wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.
thanx
bill

Bill wrote:
wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.
thanx
bill



I see them on ebay all the time, often without any bids but of course
it's always a hit-and-miss thing finding what you want.

Ken Grunke
http://www.token.crwoodturner.com/

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You also might want to join the Yahoo Group penturners as they have
lots of resources listed. I've gotten a lot of good info there.

Joe

Bill wrote:
wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.
thanx
bill


I bought a box of 60+ assorted blanks off eBay for $20. Here is the link
for that auction.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=8209959061

The seller threw in another 15 or so blanks of walnut and maple. Black
walnut isn't my first choice for pen turning, but its good for practice
as I had just gotten my lathe.

If you're looking to get a bunch of blanks to get started, and don't
have the time/resources to cut your own, ebay is the way to go. But, you
never know what figure you will get in the blanks.

I live near Atlanta Wood Products which carries many varieties of exotic
woods. I have gotten a bandsaw recently and plan on making my own blanks
as it is much cheaper than buying blanks from woodworking stores which
usually charge $1 per blank for the low end species.

--
Brad Curfman
http://www.curfman.net

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 03:49:42 GMT, "Bill"
wrote:

wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.

If you can possibly avoid it, do NOT buy pen blanks. Providing you
can find 4/4 stock in the wood that you want pens out of, or pretty
much any other form, you will save a tremendous amount of money if you
have the capacity to saw your own. Pen blanks have to be one of the
most overpriced consumables in all of woodturning. There are many
outlets online (including eBay) that sell exotic and domestic
hardwoods in various cuts, many of them as lumber or various
dimensions of turning squares or blanks. Even a tiny band saw or a
homeowner's tablesaw would be sufficient for sawing out pen blanks.

I am particularly fond of the guys at www.curiouswoods.com. They have
a great selection of exotic hardwood lumber, and do carry pen blanks
as well. I don't work there or own any stock, but I do get a lot of
wood there. If you simply must have pen blanks, though, (like you
don't want to saw or can't) then www.woodturnerscatalog.com has a good
selection you can take a gander at. But like Ken suggested, eBay is
always a good place to pick up reasonably priced pen blanks.

Shop around for pen kits. My suggestion would be to buy a few from
several different companies, and compare until you find a company that
has kits you really like, because I have found that quality varies
quite a bit, and in the case of pen kits you _do_ get what you pay
for...ie. "cheap" kits usually means "cheap" kits.

caveat emptor


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

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Try http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/ - they are brilliant there.
Bill Baumbeck is the chap there and is a member of the Pen Turners'
Guild.

Really is a good shop

Paul

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 03:49:42 GMT, "Bill"
wrote:

wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.
thanx
bill

Bill, I find a great source for FREE pen blanks at my local custom door
makers' shop. They usually have tons of scrap maple, walnut, cherry and
mahogony in thier dumpsters! It's unbelievable what they throw out! I
know my dad also frequents a local furniture shop where he lives and
they give him all the maple he can carry!
TimQ
www.alisam.com
Mini-lathe indexing system

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 03:49:42 GMT, "Bill"
wrote:

wondering where i can get the best prices on pen blanks and supplies.
thanx
bill

What kind of blanks? Solid wood? Stabilized?

I prefer to buy big sticks of wood and rip them to be blanks - I like
curly maple, so I buy a 6" wide 6' song (or so) piece, and rip it on
the tablesaw to the correct width. I DON'T cut it down in length, but
just cut off how much I need, so I get more blanks out of the wood I
use.

We could also answer the question easier knowing -

Where you live (area wise)
Your relative skill level
Whether or not you have a table saw or band saw

I like these folks a lot:
http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/

Join the penturners group on Yahoo, and you can get all kinds of
deals.

Also try penturners.org , there's apile of references there.

But, if you are doing just wood pens, I strongly encourage you to make
your own blanks. I get curly maple (my favorite) for 7.75 a board
foot, and can make at least 16 pens (allowing for saw kerfs and
screw-ups) out of a board foot, less than 50 cents a pen! Even
expensive woods such as koa, ebony, cocobolo, or tulipwood become much
more reasonable when you source the wood yourself.

Mark

On 5 Dec 2005 13:20:54 -0800, "Tim" wrote:

Bill, I find a great source for FREE pen blanks at my local custom door
makers' shop. They usually have tons of scrap maple, walnut, cherry and
mahogony in thier dumpsters! It's unbelievable what they throw out! I
know my dad also frequents a local furniture shop where he lives and
they give him all the maple he can carry!
TimQ
www.alisam.com
Mini-lathe indexing system

And, if you want to turn corian, a countertop shop can help you with
that.

Mark

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 11:48:32 -0500, Brad Curfman wrote:

I live near Atlanta Wood Products which carries many varieties of exotic
woods. I have gotten a bandsaw recently and plan on making my own blanks
as it is much cheaper than buying blanks from woodworking stores which
usually charge $1 per blank for the low end species.

I cut pen blanks for a second income. Starting from a rough-sawn (or even
'bark on') piece and taking it down to smoothed 3/4 x 3/4 x 6" in a dried
state is certainly worth at least a buck a piece even for pine. For more
desirable species, it is entirely reasonable to pay $1.50 and up per stick.

I pitch about 5-10% of my pieces as being unfit for use and retain another
10% or so as being good enough for my own use but of lower quality than I
am willing to sell. I do not ship obvious defects even if I know from
experience that they will not exist in the finished pen.

So I am assuming all the risk. I lug the wood, I breathe the dust, I use
the saw, I place the ads (and have to pay whether I sell or not), I
closely inspect the finished product and then I absorb the scrap and
'seconds'.

If you cut your own blanks, you get to do all of the above.

Search "goncalo alves pen blanks" on eBay today ... there are five
10-packs with identical pictures. That's me. I should have some slippery
elm heartwood available next week. IMHO, it's prettier than the goncalo alves.

Bill