# why pens?



## seht (Dec 28, 2006)

So I was looking at another post about what pens sell the best, and it brought me back to how and why I started making pens.

I was wondering how and why some other people got started.

I started at a Woodcraft event a year ago.  They were doing the pens for troops event, and they were teaching a pen making class to go along with that event.  I took the class and had a great time.  I really enjoy being able to create something.  I always wanted to be a musician or an artist, but I can't hold a note or even write my name legibly.

I asked for and received a lathe from Santa that year.  It was a safe bet I was going to get it, at least Santa didn't have to worry about me shooting my eye out.

I originally started just as a hobby with no intention of selling my pens.  It quickly evolved into well I'll sell some so that I can self support my hobby.

Now I'm trying to sell enough of them to increase my hobby.  I want to make the more expensive pens without having to take money away from the house, and also to buy some of the tools that while not necessary, make things easier.

So that's it for me, anyone else want to talk about why or how you got started?


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## LanceD (Dec 28, 2006)

I owned a lathe prior to making pens and used it for turning fishing rod handles and reel seats. One day I was searching for stabilized wood and somehow came across a couple of pen making sites and websites for Woodpens and Arizona Silhouette. At the time I did a lot of reading and studying about pen making and ordered the videos by AS and Penn State. That was about May of '05 and after several thousand dollars in kits and equipment I've never looked back. My pen business is a very close second to my full time rod building business.


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## johneaton (Dec 28, 2006)

I live in an economically depressed area, and I wanted a flexible way to make some extra money; either locally or on the net.  It was and is all about the money.  John Eaton, Jonesboro, AR


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## NavyDiver (Dec 28, 2006)

We took a class at Woodcraft as a way for some Father/Sons time and it has ballooned from there [].


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## TellicoTurning (Dec 28, 2006)

About 5 years ago my wife and I were in an art gallery in Fredricksburg, TX and I was admiring the artists turned bowls... I told my wife that I would like to learn that art... she told my son who bought me a Ridgid lathe for that Christmas, and a couple of pen kits.. we tried it out in the garage on Christmas day and I was hooked... so was he.. Just in the last year have I ventured away from pens... just now beginning to learn to turn bowls.


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## Rifleman1776 (Dec 28, 2006)

> _Originally posted by johneaton_
> <br />I live in an economically depressed area, and I wanted a flexible way to make some extra money; either locally or on the net.  It was and is all about the money.  John Eaton, Jonesboro, AR



Good luck, John. I live in one of the wealthiest counties in Arkansas and can't sell pens here. Rich retirees howl at the idea of spending $15.00 on a pen when they can get them free from the bank. I sell elsewhere. Hollerin' at ye from Mountain Home.


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## Scott (Dec 28, 2006)

I did not want to turn pens!  I was a "Bowl Turner"!  Pens were beneath me!  

I did my turning in my garage at that time, and in the Winter it got cold, so I either froze or didn't turn.  So I justified buying a Jet Mini lathe to put in my basement for winter turning.  It came with a pen mandrel and a couple of kits.  Oh my!  

I tried them out one day, and I have been a no-account, slovenly pen addict since!  Oh, woe is me!  I haven't turned a bowl in over a year!  The last time I did turn a bowl, I kept thinking to myself "Why is this taking so long?"   []

So now I am a penturner!  I happen to think some of the best people on earth are penturners!  I also think that penturning is good for your soul (and for Bill Baumbeck's pocketbook!).  I would rather turn a pen than watch a re-run of Happy Days!!!   [^]   In the not-too distant future, I predict that hand-turned pens will be used as currency by enlightened cultures!  I dream that I will soon be hired by Montblanc to teach them all I know about turning corncobs!

Why pens?  Beats me!   [8D]

Scott.


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## bnoles (Dec 28, 2006)

Don't know exactly what happened.  I highly suspect that I was abducted by aliens and dropped off here to spend eternity so I decided to just fit in and start making pens so I would not stand out in the crowd.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it [}][]


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## Jerryconn (Dec 28, 2006)

Saw pen kits in woodcraft one day and thought that it would be cheap to get into (boy was I wrong! [:0]) bought a couple of kits and a 10 pack of Zebrawood blanks.  Never took a class learned from Dick Sing's book. By that time I was addicted!  My wife told me I had to slow the out-flow of cash down. I had to do something, after all I had an addiction that absolutely had to be satisfied!  So I started selling them to support my addiction! And the spiral continues............


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## seht (Dec 28, 2006)

let's all work on that enlightened form of currency.


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## jeffj13 (Dec 28, 2006)

I love fountain pens and this is a way for me to own pens that I couldn't normally afford (I already owned a lathe). I also discovered that they make nice gifts.

jeff


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## hilltopper46 (Dec 28, 2006)

I had a lathe and had turned a few boxes, and repaired a chair by turning a spindle for it. Last Christmas, LOML bought me two pen kits. Once I started turning pens, I got hooked.

Why pens?
- they are fast
- they are economical as a unit of one (so why have I placed orders of over $100 with Beartooth Woods?)
- they have a lot of beauty
- there is a lot of variety in what you can turn (wood, figured wood, heirloom wood, corncob, dead tree, not-so-dead tree, plastic, inlace acrylic, home cast polyresin, etc., etc., etc.)
- they are useful
- you can make a pen that is tailored to the recipient/customer
- you can use a skew on them without killing yourself or your lathe
- etc., etc., etc.


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## PenWorks (Dec 28, 2006)

My sons overheard me saying while looking through a pen magazine,
"I can make that" , they bought me my first lathe as a gift about 4 years ago.
The rest is history. [8D]


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## Geo in Winnipeg (Dec 28, 2006)

My doctor told me basket weaving wasn't helping me much and I was getting too aggressive in group[)]
He says I have improved greatly since I made him a pen and suggested I continue with this addiction[]


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## guts (Dec 28, 2006)

My Sister turned me on to woodturning a couple of years ago thanks Sis,got me a H.F.lathe and was making what I thought was some good looking bowls,then I stopped in a place called Hogans Hardwoods in Kennedale Texas and met a Mexican named Nacho,bought some nice wood and then(he showed me a pen he made), thanks Nacho, I thought man I gotta make one of them,been on the merry go round ever since and enjoying it every time I turn the lathe's on(almost)then I came accross this site and it got nothing but better and better.


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## keithz (Dec 28, 2006)

I started turning about 5 years ago after seeing a turner on the New Yankee Workshop, you may remember the guy that was turning 6' driftwood bowls and tables with a router.

I thought it was cool and wanted to turn bowls.  I bought a cheap lathe and tools and soon found out there was quite a curve I have to go through.  I joined the local AAW chapter and actually started learning things.  

I had wanted to turn pens when the Freedom Pen push was started, but didn't got around to it until this past year's AAW symposium where I won a $100 gift certificate from Packard.  After trying to decide what to get, I finally decided to get a starter set for penturning.  Well, I soon found this site and now I am having so much fun turning that, well, I'm having a lot of fun making these little beauties. BTW, I am totally self-taught.  I learned by reading the instructions and everything I could lay my eyes on.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. []

keithz


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## Penmonkey (Dec 28, 2006)

My dad started me off on slims and a shopsmith almost three years ago.


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## wudnhed (Dec 29, 2006)

Husband started and got me started... now he is jealous I stay home and turn some of the  day while he works. I've learned a lot from you guys but he has taught me a lot also. I'm sure like most of the rest of you, we look at wood differently now. We even check out our wood before we thro it in the fireplace[]


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## DocStram (Dec 29, 2006)

In September 2004 my daughter was lost in a rafting accident. Rescue workers, DNR, firemen and volunteers began searching the river. On the third day we finally found her trapped in a log pile under twenty feet of water. It took months for me to get myself back to work. There were times when I couldn't even take my next breath. Losing a child is devastating.  My son was worried about me and kept encouraging me to find something to do with my spare time.  I happened by a WC one morning when they were doing a penturning demo. The rest is history.


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## wudnhed (Dec 29, 2006)

Can't even imagine Al, glad you found an outlet. Beautiful girl!


