Many of you took a look at my Masons pen I posted recently. I even had some requests for the decals and am sending some out. I try to help when I can.
What I forgot to mention was that while I was at the Mason's auction, one of the Masons came up to me and introduced himself and said he makes pens. I immediately thought, oh no, competition. He had a couple of pens with him and a zillion photos of them on his phone. My pens, at least to me were far better. He wanted to know all about how I made them. I invited him over to my house weekend after this and am going to help him and I'm sure I will learn something from him as well. I was being pulled in a lot of directions and didn't get a chance to tell him about the IAP, but will show him the site when he comes over.
It got me to thinking;
1. What kind of pens would I be making if I never found the IAP?
2. Would I even know what a CA finish was or how to do it?
3. Would I ever have figured out that you could make your own decal and put it on a pen?
4. Would I know what a closed end pen was?
5. Would I know about drilling on the lathe and squaring on the lathe?
6. Would I know about turning between centers?
7. Would I know about JohnnyCNC, Exoticblanks, BigRob, Iassac (can never remember his last name), and the many other wonderful vendors that have improved my pen making just by virtue of the products they carry?
8. Would I know about abranet sandpaper?
9. Would I know about Micro Mesh
10. Would I know about Manny's great glue?
11. Would I know about easyflow 9000 refills (they have made sales for me)
12. Would I know about using stuff like Alt Amber and painting the tubes and inside of the blank?
13. Would I have gotten all the help and suggestions to improve my web site?
14. Would I have gotten all the encouraging comments when I posted a picture of a pen (many weren't so great)?
15. Would I have gotten to know a bunch of helpful people with the same hobby/business?
16. Would I know about segmenting blanks?
17. Could I use a skew?
18. Would I have been able to make some beautiful pens out of Jeff Powell's cool blanks, or El Mostros wasted wood or whatever he calls them.
I could probably go on and on, but this is a long post anyway. The whole point was to say THANK YOU, to each and everyone of you for all the help. I think I would have long ago become so frustrated and given up this wonderful activity.
What I forgot to mention was that while I was at the Mason's auction, one of the Masons came up to me and introduced himself and said he makes pens. I immediately thought, oh no, competition. He had a couple of pens with him and a zillion photos of them on his phone. My pens, at least to me were far better. He wanted to know all about how I made them. I invited him over to my house weekend after this and am going to help him and I'm sure I will learn something from him as well. I was being pulled in a lot of directions and didn't get a chance to tell him about the IAP, but will show him the site when he comes over.
It got me to thinking;
1. What kind of pens would I be making if I never found the IAP?
2. Would I even know what a CA finish was or how to do it?
3. Would I ever have figured out that you could make your own decal and put it on a pen?
4. Would I know what a closed end pen was?
5. Would I know about drilling on the lathe and squaring on the lathe?
6. Would I know about turning between centers?
7. Would I know about JohnnyCNC, Exoticblanks, BigRob, Iassac (can never remember his last name), and the many other wonderful vendors that have improved my pen making just by virtue of the products they carry?
8. Would I know about abranet sandpaper?
9. Would I know about Micro Mesh
10. Would I know about Manny's great glue?
11. Would I know about easyflow 9000 refills (they have made sales for me)
12. Would I know about using stuff like Alt Amber and painting the tubes and inside of the blank?
13. Would I have gotten all the help and suggestions to improve my web site?
14. Would I have gotten all the encouraging comments when I posted a picture of a pen (many weren't so great)?
15. Would I have gotten to know a bunch of helpful people with the same hobby/business?
16. Would I know about segmenting blanks?
17. Could I use a skew?
18. Would I have been able to make some beautiful pens out of Jeff Powell's cool blanks, or El Mostros wasted wood or whatever he calls them.
I could probably go on and on, but this is a long post anyway. The whole point was to say THANK YOU, to each and everyone of you for all the help. I think I would have long ago become so frustrated and given up this wonderful activity.
