# How long do you spend on a pen?



## bensoelberg

I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens.  I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen.  Is that really slow?  I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?


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## hanau

I am just staring out but i see it as an assembly line.

1) cut multiple blanks
2) drill
3) install tubes
4) turn first blank, sand then keep repeating till all blanks are finished(helps to have multiple mandrels)
5)  finish each blank one step at a time unless you are doing a quick type of finish.
6) assemble


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## Midi

bensoelberg said:


> I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens.  I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen.  Is that really slow?  I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?



No help here. It takes me all evening to come up with one set of barrels. Even worse - not all my barrels grow up to be real pens. 

I know how you feel. Don't worry, we will speed up...

-Midi


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## jbthbt

When I'm mass producing for an order or for a show and just need to stomp out some quick basic pens to fill the table I average about 15 minutes per pen on slimlines. When I am making something really special or new I can spend as much as a couple days on one pen. I've been turning them for about 2 years. I turn for some extra income, as well as stress relief when life gets too, well, lifelike.


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## ldb2000

As long as it takes to get it right !!!


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## phillywood

bensoelberg said:


> I keep seeing posts where people will show what they turned over the weekend, or the night before and they will show 5-10 perfectly turned and finished pens. I'm just starting out and it's taking me about 1.5 hours to cut, drill, glue, turn, finish and assemble a pen. Is that really slow? I get the feeling that some of you do all of that it 20 minutes. Could you give me some tips to help speed things up?


 
Ben, In my opinion, you try to enjoy it , I am just getting started too, I am not worried how long it takes me, because right now I 'm honing my skills with the tools. Once, the brain start recognizing the feel of the tools and how much pressure or how to orient the tool to the blank then you'd not think about the process and you just turn them faster. for now I am just trying to enjoy the feel of it. I am lucky to have some very good turners here in my town that I pick at their brains and also one is kind of my inspiration and teacher. In few month I am sure this qsn. will sound funny to you. some of the members here have been turning for so many years that I can tell if you put blinders On them they can turn without looking. Butch had the best answer. I f I ever try to make one Butches creations, I'll bet you it would probably take me few days as he has mastered them.
Good luck and have fun.


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## ossaguy

I'm still a rookie,it takes me probably 2 hours a pen on the average.Sometimes it seems like I'm always "fixing" small mistakes,thank goodness for pen disassembly tools!

I've gotten the knack of CA finishing recently,so hopefully that will help.

I try to remind myself that it's not the destination,but the journey that makes it fun.I have no clock in the shop........I'll leave that for my job.

Steve


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## AKPenTurner

I've been turning for about two years. 
It usually takes me 1-2 hours (depending on the material) to make a pen. I have been getting a little bit faster, though. 
To me, it's worth putting the extra time into it if the result is better.


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## Andrew Arndts

I know of guys that will say, "I can dress out a deer in 3 minutes."  First I don't eat at their home and if they offer up I respectfully decline...  When I Dress out a Deer, I take my time to do it right. 
That being said, it doesn't matter how long you take making a pen.  Just do it right.  
I drilled and glued (epoxy) up 5 blanks yesterday. Drilled and glued up another in the morning.  Started knockin' them out in the afternoon.  Completed them all by 1AM.  I think I did pretty well far as time goes.

I heard somewhere that making pens is a skill builder. So lay your sharp tools wood.


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## witz1976

When I turn I always have them in stages, drilling, gluing, turning, sanding & finishing.  So in the shop I have blanks that are drilled and glued, rough turned, finished but not polished.  I think if I were to take out drying time & degassing (for CA )time I typically can get a pen done in about 1 - 1.5 hours.  

That being said my cousin is asking for a drum stick replica and I have been working on this for about a week now as I keep snapping off the "nylon tip"...


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## mredburn

It takes me days to build a pen. I feel pretty good if I can knock one out in a day. But are you making a wood pen or a plastic pen. the pr materials are easier to finish.


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## Glenn McCullough

My guess is, and they'll never admit it, that the ones who say they finish a pen in 15-30 minutes are making slims to sell for $15-20.00, maybe less. It is a b-b slim with a friction polish that will be in the garbage next year. They are not your typical penturners, here. 
They are in it for the bucks and thats all. God bless 'em.
After 700 pens, I still take close to an hour for a slim...if all goes well, really well. But it doesnt. I had two blanks of found spalted birch the other day and one blew up, the other was so punky I had to ditch it. 0-2 was no problem, the other four I made yesterday are stunning! 
Dont feel because it takes a bit longer to make, you are not doing as well. I get no less than $35.00 for a slim. You can get it if you build your reputation to that level.


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## pensbydesign

my advice don't try to speed things up, go at your own pace. quality, fit and finish is more inportant. every time i try to make them faster i end up at the start.


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## Chasper

I rarely do single pens, almost always do production runs. I don't cut corners, and if it isn't perfect or nearly there the turned tubes don't get assembled.  I paint the inside of almost every tube so they need to dry overnight, but there is usually a batch I started the night before that has dried and ready to glue in tubes.  None of them are $20 slims.

Depending on the blank I can complete 12-18 pens per 10-12 hour day, day after day. That is an average, it goes up a little when I'm making Sierras or other single part pens, it goes down if I'm making two part pens.  The total time includes picking out the blanks and kits, cutting, drilling, painting, glueing, turning, polishing, and assembly.  90+% are resin, finishing wood takes a little longer.  

Making production run pens is not nearly as much fun as spending a full day in the shop playing around with a new material or learning a new technique.


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## fernhills

It takes me all day for one. I don`t assembly line pens, that is a job. I try to make it an experience. But i must confess, i make pens between other projects now. If i am making a jewelry box and i am waiting for glue to dry or a finish to cure i`ll make a pen.


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## MikeyTn

I cut my blanks and glue my tubes the day before so they can dry overnight. From square blanks on tubes to a finished pen I can do 2-3 in an hour. Those are stock kits and blanks and I find myself doing more and more resin pens. I can't mess up the finish on those.


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## beck3906

Really tough question.

Those that do one pen at a time have an understanding of what they invest in the pen. If you don't do shows, doing one pen at a time is okay.

If you do shows, you often need to get inventory built fairly quick. This means doing things as efficiently as possible.

I just went through an exercise of getting my slim inventory built up. I selected 140 blanks that I cut and drilled. I tubed about 40 of those. I have turned about 20 of those that were tubed.

The tubed blanks are taped together with a reference number I can use to get the wood type from a separate paper. The untubed blanks have a reference number on each half and loosely thrown nin a small box where I can get to them as needed.

I just try to make my time at each step as efficient as possible.

As for turning, there's been a lot of discussion on how long this step will take. I normally spend about 20 minutes on each slim turning and finishing. Other styles take longer. Some slims take longer because the finsh isn't working well or the wood is open grained. It's whatever it takes to look good.


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## its_virgil

How                                          Long Does It Take To Make One Of Those?​ Do you mean…​ not plant                                        the tree, but find the wood,​ just ‘see’                                        the piece, (as if I could)?​ to find a                                        highly figured burl,​ a crotch,                                        an eye, or pearly curl?​ And once I                                        spy it, perhaps buy it,​ inventory,                                        store, and dry it?​ Then saw or                                        cut it, possibly I kiln it,​ glue, imbue                                        with fill, or drill it?​ You mean,                                        that once I’m satisfied​ it’s                                        stopped the warps, checks, cracks, once                                        dried?​ And mounted                                        on the lathe, to turn it,​ (which takes                                        much practice, just to learn it;​ and then employ                                        a gouge, or two,​ or use a skew,                                        which I don’t eschew,​ to mold it,                                        shape it (what’s your pleasure?)​ by all means,                                        I’m sure to measure,​ then sand                                        it smooth, please wear your mitts,​ from coarse                                        to fine, 10,000 grits,​ then braze,                                        or burnish, paint, or polish,​ (the goal:                                        enhance, and don’t demolish)?​ Is that your                                        question, start to end,​ how long’s                                        *that* path, its way to wend?​ Or do you                                        merely want to know how long it turned?​ Ten minutes,                                        or so.​ ©                                        John A. Styer, The Lathe-meister 
(used with permission)

Do a good turn daily!
Don
​


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## Lenny

The first ones went quite slow for me but as I got into it they started coming faster. That was before I really knew what I was doing. :biggrin:

Now that I have "a little more of a clue" it takes much longer!!! 

