Inexpensive supplies

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ldl1017

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Joined
Jul 3, 2009
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Wisconsin
I am new to this forum and am slowly aquiring the proper equipment for pen turning. So far I have a Jet Lathe, a drill press and some various blanks that I came across at a garage sale. I was wondering if there are other less costly sources for purchasing some of the supplies...CA glue, sand paper, bushings, drill bits, pen vises and drilling vises, etc., etc. I am not trying to take money away from Penn State or CAUSA, but am realizing that this could easily be a very expensive hobby.
Thanks,
Lou
 
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Welcome to the slippery slope to the poor house . This IS a very expensive hobby and the deeper you get into it the more expensive it gets . The vendors here at the IAP have almost everything you need to make pens and their prices are good . Look in the "Classifieds Forum"
 
yup it be expensive hobby, but sure is a LOT of fun.. and yes, the people here that sell stuff is the way to go..
 
Do you ever feel that some people have the gift of DIScouragement? :eek: :rolleyes: :biggrin:

Yes, it can and does get expensive, but there are ways to get by without some of the expenses since you have the original big items - lathe and drill press.

Cheap sandpaper and small tubes/bottles of CA will work. You will appreciate better sandpaper later but it is not necessary. A way around lots of sandpaper usage is SHARP chisels and also experience with a skew. There are ways to turn blanks to size smooth enough that sandpaper is not needed. That does take experience in general but recently a new turner wanted to do some segments with lots of metal and did this. The key is keeping the chisels freshly sharpened every minute of use.

Another way to cut down on expenses is to change your focus. Instead of seeing how many different kinds of pens you make and how many different colors of wood and shapes you can turn out - focus on learning each step and analyzing each step for fit and finish, chisel usage, sanding, - refining your skill. Make the goal to be the journey and enjoy the journey instead of a quickly finished pen. Take two or three hours and enjoy learning to master each part. Your skill level will be enhanced with this concept.

I promise you that you will enjoy the finished pen just as well, you will have spent less money and your skill will increase simply because you focused on the "journey itself."

Beyond this, you can keep expenses down if you focus on one or two models of pens and discipline yourself, but by and large, it doesn't usually happen. :wink:
 
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leehljp said:
Do you ever feel that some people have the gift of DIScouragement? :eek: :rolleyes: :biggrin:

Yes, it can and does get expensive, but there are ways to get by without some of the expenses since you have the original big items - lathe and drill press.

Cheap sandpaper and small tubes/bottles of CA will work. You will appreciate better sandpaper later but it is not necessary. A way around lots of sandpaper usage is SHARP chisels and also experience with a skew. There are ways to turn blanks to size smooth enough that sandpaper is not needed. That does take experience in general but recently a new turner wanted to do some segments with lots of metal and did this. The key is keeping the chisels freshly sharpened every minute of use.

Another way to cut down on expenses is to change your focus. Instead of seeing how many different kinds of pens you make and how many different colors of wood and shapes you can turn out - focus on learning each step and analyzing each step for fit and finish, chisel usage, sanding, - refining your skill. Make the goal to be the journey and enjoy the journey instead of a quickly finished pen. Take two or three hours and enjoy learning to master each part. Your skill level will be enhanced with this concept.

I promise you that you will enjoy the finished pen just as well, you will have spent less money and your skill will increase simply because you focused on the "journey itself."

Beyond this, you can keep expenses down if you focus on one or two models of pens and discipline yourself, but by and large, it doesn't usually happen. :wink:
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Yeah but it is fun to spend money , even if you ain't got it :eek: :biggrin:
 
ldb2000 said:
Yeah but it is fun to spend money , even if you ain't got it :eek: :biggrin:
Click to expand...

I agree whole heartedly! I have thought up dozens of way to bargain with friends over here for things that support my pen and bowl turn addiction. My only need now is TIME in the shop! You should see the things that will be going in my crate when I move back to the States late next year!
 
I agree with dntrost re: Wooden Whimsies. Tim and Tracey are GREAT to work with. Also, as a newbie myself, I scored a couple of 'hits' re: wood. I won a box of disassembled walnut picture frames. I cut them down to pen blank size and have 70-75 walnut blanks for 'practice' purposes. I also have a carpenter friend (finish carpenter) who has dropped off a lot of 3/4" cherry strips. I cut them to blanks and have over a hundred cherry blanks for 'practice'. All of this cost me $1.00 (to enter the raffle) and I have enough wood to work with until I get better at turning and pen-making! This is really helping with my learning curve.
 
