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On 20 Mar 2006 09:57:01 -0800, wrote:

Mac - after I learned how to make pens, I decided to make some money
with them. Since hand turned pens are everywhere now, it may or may
not be possible. But if you want to turn out something that you could
sell a few of and be proud, I studied how the others around me failed
and went the other way.

Very cool, Robert.. I printed this out..

This is how I did it.

I turned the best pen I could using the best materials available. Best
kits, best woods. I used real ebony, real horn, and any eye catching
piece of exotic wood that looked really unusual. I turned the wood
pieces to fit the kit pieces, not to the bushings. So I turned to
withing a couple of thousandths of the bushings, and then finished up
turning the pieces with my calipers set to the actual piece it to fit.

yeah, i've found that the bushings are just a guesstimate... and not always
accurate.. I'm new at this, but I've made a set of undersized bushings for both
slimline and cigar pens and use them after the pen is roughed out... especially
for sanding and finishing..

Anything that didn't pass muster went in the trash. I actually went
back to WC and bought several bags of brass tubes so I could make sure
I had more on hand in case a piece went to the circular file.

hmm.. I can't be that extreme yet... The ones that I don't like get taken apart
and reused... (I stocked up on tubes as POC)

I carefully finished each pen with a variety of finishes, making sure
each was as good as I could get it.

Then I went down to WoodCraft and bought their $1.99 box to put the
pens inside. I carefully pulled up the bottom panel, and pulled it out
of the box. I made some small cards out of 20# card stock with the
type of wood, where it came from, and a description of the hardware
(24K gold plated and hard black anodized) etc. Everything was on one
side of the card.

On the other side, I put a "Care of your new writing instrument" card
in it. All the stuff of any wood project was there; wipe with warm
cloth, never used detergents, and the fact that the patina will build
from use. I put my lifetime warranty in writing, and told them which
refills to buy, along with my phone number.

wow.. certainly the "extra mile" and hopefully made you stand out from the
competition..

I ONLY made the old 30's style Schaeffer pen, and that was the pen I
was known for. Now, here's how they sold so well: I offered laser
engraving for $15. A guy that does trophy engraving has an XY machine
and he burns them for $5 a line. (Backfill that ebony with some super
high end gold paint and you really have something.) So the pen was
customized to a person, not just a nice piece of woodwork.

I sold engraved pens to sweethearts, top sales guys, "in appreciation",
you name it. One year when our local 2A baseball team won their Texas
League Series and were champs, I made pens out of a broken bat. The
pens were engraved: "San Antonio Missions - 1997 League Champs". I
slabbed out the blanks from the bat pieces, then cut the slabs on 45
degrees to the grain to make the ash look more exotic. Clear coated
them with 50% thinned urethane a couple of times then lightly buffed.
I'll bet some are still in use.

Lots of market research.. something most of us don't do..

9 or so years ago, my competitors sold their pens out of their shirt
pocket or velvet bag, and the got about $25 to $30 (max) for their
pens. I sold mine for $65, plus engraving. To let you know where the
market actually was, I only sold a few pens that weren't engraved. So
I made my market the gift/award/keepsake group.

I sold about 60 pens or so, then quit because I wanted to do some other
things with my turning. Plus... it was boring!

I would be glad to get some fun money with that now, though. I have
often thought of starting that up again.

Robert

Thanks again!

(I posted a few experiments on ABPW today)

Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm