Pen Lists & Vendors

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dmiller

Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
24
Location
IL, USA.
The link in the library is broken, has anyone downloaded that list?

Whats your opinion on Vendors?

Woodcraft.
Pennstate
CraftSupplies

add any more that you can think of.

Are the parts/bushings interchangeable between companies? How about quality of parts?

I've only used Woodcraft since I can walk into it and talk to someone. I have no issues with them, but I'd also like to explore other options.

Thanks for your time.
 
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I have used WoodnWhimsies, The Village Workshop, Arizona Silhouette, Woodturningz, Wood pen pro, Bear Tooth Woods, as well as, members on this site with no problems with any of them. Lots of variety. I have gotten quick, prompt service from all of them and quick resolution with any items that had any problems.
 
IMO, CSUSA, AS, Beartooth are great sites to work with. I cannot stand PSI, everything I have bought from is low rate, and when I asked to return something, all I got was a credit. I will not personally do business with them anymore.
 
I have ordered from most pen suppliers and I have had nothing but good things to say about ALL the vendors I have dealt with. AS, Beartooth, Woodcraft, CSUSA, WoodturningZ, Berea, and others too numerous to mention. I have ordered from many of the people on this site, and always had good results. As in most things, you get what you pay for. I believe there are very few "bad apples" in the pen making arena.



I would stay away from Steebar though.

Mandrels and bushings from PSI are slightly smaller than others. The difference is slight, but enough that the PSI bushings will not fit on Woodcraft & Berea mandrels without some sanding, and Berea bushings will be sloppy on PSI mandrels.
 
Bushings are not always interchangeable. I ordered the Jr. Gent, and Barons at various times, which apear to be almost the same pen, but the tube diameter and diameters of the fittings where slightly different. My guess though is that slimlines will be slimlines no matter where you get them.
 
RMB said:
Bushings are not always interchangeable. I ordered the Jr. Gent, and Barons at various times, which apear to be almost the same pen, but the tube diameter and diameters of the fittings where slightly different. My guess though is that slimlines will be slimlines no matter where you get them.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is not true. The ID of the 7mm is different from PSI to the others. Also there is variation among the newer suppliers, as well. Buy from whomever, but check that the tube is not sloppy on your mandrel (if you use one).
 
I regularly buy from CSUSA and WoodpenPro with good results. CSUSA might
be a bit more expensive on the things I buy, but service is great and quality
is always good. WoodpenPro has good prices and fast shipping.. reasonable
shipping rates. I've bought kits from Woodcraft, but I'm not always pleased
with them. That's a corporate thing, I'm sure. Same with Rockler. William
WoodWrite has nice kits. Shipping from Canada to the US might be higher,
but good quality kits so far. Only had one experience with Woodturningz.
 
I have used woodnwhimsies, they are a PSI reseller and share the wholesale price break with you. They ship fast and cheap. They even refunded $5.05 to me when they were able to fit my order in a smaller carton. These folks are easy to do business with.... I order from them regularly when buying PSI kits.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
I've had very good experiences with Woodpenpro, A.S., CSUSA, Woodturningz, and PSI...I've also bought kits at woodcraft but they're mostly the same as what A.S. sells, so I tend to stick with A.S. when purchasing those particular kits. I've also hear lots of good things about Beartooth Woods, but I've not ordered from them...Yet...!!!

I've also had great customer service with each of these suppliers, so I will continue to use them all!!
 
I've bought from most of the vendors listed.. I almost always buy the bushings for the kits I buy.. it's a relatively small expense to make sure my blanks always fit the components.

Since a lot of the smaller vendors are more often re-sellers, I try to watch who they are re-selling for and buy bushings accordingly. To date, I haven't had bad service from a single vendor... I did get some kits from Woodturningz that had some of the refills leaking... and have had one kit(not sure who the supplier was on this kit) that had a plating problem, but I think he had switched his supplier to get better prices/which he passed along to us/ and has since dropped that supplier and gone back to his previous. I mentioned the leaking refills, but didn't ask him replace them... I only spent $1.70 for kits... it probably would have cost him that to replace the refills and I already had a supply on hand to switch them out... I'm sure he would have gladly made the switch if I had asked.
 
from my research there are three major wholessalers Daycom , Berea, and PSI

Daycom sells to Craft supply, Pen Works, and Malainworks

Berea sales to AZ , Beartooth, woodcraft, and Hut

PSI sales to Wood " Whispers, Woodturningz, and Packard


I have no idea about Wood Pen Pro or Rockler. If you do know please help us all. If mine wrong please correct me!
 
ed4copies said:
Actually, this is not true. The ID of the 7mm is different from PSI to the others. Also there is variation among the newer suppliers, as well. Buy from whomever, but check that the tube is not sloppy on your mandrel (if you use one).
Click to expand...
Do they make a bushing to get rid of the slop or do we just have to eat the mess?
 
wolftat said:
Do they make a bushing to get rid of the slop or do we just have to eat the mess?
Click to expand...

My technique is to purchase my "slimline" mandrels from WoodCraft (cheapest source I can find). Then, sand down one or two to fit the Penn State kits (and all their resellers). It's only a couple thousandths. AND, if you are making comfort pens, the centerband "fit" is not critical, so if you have slop on them it really doesn't matter, much.

FWIW!
 
Like someone else said, it's best to buy the bushings for the kits from the same supplier. Most times you'll find a difference. Most of my stuff comes from Woodcraft cause I'm in Phx. or Tucson quite often. Ordered a little from PSI & quite a bit from CSUSA & all are great. Got a bunch of slimlines from CSUSA & new bushings. The bushings are way too big but don't plan on doing anything about it, just use what I've got.
 
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