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## LEAP (Dec 29, 2006)

My Dad is retired and plays with wood working. He turns some boxes and various spindles. He had tried pens but his patience level is kind of low. After glueing his fingers to the blanks he put everything in a shoe box and went back to other things. I picked up a few supplies to learn on and get him over the learning curve. The next thing I knew I had a lathe, the bushings for 6 different style kits, a box of finished pens and a wish list a mile long. Not to mention a pile of blanks that have taken over my shop. It was a big hit at Christmas with pens, bottle stoppers and kaleidoscopes all around. Now I'm getting requests for particular woods colors and styles. I have not sold anything but imagine that if I keep this up I will have to find a market to recoup some expenses. I'm looking at the photography pages and see even more $ going out the door. Oh and by the way the father who started all this proudly showed me his first completed pen a couple of days ago. It looked remarkably like a few of my first attempts. I fully expect to be trading notes with an "Old Pro" in a few weeks time.  He has already raided my blank pile.
Phil


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## Paul in OKC (Dec 29, 2006)

Always wanted to do wood working, but just couldn't seem to cut a board to within plus or minus .003! Dad-gum machinist brain. Made a lot of kindling. Only thing I ever made that made it to completion I feel like I did with my eyes closed, and then looked at it, not too bad. A local craft business that dealt mostly in wood working paraphenalia had an open house and I watched some kid turning a pen. Looked kind of neat, so here I am. he machinist brain kicked in again at some of the tools I saw, so......that's another topic[]


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## Rojo22 (Dec 29, 2006)

This one time at band camp....Oh wait that is another story....

My wifes father had a Carbatec mini lathe in the basement brand new in a box for many years, and then he had a debilitating stroke, and could not use it.  I purchased the lathe because I had never turned anything at all.  I had carved, done case work, scroll work and many other wood projects, but never turned.  The Carbatec sort of is geared towards smaller projects, and pens were right in the wheelhouse!  I picked up Sings book, and some supplies and went to town....My wife gave me constant encouragement, as well as the people here, and the rest is history......Now I am looking for the 12 step process like everyone else.....

You gonna use that scrap over there??????????


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## Paul in OKC (Dec 29, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Rojo22_
> <br />
> This one time at band camp....



Oh yeah, you too, huh[]


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## its_virgil (Dec 29, 2006)

Here is what Bob Roberts says about making pens. Bob started the Yahoo! Penturner's Group 

Why make pens? (By Bob Roberts)


It happens sometimes.

I somehow mention that I make pens, and the astonished reaction follows. â€œYou MAKE your own pens? WHY? You can buy a perfectly fine pen for a DOLLAR! WHY on EARTH would you MAKE them?

I suppose this is a reasonable and valid question, especially in today's mass produced, â€œone-size-fits-allâ€ world. But it is a question that has no quick and simple answer. Perhaps, being more precise, it is a question that has far too many answers. I find myself somewhat at a loss for words as I try to explain deeply held beliefs and feelings.

Why does a painter paint?

Why does a builder build?

Why do I make pens?

The first and foremost reason I make pens is the joy of fashioning something I find beautiful and of worth. To watch the materials I have carefully selected be slowly transformed from their native state into a finished design of my choosing brings to me a great and overwhelming satisfaction, one that often defies description. Though perhaps on a different scale, I believe it is the same passion, the same joy of creation, known by the artist when he lays aside his brushes and views the finished painting, the architect and carpenter when they step back and gaze at the finished building, the author when she sees her published work. This joy of creation, of having formed something one loves, is a heady and intoxicating emotion indeed.

I am, among other things, a writer. A pen is a major tool of this craft. As do many craftsmen, I derive considerable pleasure from the use of a well-made tool. An exquisitely hand crafted pen, one who's size, weight, balance, and other characteristics have been chosen to fit MY hand, MY unique style of penmanship, is a joy to use. To have MADE that tool intensifies the pleasure.

As with all hand made products, no two pens are ever alike, just as no other person is like me, nor I like any other person. This uniqueness brings about a character, a style that cannot be duplicated. Because of my intimate involvement in its creation, there is a part of me in each pen. I sometimes sit for minutes on end, lost in admiration of the small object d'art that I hold in my hand. The form, the finish, the materials, all combine in ways that are beautiful to my eyes. Again, this beauty is partly a result of choices I made, of the skill with which I shaped and combined things. That I am in part responsible for that beauty is very satisfying.

One last reason, perhaps the biggest reason, truth be known, is the reaction my pens bring from those I show and present them to. I never tire of the wide-eyed looks of appreciation, or hearing the astonished and delighted exclamations of, â€œWow! YOU made this? It's BEAUTIFUL!â€ Those words resonate deeply into my being, a tonic to my heart and a balm to my soul. They render inconsequential the hours and effort I have expended in the production of the object of admiration. They leave me eager to race back to my shop, burning with the desire to produce an even BETTER masterpiece. The appreciation of one's efforts be they artistic, literary, or whatever else, is something we all find fulfilling.