Hey Guys,
Thanks for all the great feedback. Yes, I realize I may have inadvertantly signed over the deed to my house when I opted for this hobby. Hank, that sounds like solid advice. I will enjoy the journey for the time being. I will also check out Tim and Tracey. Thanks again to all.
Lou
 
Welcome to the bottomless pit :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
Seriously, wood can be found very cheap or even free :eek::eek::eek:. Just look around town or listen for chain saws in the distance. The only problem with fresh "green" wood is that you will have to dry it before making a pen out of it. But there is a simple solution. Just search here for microwave drying.
 
Here's a tip that you might use with your sandpaper. A friend of mine makes up pads of sandpaper, starting with 220, 320, 400, 500, 600, & 1000 grit paper. He cuts them on a paper cutter and staples them together in small pads about 1" x 2" and then uses a new pad for each pen blank. I haven't started doing this, but I'm going to as soon as I can "borrow" my wife's paper cutter :biggrin:. The neat thing about this is that you don't go through as much sand paper this way,

Another thing that helps is to look at the auto parts store for the fine paper. The one that I got mine from had grits up to about 2500 or so, and it's wet/dry paper. I gave about 1.15/sheet for the 500 and 600, and .84 or so fot the 1000 that I bought. The higher grits (1000 and up) come in half sheets.

Hope this helps. Welcome to the nut house
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Best price I know of for CA is Monty/Mannie from the post above.
sandpaper is relatively inexpensive considering you use so little of it. the initial purchase can be a bit of a chunk of change though.
overall take a good look through the classifieds, both business and Individual, as well as keep an eye on the group buys forums. not always the best for items you want right now but you might be surprised at just how much you can find there.
as other have pointed out. the smaller vendors tend to have lower prices on the same items you get from P.S.I, CSUSA, Berea and other sources.

As far as being an expensive Hobby, penturning is not free, and can actually get expensive if you choose to indulge yourself. But in comparison to other things I have done or currently do. it is pretty low on the overall cost curve. I can if I choose make a pen for just a few dollars total cost. in comparison I made three fishing rods this summer at a cost of well over $200, and that was trying to stay as low cost as possible because they are my first ones. Of course I have also made a pen, or am in the process of making it that cost well over $200 as well. It is easy to suddenly find yourself not so satisfied with the 50 cent balnks you can get on e-bay. I have boxes of them by the way. and turn your eye to the $5 plus stuff that the top quality suppliers offer. Penturning can be a very low cost hobby, if you remain minimalistic and are primarily interested in making low cost to you items for freinds and family. In practice I find very few turners that stay in that arena. sooner or later, usually sooner they are oogling the high end pen kits and simply cannot resist. Getting all serious about how the habit needs to support itself and geting on the how to sell stuff train. of course nothing ever happened unless you have photos to prove it so you have to become a photographer along the way. Displays for the shows you will eventually try out. then there are the array of specialized gizmos that penturners have come up with. well once you start salivating over those. you are completely lost. $60 taps, $100 dies, Replacment nibs for fountain pens, Roughing tools, and then almost unrelated things like backing plates for making pendants. There are more ways to part with your money here than you can shake a stick at.
The good news is that with a little effort, pens will sell and fairly well at that. everyone loves them, not everyone will buy them. talking with them just a bit to answer a few questions will often get them over any minor initial resistance though.
 
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Bargains in penturning

You can jump ahead on the learning curve and save money by -

Buy a "29 bit" drill set, these are common at Harbor Freight, Rockler, etc. Sizes from 1/16 through 1/2" in 1/64" increments. Cheaper than buying all of the bits separately, and you will find near equivalents to the letter, metric, and other oddball sizes.

Invest in an inexpensive digital caliper - you can use this to make better pens, making your turned blanks match the hardware very closely. Much better than turning to a bushing, and your bushings won't need to be replaced when they end up undersized from sanding.

Look for local wood for blanks instead of buying "exotics" and paying shipping on them. In Wisconsin, you'll have access to beech, maple, walnut, cedar, etc. Look for woodpiles, tree services, and other places where wood is basically thrown away. Figured and/or spalted wood is always interesting. Burls are out there too. Cutting wood can mean more tools - chainsaw, bandsaw, table saw - which you can borrow if you don't have them. Handsaws are cheap - good exercise too!

Get into "advanced" penmaking as soon as possible. There's no need to spend $30 on a kit if you are happy customizing a $3 slimline and making something like an all-wood closed end twist pen masterpiece.
 
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