Question for people who sell blanks

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
H

Haynie

Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
3,515
Location
Page Arizona
I am curious

There is a lot of fancy wood with beautiful grain being sold as pen blanks. You folks usually line these blanks up so that they recreate the image of the board/burl you cut them from. Doing this leaves the impression of what the actual board looked like. In a few cases there are like 15 3/4 inch blanks. This means the seller cut a 12 inch section into blanks.

My question is this, what do you do with the rest of the board/burl? Are you making other things and the blanks are from left overs, or do you buy/find the wood with the intention of cutting into blanks.

I am asking because there have been several times when I see blanks and think "they just cut up prime box top/drawer front material".

Not making any judgements just curious.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
For the most part when I cut a burl it is cut for its purpose. If I am cutting pen blanks that is what it gets cut for same goes for Bowls, Ornaments, Bottle Stoppers whatever. For a pen blank you want it to be prime because the canvas is so small. That is the reason some beautiful maple does not sell as pen blanks. As a whole it looks great but as a 7/8" x 5" not so stelar. I literaly have boxes of blanks that did not pass the test. They look good but not great. On a different note, I dont know that I ever cut a milled board for blanks. I get my wood in its raw form and mill it myself. I have several burls just sitting in the backyard waiting for a purpose.
 
studioso said:
I don't sell blanks, but I'd think , that given that nice blanks could easily sell for 120$ a foot board, you'd want sell as blanks, if you can!
Click to expand...

note to the curious:

Don't ever calculate the cost per board foot of the pen blanks you buy....it will make you very ill.

jmoicbw-bidi
 
Justturnin said:
For the most part when I cut a burl it is cut for its purpose. If I am cutting pen blanks that is what it gets cut for same goes for Bowls, Ornaments, Bottle Stoppers whatever. For a pen blank you want it to be prime because the canvas is so small. That is the reason some beautiful maple does not sell as pen blanks. As a whole it looks great but as a 7/8" x 5" not so stelar. I literaly have boxes of blanks that did not pass the test. They look good but not great. On a different note, I dont know that I ever cut a milled board for blanks. I get my wood in its raw form and mill it myself. I have several burls just sitting in the backyard waiting for a purpose.
Click to expand...

Yep and in my case there often isn't enough usable material to make bigger sections from. With spalted wood you sometimes get blanks from a whole section of log but more often 75% of the section is to far gone or lacks enough spalting to make a good pen blank.........most of my "scrap" keeps the family warm. Yes I have very pretty firewood.
 
Rick P said:
Justturnin said:
For the most part when I cut a burl it is cut for its purpose. If I am cutting pen blanks that is what it gets cut for same goes for Bowls, Ornaments, Bottle Stoppers whatever. For a pen blank you want it to be prime because the canvas is so small. That is the reason some beautiful maple does not sell as pen blanks. As a whole it looks great but as a 7/8" x 5" not so stelar. I literaly have boxes of blanks that did not pass the test. They look good but not great. On a different note, I dont know that I ever cut a milled board for blanks. I get my wood in its raw form and mill it myself. I have several burls just sitting in the backyard waiting for a purpose.
Click to expand...

Yep and in my case there often isn't enough usable material to make bigger sections from. With spalted wood you sometimes get blanks from a whole section of log but more often 75% of the section is to far gone or lacks enough spalting to make a good pen blank.........most of my "scrap" keeps the family warm. Yes I have very pretty firewood.
Click to expand...


Yes sir, and many times a burl is hollow in the middle, at least the Oak Burls I get. I dont have access to knor whould be able to mill a huge burl that produces those larger than life bowl blanks.
 
Two great blanks will sell for more than 20 average or plain blanks. In fact after a while you find that plain blanks are hard to sell. When I use to cut Walnut for gunstocks the purpose was for high grade not the most number of stocks. Sometimes I would get only two or three great blanks and the rest of the tree was no value for gunstock blanks. Lots of good wood, but not what I needed, wanted or could sell. I get two grand for perfect feather crotch blanks and maybe that much or a lot less for the rest of the wood for non gunstock purposes.

Same holds for pen blanks. I have a clear template that is marked off in 1 X 6 blanks. Place it over the wood and see what the best layout for the grain on the face. Look at both sides as one my be great and the other poor. Adjust as needed. If you have a fancy area that gives you three, four or five great blanks you are very lucky. But it is better to get two great blanks rather than five blanks with a little bit of greatness in them. You have to also visualize the final pen after turning. If all the grain is on one side it may all be gone when the pen is finished. I have seen a lot of fancy blanks which when turned would become average at best.
 
The same with my Ironwood that I have so much of, it is such a cracked wood that bowl blanks are next to impossible unless someone likes cracks, so most of it turns into pen blanks and a few knife scales, I would love to get some big bowl blanks out of it as they would be beauties!!!!!!! But unfortunately most of it is kindling and firewood.
 
shadetree_1 said:
The same with my Ironwood that I have so much of, it is such a cracked wood that bowl blanks are next to impossible unless someone likes cracks, so most of it turns into pen blanks and a few knife scales, I would love to get some big bowl blanks out of it as they would be beauties!!!!!!! But unfortunately most of it is kindling and firewood.
Click to expand...


I dont know about burning that ironwood. Smells like arse when you turn it I cant imagine burning it.:eek:
 
Rick P said:
Justturnin said:
For the most part when I cut a burl it is cut for its purpose. If I am cutting pen blanks that is what it gets cut for same goes for Bowls, Ornaments, Bottle Stoppers whatever. For a pen blank you want it to be prime because the canvas is so small. That is the reason some beautiful maple does not sell as pen blanks. As a whole it looks great but as a 7/8" x 5" not so stelar. I literaly have boxes of blanks that did not pass the test. They look good but not great. On a different note, I dont know that I ever cut a milled board for blanks. I get my wood in its raw form and mill it myself. I have several burls just sitting in the backyard waiting for a purpose.
Click to expand...

Yep and in my case there often isn't enough usable material to make bigger sections from. With spalted wood you sometimes get blanks from a whole section of log but more often 75% of the section is to far gone or lacks enough spalting to make a good pen blank.........most of my "scrap" keeps the family warm. Yes I have very pretty firewood.
Click to expand...

All.(99.9%), of my blanks are made from salvaged wood I pick up in my travels. It is usually in the form of logs, limbs, and branches. Whatever cutoff wood that is not suitable for pen blanks, but still usable I save. When I need to use a medium Flat Rate Priority Mail box there is usually room left after putting the blanks in, so I fill the space with the cutoffs. Most people appreciate this as the can make other items than pens and pencils.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom