What percentage of your turning is pens?

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Dan Masshardt

Dan Masshardt

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Jan 30, 2013
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Mechanicsburg, PA
Last year was my first year turning. I did turn some other stuff, but pens has kind of become my thing since I started - prob 85-90% of my turning.

I love turning pens and having gained quite a bit of experience with sone different materials / styles, I want to spend more time making pens from materials and styles that I really love.

This year I want me make pens more like 50-60% of my turnings and spend more time in bowls, boxes, peppermill type turnings Etc.

What about you? What percentage is pens and what is the plan for this year ?
 
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Most of my turnings are pens. Every once in a while I'll turn a game call or toothpick holder. I do a lot of casting so between that and turning it keeks me from getting bored.
 
I'd say about 98 percent of my turnings have been pens.

The plan that I set out for me was to finish up the kits I have ( about 15 or so ) then try to learn how to do lidded boxes.I have been picking up the tools needed this past year.

Although I love pens,the cost of it all is getting to be too much since I have not tried selling much.I have lots of blocks of guitar wood to learn boxes and small bowls on,so the cost should be really low,I'm hoping.

I also want to start using my new scrollsaw I bought years ago,but never got around to using because I always start a new batch of pens.That seems like a pretty inexpensive hobby.Just blades,wood and supplies.

So far,I have enjoyed penturning the best!


Steve
 
ossaguy said:
I'd say about 98 percent of my turnings have been pens. The plan that I set out for me was to finish up the kits I have ( about 15 or so ) then try to learn how to do lidded boxes.I have been picking up the tools needed this past year. Although I love pens,the cost of it all is getting to be too much since I have not tried selling much.I have lots of blocks of guitar wood to learn boxes and small bowls on,so the cost should be really low,I'm hoping. I also want to start using my new scrollsaw I bought years ago,but never got around to using because I always start a new batch of pens.That seems like a pretty inexpensive hobby.Just blades,wood and supplies. So far,I have enjoyed penturning the best! Steve
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You should sell your pens to fund the hobby. Heck, I'd buy some stamp blanks. :-)
 
Since I started turning again last fall 100%. I was off for about a year with some medical issues. I do have hundreds (literally) of very nice domestic and exotic blanks that are sized for bowls and peppermills that I have sitting on the rack that I need to do something with though. I even have a vaccum chuck that I have yet to use...

Mike
 
Indiana_Parrothead said:
Since I started turning again last fall 100%. I was off for about a year with some medical issues. I do have hundreds (literally) of very nice domestic and exotic blanks that are sized for bowls and peppermills that I have sitting on the rack that I need to do something with though. I even have a vaccum chuck that I have yet to use... Mike
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Don't get distracted from pens. Send a large flat rate box to me. Hahaha. ;-)
 
90-95% for me, but I'm starting to get into bowls, boxes, tool handles, and stoppers. Seems to me that pen turning is a gateway drug. But I expect always to be turning pens, casting, segmenting, etc. Russ
 
In my line of work it seems that nothing is ever really finished until you bury someone (and actually even then the job isn't done until after the funeral). Hence turning pens becomes very therapeutic since I can get a finished product and a well done in just short time in the garage. Since returning to turning a couple years ago I've only turned pens. With a bit more time off this year I may branch out a little.
 
I'd say pens are about 60%-75% right now. I started out doing pens and have done MANY. And sold a lot. Love the couple of shows we do each year. But lately I've been doing bowls with wood that came down in the storm last Dec. Hope to do a lot more of that!
 
About 50% of my turning time is for pens or bottle stoppers or something similar. Other than that I do a lot of bowls and boxes. I like the quick turn on pens and I also use pen turning to get people (kids mostly) interested in turning. I have 2 lathes and the 1220 usually has a pen in progress on it and the 1642 usually has box or bowl chucked up.

Thanks for starting this thread, I have been curious about this question myself.
 
