As an aside to this conversation, I'm curious about the time it takes others to finish a pen. I recently got an order for 110 slimlines, and given that this is more of a hobby than a living-providing business, I can afford to take a hit on labor costs. That said, it has me thinking about how much time I really spend making a pen. I've cut the time down considerably by batching the steps out all at once, so now I have all my blanks fully ready to turn, but I still figure I'm coming in around an hour +/- 10 minutes per pen. Part of this process was also doing a little testing to figure out what steps (mainly in sanding/finishing) are really necessary, and I've been able to save a lot of time there. And, as it turns out, rushing is rarely a way to save time, so despite the sense of urgency I have to get this order out, I am constantly telling myself to slow down. Save time by doing only what is necessary and doing it well so you don't have to fix mistakes.
How long do you all typically take to make a pen start to finish?
It depends a lot on the kind of blank and the finish. For resins, its pretty much the same, I probably spend 15 minutes or so sanding and polishing. Pretty consistent.
For wood, it varies a lot. I am extremely allergic to CA, so I avoid it as much as I can. I use Pens Plus instead. This is a microcrystaline wax friction polish, so it has walnut oil, DNA and shellac, plus the wax. Since its got an oil, wood likes to soak and soak and soak that up. The DNA is supposed to flash off with friction, but you really need a lot of heat, and if you don't get that heat across the entire surface of the blank, then you might have some additional complexities.
I find that with any friction polish, they take more time to fully saturate the wood, fully burn off the DNA, and really cure the finish. It takes a lot of coats, but, you sometimes have to give a decent amount of time between them. With some woods I need to apply a final light pass without the high heat friction, then bring the blanks inside where its warm to let them dry slowly and cure for a day. Other woods, I can just do a few coats with high friction, and thats good enough.
In some cases, I still end up with little dull spots, so I've taken to some final buffing with white diamond, and if necessary carnauba to give the blanks their final shine.
The total process can take a day or two, however in terms of literal time spent, when you add up all the little amounts, it might add up to an hour or around there.