What is your first love, pens, or making pens?

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hilltopper46

hilltopper46

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Joined
Jun 28, 2006
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East Troy, Wisconsin, USA.
I saw the post about what is your favorite pen ever, and it reminded me of a question that I ponder from time to time. I'll try to ask it in a way that makes sense, and I would be interested in your replies.

Why do you make pens? is it:

1) because you love pens, so you wanted to be able to make your own?
or
2) because you are a woodturner/woodworker, and made a pen or two, and got hooked on the hobby?

For me, frankly, it's the second one. I made a few pens, and couldn't believe the level of fit and finish i was achieving, and the high level of reward based on the relatively short amount of time invested, and i got hooked.
 
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I made custom Fish rods for many years turning my own handles from cork and wood; then made a few baseball bats in recent years; then tried pens because I wanted something else to do on the lathe. Found pens were the most rewarding/fun and I caught on fairly fast.(thanks to the folks on here on IAP).

Hope this makes some sense.
 
#1. When I was in grade 3 or 4 I was given a certificate for penmanship, at the time I didn't have a clue what it was but as I got older I figured it out and to this day I still get compliments on my writing ... and the pen makes all the difference because if the pen is beautiful you want the writing to match.
 
#2 - I was a woodworker straight out of highschool wood shop and loved to build everything and anything. As long as I was creating I was happy. After meeting my wife, the "pen-a-holic" and being drug down every stationary isle in every store we went to, i told her how some people make pens. She bought me my first lathe as a birthday gift ,to make her pens, and the hobby started. I've been loving it ever since.
 
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Number 1 for me. After forty plus years in banking and using the best writing instruments I could find as well as pride in penmanship, falling into pen making was a natural. I like selling as well. My weakness at this point is the presentation of the pens. They are becoming more and more expensive, yet good looking.
 
My first love is my wife and family......however to answer your question I would be more of number 2. I like making pens because they are a FUNCTIONAL art form. I have turned bowls, thrown pottery, done sculpture, tattoos etc and pens were the only ones that didn't sit on a shelf. Other than Tattoos and that got very old very quick! I also like that they can be produced quickly enough to keep my interest but are complicated enough to be challenging. Honestly I am Dyslexic and writing has never been anything but a challenge for me, guess thats why I do it.

For me though my down time is all about archery or the sled! In fact I use the proceeds from pens to support my hill climbing addiction.

PS thats a 4 lane Hwy at the bottom of the hill.
 

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I got in to it by accident, never was any good at woodwork, but had students make pens put of aluminum as a project then had all the brass junk laying about, so I made up some blanks and made a horrible mistake, (I enjoyed turning wood even on a huge metal lathe)
 
#1 love Christ, then Wife and family, then my work as construction electrician. I truly like to be able to look and be able to say, "That works and is there partly because I worked on it." I have ADD with a short attention span so pen making falls just right to keep my attention. I started making pens to commemorate Doris' Granny by making a pen and pencil set for each of the children and grand children from wood from Granny's plum tree. Now I am hooked.
Charles
 
Rick P said:
My first love is my wife and family......however to answer your question I would be more of number 2. I like making pens because they are a FUNCTIONAL art form.... I also like that they can be produced quickly enough to keep my interest but are complicated enough to be challenging.
Click to expand...

that's where I am...I like that they are useful and you can have a project that takes from minutes to months....
 
2... Come turkey season, my pot calls and strikers go back to my primary obsession.

Pens are neat, but guns, hunting and such are my main hobbies.
 
God first then wife and family and then mostly #2. Started woodworking when I retired then read about the Pens for service members here in Canada and decided to give it a try and bought a small delta lathe. Most of my pens go to service members and their families and thanks to Larry in Harrow I now have a number of maple blanks that the original use was to be floorboards in WWII Canadian Military trucks to make pens from. I haven't kept track but so far have sent about 150 pens. Sell about 10 a year.
 
hewunch said:
Rick P said:
PS thats a 4 lane Hwy at the bottom of the hill.
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And that is a flipped Snow machine in front of you on top of the hill :eek::wink:

I love Alaska! Some of the most beautiful country in the world.
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Not a lot of time to snap pics when the sleds moving.....:biggrin: Between the freighter canoe and the sled I find another corner of my home state that drops my jaw almost weekly! Heck the drive to town is one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have ever been on. Drop me a note next time your up and we'll wet a line.
 
Neither

I just decided one day that learning to turn pens on a lathe might be fun. I had never used a lathe - although I had owned a Shopsmith, I'd never tried turning anything.

I have been and done a lot of things in my life (some with a lot more skill than others). And turning pens became one of them.
 
I love pens, always have, but the hobby I love is operating a small business, pens are the product that the business produces. I spent most of 40 years managing various businesses and that is where my passion remains.
 
hilltopper46 said:
I saw the post about what is your favorite pen ever, and it reminded me of a question that I ponder from time to time. I'll try to ask it in a way that makes sense, and I would be interested in your replies.

Why do you make pens? is it:

1) because you love pens, so you wanted to be able to make your own?
or
2) because you are a woodturner/woodworker, and made a pen or two, and got hooked on the hobby?

For me, frankly, it's the second one. I made a few pens, and couldn't believe the level of fit and finish i was achieving, and the high level of reward based on the relatively short amount of time invested, and i got hooked.
Click to expand...

Actually neither for me. I was stationed in Japan and my wife had to stay in the States, so I had two years of extreme boredom on my hands. Another guy at my command was in the same situation as me. He made pens and volunteered to teach me. Long story short, I now make pens because I enjoy it....when I have the time of course. Work seems to just get busier and busier.
 
Both for me. I started doing woodwork when I was 12 -- dad gave me some small mens woodworking tools for Christmas. For years I bought pens when I didn't really need them.
Now I am semi-retired and wanted to do something smaller in the woodworking field - fell into making pens. I really enjoy it. By the way, even though I have made many larger things I have learned a lot about making pens from this site
 
1and 2 for me. When I was a kid in school I would steal the cool pens other kids had ( I know I was a bad boy) I really liked the wood ones. I guess I had wanted to make pens for 35 years or so but never thought to much about it. Then about this time last year I bought a lathe and all the goodies to make pens since I had been pretty much out of work and still am, I thought it would help pay bills and still have fun. Well I am having tons of fun, but not much help paying bills.
I never new how much satisfaction and different ways and styles of pens there are. I do interior trim now but since I was a little tyke watching my dad make simple shelves and selling them, I have been building stuff with wood.
 
Definitely #2 for me. Frankly, until I got hooked on turning pens, I always used a fine point sharpie. And if they made refills for them, I'd find a way to make a pen that used that refill. But what the end product looks like is why I started turning pens. I am getting more & more into the function & the things that separate a good pen from a great pen. I see a lot of great pens on here, but I still don't think I've done a great pen yet.
 
Well, I honestly believe #2 got me hooked. Now #1 keeps my interested. I love making different pens for my daily use.
 
hilltopper46 said:
Why do you make pens? is it:

1) because you love pens, so you wanted to be able to make your own?
or
2) because you are a woodturner/woodworker, and made a pen or two, and got hooked on the hobby?
Click to expand...

If I have to answer using only the two questions above, I would say number 2 first part... because I'm a wood turner and I like turning wood... I made pens before I did anything else and would rather turn larger pieces now than the pens...

I belong to 3 forums and keep coming back here because of the good conversation and camaraderie in this group... but it's a rare day now that I make a pen. I still make a few because there's something about finishing a really really nice pen that's very satisfying, but so is making a nice bowl or pepper mill or whatever....
 
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