Ten down, twenty to go. Ugh.

[Parson]

I got my first big pen order, due October 31st. I've got a ten day vacation in NC coming up in the middle of it so I'm attempting to get most of the pens made before Friday at 4 am when we drive out to Hendersonville, just south of Asheville.

Pen turning is a lot of fun when it's one or two for friends or for sale. I'm working hard to think about the extra money I'll make because the monotony of making the same thing over and over is not a lot of fun.

Add to this that it's 30 money blank pens that require a lot of coats of CA to cover the paper lines and well, you get the picture! I've cut, drilled, painted tubes and the insides of the blanks, and glued in the tubes and trimmed them now.

Just call me the Bored Texas Turner.

 

[jedgerton]

Congratulations on the order! At least orders like these pay for the cool materials and kits we all like to buy.

John

 

[sdemars]

I have a friend . . .

I got my first big pen order, due October 31st. I've got a ten day vacation in NC coming up in the middle of it so I'm attempting to get most of the pens made before Friday at 4 am when we drive out to Hendersonville, just south of Asheville.

Pen turning is a lot of fun when it's one or two for friends or for sale. I'm working hard to think about the extra money I'll make because the monotony of making the same thing over and over is not a lot of fun.

Add to this that it's 30 money blank pens that require a lot of coats of CA to cover the paper lines and well, you get the picture! I've cut, drilled, painted tubes and the insides of the blanks, and glued in the tubes and trimmed them now.

Just call me the Bored Texas Turner.

I have a friend that has a sheetmetal shop. He is one of the few that will make odd items.

His policy is simple.

The more interesting - the lower the price

Several intersting jobs - the lower the price

You want 25 of the same thing - he raises the price per a piece as the quanity goes up.

Don't laugh, it works for him.

If you tell him you need a 100 of something, he looks you in the face ask you if looks Chinese?

Steve lol lol lol

 

[turbowagon]

FWIW, I just did my first shredded money pen the other day and it didn't need any CA. (I thought it would, but it didn't). It felt slightly "rough" while sanding, but the finished product feels smooth to the touch and looks good at any angle. Just letting you know in case you want to try one without a finish first. Could save you a lot of time. Here's a pic of the pen:

YMMV

- Joe

 

[Ligget]

I know exaxtly how you feel Randall, several weeks ago I turned away a 50 pen order from a golf club, there is no fun in penturning when trying to fill orders like that.

I turn for the sheer enjoyment of it, if someone wants to buy a pen from me then they can pick one from my `ready mades` selection. No deadlines or boredom just fun!

........................

Beautiful pen Joe, any gaps in the blank where the tube can be seen? Looks like it is very tightly compressed from where I sit!

 

[turbowagon]

Tons of gaps... but I reverse-painted the blank black, so you don't see the tube.

 

[renowb]

FWIW, I just did my first shredded money pen the other day and it didn't need any CA. (I thought it would, but it didn't). It felt slightly "rough" while sanding, but the finished product feels smooth to the touch and looks good at any angle. Just letting you know in case you want to try one without a finish first. Could save you a lot of time. Here's a pic of the pen:

YMMV

- Joe

Did you use any type of finish at all? It looks good!

 

[Padre]

Very nice pen!!

FWIW, I just did my first shredded money pen the other day and it didn't need any CA. (I thought it would, but it didn't). It felt slightly "rough" while sanding, but the finished product feels smooth to the touch and looks good at any angle. Just letting you know in case you want to try one without a finish first. Could save you a lot of time. Here's a pic of the pen:

YMMV

- Joe

 

[turbowagon]

Did you use any type of finish at all? It looks good!

Nope. Turned with woodchuck/skew.

Sanded 320, 400, 600, 2400MM, 3200MM, 3600MM, 4000MM, 6000MM, 8000MM, 12000MM.

Buffed with white diamond / plastic polish.

Thanks!

- Joe

 

[Ligget]

Tons of gaps... but I reverse-painted the blank black, so you don't see the tube.

Good thinking Joe, I guess there are gaps in all money blanks, each one I have had had big gaps too!:frown:

 

[Parson]

When i started this thread I had done ten pens. Now I have done 20, and the customer only wants 23 now.

I'm happy and mad at the same time. Happy I only have to make three more because I'm bored to death and each one takes about two hours to complete even though I batch each process. I'm mad because I bought 30 pen kits and blanks and I only needed 15 blanks (the kit is a short one piece) and I will have 7 spare pen kits I don't really like or want to keep.

I'll be selling off the extra supplies for whatever I can get out of them as soon as he takes possession of the pens and pays me.

The other thing that kind of bugs me is that I charged him $40 per pen and I have about $25 profit in each pen to cover my labor... so I'm making a whopping $10 bucks an hour. I could have made that working part time at Starbucks and got all the free coffee I wanted to drink to boot.

This is a great first-time learning experience for me. I keep repeating that over and over.