Hey thanks for stopping by. I made this channel to show everyone my passion of woodworking, specifically wood turing. I like to make all sorts of items like pens and bowls, eventually i would like to get more specialty tools to make larger projects and better videos. ENJOY!
Nice pen. The first thing I got after using a vise to assemble a pen was a pen press. Next I purchased a blank drilling vise. There is no comparison between the two. The next thing was getting blanks and pen kits at the best price I can. This is a wonderful hobby I sell enough to keep me supplied in parts.
Nice video. As far as pricing goes, your price is your price, if you’re too high the market will bring you down. Negative comments are going to come if you said you charged 5 dollars. Your pen is worth what you and your customer have agreed upon (although you probably want to disclose the break and repair). In the hand turned pen marketplace people are pricing their pens below actual cost due to the hobby aspect of it. In order to have a viable business you need to factor in all the costs, not just the cost of the wood and kit. Most people don’t include cost for the lathe/shop equipment, your labor (not just the time for turning the wood, but all the time spent to buy everything and setup), marketing costs, supplies, and rent for the shop space. When you factor all that into your price as well as the CAD exchange rates, then I don’t think your price is excessive. I think it would be hard to get that in the DFW Texas market unless you get a unique niche, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fair price. I wish I could sell hand turned pens for a business because I love the process, but for me the economics aren’t there and I keep my corporate job. If more people explained pricing from a business perspective maybe it would help raise the water level for all ships.
$80 for a pen made of what I’m assuming is amboyna burl isn’t bad. Most pen blanks from amboyna are around $30 per set, plus the kit, plus the tools, plus the hours it took to learn how to make it. If you don’t like the price that’s because it’s not for you. Good job on the pen keep it up
Not to bag on anything and I’m also a carpenter/ woodworker for my 9-5 and as a hobby for over 30 years anyway to make a short story long 😳 it’s a 110$ pen after you spend around 1k in tools 😁
1k is being generous. I'm a hobby turner and woodworker and have spent at least triple that on my workshop tools. My shitty Wen lathe was almost $1000... Then tools, grinder, mandrels, live centers, pen kits... Not to mention chainsaw, bandsaws, table saw, drill press, planer, router table.... It's an expensive hobby/addiction. Kudos to anyone who can make $110 for a pen. In my area people would be hard pressed to spend $50 on a pen, even with a fancy case. This guy must have a lot of business people or lawyers in his market. People who have money and appreciate fancy writing utensils. Where I live in upstate NY, people are barely literate lol.
I like traditional tools much more but the carbide tools definitely have their uses. An example is getting a really tight v shape in a spindle takes much more time, patience and skill with traditional tools or you can just grab a carbide tip and push it in. Carbides usually leave a more rough surface while sharp traditional tools will always leave you with a better finish and less sanding. All that being said I prefer carbides for small spindles at high rpm.
I like turning them in 1 piece because it's a bit of a challenge. They are definitely not for everyone a really good project is turning one out of wet wood with a really long skinny stem and letting it dry, it should warp and twist like a real mushroom.
@@dalebaker9788$80 is not a lot in the pen making world. I’ve been selling pens made from rare woods, old stadium seats, animal horn, and ivory for $200 usd regularly. The price depends on the quality of the pen kit used and the base material. I also make and sell pens like this one in the video for $25-$45. If it’s too expensive for you then you are not the target customer and it’s as simple as that.
Is that purple heart wood? I ask because I use it in my wood turning and thought it turns purple in the sun. I'm gonna try the heat gun and check it out.
It's good to see you making a pen (mostly) without a drill press and also without a pen press. This is something I'm going to try now that I've seen it done without those things. Thanks.
Ok so I watched a video of yours and you saved me £130 by showing me I can use a clamp as a pen press and now you have saved me a further god knows how much on showing me that I can just make my own sand disk….. why you don’t have 50k plus subscribers is beyond me as your style of filming and talking is far better than some with 100k subscribers! Keep up the great work don’t give up keep going make 2023 the year your channel grows!
Hey thanks for the very kind words i really want to make more videos next year! My time is very limited lately. Wood turning stuff is rather expensive, I'm glad I could save you some money. It's good to know some people like the voice over stuff rather than subtitles, I'll have to make more like that. 👍
Hi, linda caneta torneada! Estou a pensar fazer algumas, mas até agora não encontrei lojas online que tenham este material na UE. Países fora da União Europeia fica tudo muito mais caro por causa da alfandega, fica tudo retido e as taxas são altas.
I am not sure who turns in U.S.A, but it is hard to see if there is even a market for it in America. I wanted to get into making and selling pens, but I haven't the slightest clue on what to even do
Sorry for the late reply. There's a few different options.One is selling your projects at a farmers market, if you have enough stock to fill up a booth. Two is selling online locally on market place or other local apps (make sure you have a few key words like "gift, handmade, and local") anything that will get your posts found. Three is websites like Etsy, posting here is a little harder you need to make sure you have very good quality pictures of your projects and ways to ship them.
Depending on the wood type, I can see this being an $80 pen. But given the chip that had to be repaired, I feel that's too much. personally wouldn't sell a repaired pen for more than 75% of what I originally wanted to list it for
Any chance I could send you a couple blanks of wood and you could turn them into pens for me? I want to give it as a little gift to the first furniture customer I've had. I think a pen from the same wood as the project would be kinda neat. Thanks! (I'd obviously pay for shipping and time and materials too)
@@HighSpeedWood I was just thinking 1 or 2 pens, depending on the cost. The wood is poplar so the blanks would be fairly light. I'm not sure how much international shipping would be though, i'm near Denver, CO. I want to keep the cost pretty low as it would just be a little bonus gift so shipping might make that not really an option...
The pen kit is was bought on a super sale original price I think was 7$ or so, and the sale price was 2.99 I think. I buy them in bulk so I don't often remember the individual price.
hey man, great vid. just wanted you to know you tool rest is way to far away from the blank on the lathe. you want it to be about 1/8 of an inch away so your tool doesn't get caught and isnt as hard to control.
Awesome thanks so much! This project is one of my favorites, and has given me some ideas for open nest birdhouses. My next video will hopefully be done by next Friday. 😃