Blood wood & Walnut Pens

Those are really nice. I’ve never turned a pen because of the added cost of components and mandrels and such, but there are several LumberJocks that seem to really enjoy it.

-- Jesus is Lord!

They are nice. It’s a nice project that doesn’t take much time and they make great gifts. People are also willing to pay good money for well made unique pens. Most guys I know around here just make the standard 7mm pens which you can get kits for less than $3 and almost any scrap wood works for a blank. The mandrel is only $9.99 at woodcraft and it comes with the standard 7mm bushings and the Mont Blac bushings. Even if you want to move to the nice kits like these they are only about $30 for the kit and $3.99 for the bushings. The blanks have to be 7/8” or larger but that’s still in the “scrap” range. The walnut pen here was turned from a small peice of scrap I found laying on the floor next to my table saw.

This particular pen kit comes in a limited edition version which get’s you a laser engraved number, handmade solid 18K gold 750 broad point fountain nib, 100% unconditional lifetime guarantee. There are only 500 available for the low low cost of $134.99.

-- Steffen

I’ve never turned a pen. As with Os, I don’t have any of the components to do it. I wanted to get the pen turning DVD’s at lee valley, but I keep balking at it. Those are really nice, Steffen!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Thanks Tom…I would save your money on the DVD and buy a couple pen kits. Get a cup of coffee and go down to your local Woodcraft (if they have those up there) and just read through a book on it. You’re pretty talented and I’m sure you would get it pretty quickly. The cost of the DVD would buy you all the components you need.

-- Steffen

these are nice Steffen – I like the big chuncky pens – are these like the ones that you are selling for $100+ ? (I read you blog entry about your scolding for selling them for that much…I say “hey that is capitalism”).

I made a basic pencil/pen set for myself once on a friend’s lathe…want to get a lathe and do some more, as turn a few around rather quickly. I agree with Steffen, no DVD required…hardest part is getting the hole through the stock without splitting….

-- Mike - Columbus, Ohio

These would actually sell for $150+ (my cost $30 for kit, a couple dollars for wood, sand paper & finish, an hour of my time and equipment…The gallary pays me @ $75 then they would sell it for about $150, or however much they can get).

-- Steffen

Very nice pens Steffan. I really like the red one.

Mot, you can get a free DVD on pen making from Penn State Industries. They also have a lot of the components as well. Like Steffan said, the components are not very expensive if you are buying a few at a time. If you sell them like Steffan, then you can afford to buy more and get volume discounts.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Great Pens Steffen. I agree if your going to do it for money or gifts to be remembered use good kits. Where did you get yours Craft Supplies in Utah?

Also, the book Turning Pens And Pencils (Paperback) by Kip Christensen (Author), Rex Burningham (Author) is getting pretty deeply discounted now. There are also videos to go with the the book.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper?search=action&keywords=rex-kip-1
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper?search=action&keywords=rex-kip-2

Tom, if your turning already, you can get set up pretty cheaply. A pen mandril, some kits, bushings, and a 7mm drill bit will get you going. If you buy the book above you can see how to make jigs for the items the stores charge a lot of money for. For example you can use a disk sander to square the ends of the blanks and use clamps to drill blanks and press the parts together.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Yes without the lathe. The parts to make pens is quite reasonable. and you can practice on the $3.00 kits without spending much money.

Very nice Steffen. I tend to give the Bloodwood versions to the Pastors that I know. Or a Kingwood pen.

I traded $850.00 worth of pens to a sawmill owner that he passed out at Christmas time. I got them Laser Engraved with his sawmill name. I took wood in trade. So he wasn’t out any cash, I was out less than $100.00 and I got 850.00 worth of wood.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I did see somewhere that a rest home or special care home was letting the residents build pen kits, but without a lathe. They had a process worked out where the people could shape the pens by hand, and then continue through the rest of the steps. This was part therapy and part recreation. They were able to turn out pens as nice as any turned one.

A great bargain on your part Karson. Where did you get the engraving done?

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Bill, it was in a magazine article not too long ago. I wonder if I can find it. It was quite interesting.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Wayne,

Yes I do get them from Craft Supply and I do have that book you provided the link for. I agree there are a lot of jigs, clamps, sanding stuff…etc. that you could go broke buying to make pens. I square my blanks on a disk sander and I bought a small inexpensive vise for $10 at harbor freight to hold the blank while I drill it. However if you have a small box hinge and two chunks of wood you can accomplish the same thing.

Karson,

That’s a good idea trading pens for lumber…anyone interested in a bunch of pens for a resawing bandsaw? There is a guy at Woodcraft near my house who has the laser engraving machine and he charges about $5/pen…though I’m sure in quantity he might go a little lower.

-- Steffen

Os, Mot… give it a go. You can get a bunch of reasonable kits from a variety of places, and once you get everything set up, you can turn a bunch of them in an hour or two. I set out to make my first one, and it took no time at all… so I quickly made three more in about an hours time. I got a kit of 10 pens and 10 pencils from Woodcraft. They were great to practice on. I had trouble with the ink cartridges drying out quickly, but was able to upgrade to the cross refills (Staples) and now I LOVE the one I kept for myself. I use it all the time.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

really nice pens. ive heard that they can be turned without a lathe. ill have to check that out.

-- Dan

Drill press can work in a pinch…

heck you could finagle a jig to work with a drill.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

very nice pens, you got me hooked now, I’m thinking of giving it a go. ‘What the hey. for 30-40 bucks I’ve pi—-st that away in a night in a bar more times than I care to admit. jockmike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Be warned turning pens is addictive Mike….

Steffen, next time you make your way to Sac, I’ll turn you on to some antler…

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

anybody ever seen these turned on a corn cob? I was at at WW store today and they had corn cobs right next to there pen kits and blanks….not sure how that would work….maybe it is an ohio thing, we got lots of corn…

-- Mike - Columbus, Ohio

I saw Rockler advertising stablized corn cobs for turning blanks. I know they also have antlers, horns, and even snakeskin for turning. Who knows what else someone will come up with.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Bill: I used http://www.awardsandmore.com for my laser engraving.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Very cool. Did they engrave the pens as well as the cases?

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

I just had pens engraved. but they will engrave everything. My customer basicly had a throw-away case, so I never had them engraved.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I belive the corn cobs covered in resin and they are pre drilled. I have seen rattlesnake skin blanks as well.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov