More mass production

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Joe Melton

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Jun 27, 2005
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Getting ready for the Fall craft shows with some more mass production. These are the first eight of 32 pens I made from some Australian woods. I made all 32 with the chrome cigar kit, just for kicks (and expediency). I realize they are not that creative, or inspired, but some of the woods are probably unknown to many list members, and they may find them interesting.
From left to right: Brown Mallee, Jarrah, Banksia, Quinine, Lacewood, Western Rosewood, Rib Fruited Mallee (I think this is the same as Corrugatta), and Wilga.
More to follow….
Joe





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The next eight made from Australian woods are: Black Heart Sassafras, Burdikin Plum, Huon Pine, Soapwood, She-Oak, Tasmanian Blackwood (aka Australian Blackwood), Forest Oak, and Corkbark.
The She-Oak got its name from early European settlers, who though the wood looked like an Oak, but was weaker. In fact, I found it to be very fragile. More to follow….
Joe

What war would Jesus start?




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The third eight pens made from Australian woods are: Tasmanian Blackwood, Gimlet (now, that’s a hard wood!), Tasmanian Myrtle (aka Rose Myrtle), Corrugatta, York Gum, Eucalyptus Burl, Yellow Gum, and Tasmanian Eucalyptus. All these Eucalyptuses are confusing â€" there are thought to be 600 species of the Eucalyptus genus in Australia! More to follow….
Joe

What war would Jesus start?





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The final eight pens made from Australian woods are: Figured Eucalyptus, Flame She-Oak, Beefwood, Celery Top Pine, River Red Gum, Red Mallee, Leatherwood and Corrugatta. I had to drill three sets of blanks of the Flame She-Oak because they kept splitting. One of the pieces in the third set split, but I glued the pieces together, and the repair is not apparent. They split even though I used three successive drill sizes.
Some of these woods are more interesting than others, of course.
I glued all 32 with CA without sanding the tubes, and had no tear-outs nor blow-outs. I lost one Leatherwood pen because I mixed up the barrels on the mandrel, and four pens ended up with too-short upper barrels, which I rectified by grinding off the internal parts.
The finish is CA on most, but Enduro on a few â€" I forget which ones. (These were done over about a three-week period.) All are finished off with a coat of TSW and buffed.
Thanks for looking.
Joe

What war would Jesus start?




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If the title of your pictures have any of these in them they need to be removed. ( ) -=! Sometimes when you resize pictures if you make a copy it puts some charthers in that the server will not accept. Hope this helps. I resize the same picture and do not let it make a copy.I had this same problem and Jeff helped me out.
 
Man, some of those woods are beautiful! Some are less so. Too bad you can't find the right collector! If you mounted them all in one display case and could sell them as a unit! Wow!

Then again you could keep them as a sales display piece for yourself to show some of the various woods you offer. Maybe an expensive option but might prove worthwhile. This would nicely display the woods you can offer but then you might have to make another display with all the different styles of pen you offer. Do them in one kind of wood and then your customers can really compare the pen styles and the woods selection.

Great idea, huh? Just hellaciously expensive to implement with no guaranteed return unless you do a lot of custom request work. Nah! That'd take all the fun out of this![}:)]
 
Not everything needs to be "creative or inspired". On this forum we see a disproportionate amount of highly creative pens. But what is made and sold by most penturners for sale or gifts are, no doubt, what is often disparingly referred to as 'BtoB'. And that is not a bad thing. Your pens are beautiful, the craftsmanship is excellent and any one of them would look proud in the hand of a new owner.
 
Thanks for the comments, guys. I've thought about putting wood samples out for display at shows, but it would just take up more precious room. I also thought about putting out a box of pen blanks with a sign to choose your own wood for a pen, with delivery at the show the next day or by mail. To be honest, I've done only one show - at a local high school, so cannot speak authoritatively about selling at shows. And, I'm a failure as a salesman, too, but I do enjoy bs-ing with people.
I tried to start a discussion elsewhere about how much to display at a booth, but it didn't ignite. Once I took my wife to a perfume shop in Paris that had over 10,000 different perfumes, and she didn't find a single one she wanted. I think if they had had, say, 20 perfumes, she would have found the right one. Similarly, if I put out 500 pens to sell, people might not be able to choose because there is always the thought that there is almost certainly one that is more suitable than the one they are considering.
Frank, I have to disagree with you about too many people here trying to extend their skills. While you didn't say that, I think that is the gist of what you were saying. You don't see many plain wood pens in Pen World Magazine! At some point, and I have pretty much reached that point, pen turning gets boring, and it is reasonable to start looking for ways to make it interesting again. I think there are some splendid pens displayed here, and I am envious of the people who make them, and would like to try some of their techniques. There is probably a better market for the plainer pens, since the prices are lower, but more enjoyment in making and selling something more artful.
Thanks again for the nice comments.
Joe

What war would Jesus start?
 
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