That is why I make pens

Do a good turn daily!
Don


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## jjenk02 (Dec 29, 2006)

I went to a Woodcraft pen turning class and never looked back.


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## Dario (Dec 29, 2006)

I started turning bowls.  I love figured woods and ended buying burls.  The cost of wood (and too much waste) got me considering smaller projects.  Pens came as the easiest to make for gifts...primarily to save on gift giving cost.  The added bonus of personalized gift even made the idea more attractive.

Ofcourse it spread like wildfire after that []


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## toolcrazy (Dec 29, 2006)

I bought a lathe about a year ago, set it up and never convinced myself to start learning to use it. Then about 4 months my daughter gave me a wood pen and a knife key chain as a gift. I wanted to learn to do that too. I bought a starter kit from PSI that included everything I needed, mandel, blanks, pen pencil kits, barrel trimmer, drill bits, lathe tools and instructions. I also had bought a couple DVD's from Rocklers when I was in Seattle. Learned by turning the 10 kits all turned out great, and I gave them to my Zen Cart partners. I like turning pens becuase I get an instant gratification, in an hour (or less) you have a finished product that everyone ooooo and aaaahhs over.


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## toolcrazy (Dec 29, 2006)

> One last reason, perhaps the biggest reason, truth be known, is the reaction my pens bring from those I show and present them to. I never tire of the wide-eyed looks of appreciation, or hearing the astonished and delighted exclamations of, â€œWow! YOU made this? It's BEAUTIFUL!â€ Those words resonate deeply into my being, a tonic to my heart and a balm to my soul. They render inconsequential the hours and effort I have expended in the production of the object of admiration. They leave me eager to race back to my shop, burning with the desire to produce an even BETTER masterpiece. The appreciation of one's efforts be they artistic, literary, or whatever else, is something we all find fulfilling.
> 
> That is why I make pens[/red]
> 
> ...



I've heard this many times and yes, I have the same reaction. Need to be in the shop making pens.


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## Jim in Oakville (Dec 30, 2006)

Why Make Pens.....


Well about 9-10 years ago I was helping a lady who lost her husband to cancer sell his wood shop full of tools and machines.  I was and still am a furniture maker first as a hobby.  I felt a kinship to her husband as I am a cancer survivor, it was my way to give back.

The last machine that we had a hard time selling was a General 160-1 lathe.  Carol gave it to me as a thanks for all I did for helping to sell Pauls shop.  I did not want it, I put it in my shop and left it alone for about a year.

On a business trip to NJ in 1999 I travelled one evening to meet a friend I had met on Badger Pond, a wood turner named Bill Grumbine.  Bill taught me how to turn over a series of visits over months and one night he taught me how to make a pen....that was it!


Besides, I do live on Pen Street in Oakville Ontario, for REAL!

I still remember Bill telling me I would have a hard time stopping pen making once I started...[]


I get so much pleasure and joy now from making them, I can not imagine a day when I would stop.


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## cozee (Dec 30, 2006)

Because toothpicks are not challenging enough and my lathe isn't big enough to turn a baseball bat!

No, really, in the fall of 2005 I was searching the web for Marine Corps gifts that were a bit different and came across some casing pens and so I did some more research and found this site. Got to reading up on making pens and decided to give it a go myself. Got my lathe in July and haven't regretted it since. Especially since it ia a hobby that can and does pay for itself. When it becomes work, I'll quit.


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## Daniel (Dec 31, 2006)

I,ve had a wood shop for well over 20 years. I spent many hours in my fathers shop before that. U have always liked woodworking and one of my future goals is to make a grandfather clock. I make all sorts of stuff. and being a woodworker. if you order anyting by catalog, Penn State will have your name sooner or later. I also am extremely picky about what type of pen I write with. I was interested in making a pen or two from the first time I saw the P.S.I. cat. but coudl not justify the cost for just a couple of pens. So I decided well I could make a couple for myself and a couple dozen more to sell to recoupe my cost. that was over 500 pens go that have been sold. and around three dozen for myself. that doesn't count the ones I've made as gifts or for my wife and children. I think I'm only about $10,000 behind now.
pens are great to have a shop project that does not break the bank or my time schedule.


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