking at a piece of shaker furniture that was being passed off as antique. I was looking at the dovetail joint and drawer bottoms and ask theman selling it if it was all original. He said it was about 100 years old. Only all the dovetails were machine made, the drawer bottoms were 1/4" plywood. I dont think there was one hand cut joint in the whole piece. The only thing that close to what an original piece would have had was the milk paint finish. If you're looking for an old look that find and it does sell well, but what I was talking about and I guess I should have been clearer about it is that things people were making as new were just poorly made, fretwood with lost of fuzzies, ill fitting joints, spindles not sanded smooth. Before I had my shop set up I was looking to buy a tv hutch. I went to and unfinished furniture store I was shown a piece that fit my need. I passed it up it had a 1/4" gap were two pieces of flouted trim met it was filled with wood putty and the doors at the bottom did not fit property. I asked if the would discount the piece because of the defects. I was told that it was a high quality piece and after sanding the gap in the trim would never show. It's in details. Maybe it's the time it worked on QA while I was in the Navy or inspecting the flight and survival gear my aircrew used that makes me look at things bit closer.
 
I assumed you would know about milk paint but a lot of folks here wouldn't. I understand what you're saying regarding quality I worked in Testing and Test Engineering for 32 years. I was mainly just pointing out that perfection is not the goal of everyone - I have one pen turning friend who applies no finish at all to his wood pens. he does sand and micromesh to a very smooth finish but he loves the look of natural wood. I don't think he sells pens just gives a lot as gifts.
 
Very interesting.

I have seen this many, many times. It drives me crazy. I once went to a show, and this guy had hundreds of pens, they looked ok, so I started to pick up a few and of course I left where the wood and the nib meet... (come on.. don't tell me you don't do that to other pen makers pens?) and every.. I mean, EVERY single one of them was off centre. Then I started to look at the finish.. shellawax.. every single one. Now Im not going to knock shellawax, it has its place, but come on... on a $100 fountain pen? It was very clear to me that he either did not know or did not care that he was making the same mistakes on every single pen. But same as above... I smile, nob, pay a compliment and walk away.
 
Brian
It was at the Poguoson seafood festival and he was truning on an old Blue jet mini lathe. He was turning tagua nut on Friday. I have to say his bottle stoppers were very nice and well finished they looked like wooden barrels. Maybe the was pressed for time the pens.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom