yup, gotta agree with Lou. Especially about reclaiming the wood. I'll be posting some ads this weekend for some wood that I reclaimed from the trash (it was a flooring sample display that the store discarded) Lots of good wood can be found, if you keep your eyes open.
Also on the kits, if you can find someone near you that is also doing pen turning, get together and combine your orders to get a price break. Chuck Ludwigsen and I do it all the time. It also saves on freight charges. For example, if he needs 7 designer pen kits and doesn't want to order the 3 more to get the price break, I will usually order 3 or so kits, that way I can get my stock of kits up at a little bit cheaper of a price.
Ryan