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Right now it is about 85 - 90% pens but I want to reduce that to about 50 - 75% to justify all the other lathes and accessories I have but have not used in a while :rolleyes:
 
For me, its probably about 95%. But I have already bought the stuff to do bottle stoppers, and I have made a few wine style glasses for my wife and daughter to put jewlery in. In the last few days I have been looking at calls. So probably late in the year I will be looking at starting those.
 
For the last few years it was about 90% pens. Since I got my new larger lathe earlier this years it's probably about 50% pens and the rest is bowls, platters, hollow forms, etc.
 
100% pens for me. I just love doing the pens with the wide variety of materials available. I want to get into casting materials in blanks and learn to do kitless pens. I have a lot more ways to burn money before getting tired of pens!

I do want to try some bowls sometime.
 
About 80% pens for me.
I do a good bit of seam rippers, bottle stoppers & utensil/tool handles and occasional small things like keychains, atomizers, ornaments, pulls, etc.
I'd like to start doing some other turnings, but I only get a few hours of shop time each week.
 
Probably 75% pens for me. I have done a number of wine stoppers and pizza cutters. The Rockler pizza cutters have been big hits with family and friends. Turning those got me hooked on turning tool handles, which went from single piece of wood to segmented. And this past Christmas I got into peppermills.

I bought a bowl gouge (minus handle, of course!), but have not turned a bowl yet.
 
maybe 80%, I've done a good number of bottle stoppers for Christmas presents and an ice cream scoop, new handle for the crock pot lid too : )

This year I want to make a salt/pepper mill set and French rolling pin for the bride as well as some bowls, I've got to get some stock together for larger items, the bowls I think will test my patience, I really like the quick process of pens
 
About 1% is pen turning. I started turning pens over 10 years ago, and just don't get much creative satisfaction of turning a small round sleeve. Love to do hollow vessels and bowls. Those are getting more artistic as I go along.
 
90-95% pens with a few bottle stoppers, key chains, muzzleloader ball starters and sewing notions thrown in the mix. I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons to more small boxes & bowls. I guess I really don't care what I turn as long as the classic rock & oldies station stays on the air, the wood supply doesn't run out and the phone NEVER rings.
 
well it takes minutes to make a pen

and hours to make a bowl.

so timewise, a very small portion of my turning is pens.

volume of completed pieces - pens are a very large portion.
 
I turn pen's cause I'm bored .Nothing better to do ,Now once turkey season open's ,it will be less turning .
 
About 95% for me. I do make the occasional bottle stopper, seam ripper, or spindle project, but pens are my most common and favorite thing to make. That said, I just bought a full-size lathe and my first four jaw chuck, so bowls are on their way! Boxes, too. Of course, I got sent on travel for 3 months the day after buying them, so they're waiting in the garage taunting me!
 
I don't really know the percentage. I've probably turned more bowls than pens over time, but more pens than bowls for about the last year. I do like that I can finish up a pen a lot faster than a bowl, which make it a good evening after work type project.
 
I am 100% on pens. What attracted me to this hobby was the fact that people could carry my art around and others could see it. They could use it every day. I sell many of my pens when coworkers show the pen I made them and brag about them. I can't paint well, or make jewelry, but I make a pretty nice pen and that is probably as close to producing art as I am going to get. A bowl or box sits on a shelf somewhere and only a few get to see it. I have the parts to make a salt and pepper mill that my wife requested, but I can't get motivated to turn it. I can't carry it around...people would say "is that a pepper mill you have in your pocket?":wink:
 
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To date it has been 100% pens. I was hooked on collecting pens starting back in high school (or thereabouts) so the ability to make my own pens and add to the collection is quite satisfying.

HOWEVER, a few members of our local pen turning club have been making some impressive bottle stoppers, so I might delve into that a bit. Also, I remember seeing a post here a few years back where a turner used the cut offs from his acrylic blanks to make small refrigerator magnets. They were colorful and really cool looking, especially when displayed in a group. I have been saving some cut offs for this purpose and I think this year I will give it a try.

My only other wood project lately was to make a pen display rack. While it did not turn out to be as impressive as I had hoped, I learned a lot by doing it and now have some ideas to make a better one.
 
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