It's more of a process! Try not to get hung up on how long it takes but instead enjoy it!


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## rjwolfe3

I have been doing this for awhile now and it still takes me 1-2 hours per pen total time. I would love to find out how those guys, that post 30 pens that they did in a evening, do it. And the ones they post look amazing so I don't necessarily believe that those that turn fast, turn crappy pens as was suggested. I know Ed turns awesome pens and I believe he can do it in under 20 mins per pen.


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## soligen

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!


 
+1. I've spent as much as 20-30 hours on one pen (learning new things  )

For a straight forward pen - 3 to 4 hours if all goes well - I'm a very picky so the time depends on how many times I need to re-do things. I also spend time sitting in my shop looking at the parts ... thinking (some may say over thinking :wink

I have no intention of making this a business. Perfection is a stronger motivator than profit.


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## soligen

Andrew Arndts said:


> I know of guys that will say, "I can dress out a deer in 3 minutes." First I don't eat at their home and if they offer up I respectfully decline... When I Dress out a Deer, I take my time to do it right.


 
LOL Thats great - I'm not alone!  I always get teased about how long I take to dress a deer.


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## KenBrasier

I've never measured the time to make a single pen, I do everything in stages, generally 20 to 30 pens at a time.
1. Select the blanks
2. Cut the blanks for the specific pens
3. Drill the blanks for the specific pen it will be
4. I usually sand the tubes before I stock them, if not,
5. Sand and glue the tubes in the blanks
6. Square the ends after an approbate drying time
7. Rough turn most blanks on a mandrel 
8. Finish turning and sanding the blanks between centers
9. Apply finish, CA or other
10. Assemble 

At any given time I'll have 75 to 100 Blanks glued up and ready to turn.  I'll take many of these to the Craft Shows we do and turn pens at the Show with a HF Mini Lathe. I can complete a Slimline for a customer at the show in less than 20 minutes with a CA finish.


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## bensoelberg

Thank you for all the responses.  I don't want to give the impression that I am impatient with my turning, so perhaps a bit more information would be helpful.  I am a full time teacher/debate coach with a two year old at home.  My wife and I just bought our first home and are a couple of weeks away from closing.  My tools are currently set up in my father's garage.  On the rare days when I feel I can sneak away to turn something, I always feel rushed because time is short.  (I imagine that this problem will mostly go away once I am in my own place and can just slip into the garage for a bit.)  I just started selling a few pens, (buying MM pads to use on my CA finish has really increased interest) and I hope to be able to continue to sell.  Going into this hobby, I had no idea how long it would take me to turn a pen.  Based on the posts that I mentioned before, I could only conclude that I was extremely slow and was wondering what I was doing wrong.  After reading what the rest of you have posted, I am feeling much better.


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## DCBluesman

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!


 
I agree, Butch.

My first turning teacher explained it to me this way. "There is no perfection, so work on your pen until it reaches your desired level of imperfection."  Sometimes that's an hour, sometimes it's days or even weeks.


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## Dudley Young

I to do not have a clock in my shop. I do have a watch and when my stomach growls I look at my wash to see if it's lying to me. I never was a clock watcher even before I retired. So I just have fun and don't worry about how long it takes. Happy turning.


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## GoodTurns

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!



I have made a complete pen (from blank to finished) in 15 minutes.  I have pens in my shop that I have spent hours on and they're not even close to done.  I have stripped and refinished many pens...does that count as twice?

Take your time and enjoy the process, as your confidence with each step improves, the required time will drop to a point where you are comfortable.


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## Lenny

rjwolfe3 said:


> I have been doing this for awhile now and it still takes me 1-2 hours per pen total time. I would love to find out how those guys, that post 30 pens that they did in a evening, do it. And the ones they post look amazing so I don't necessarily believe that those that turn fast, turn crappy pens as was suggested. I know Ed turns awesome pens and I believe he can do it in under 20 mins per pen.


 

There are some incredible turners on this forum .... I think there are some fisherman, too! :biggrin: ... just sayin'


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## HSTurning

I have done about 200-250 pens to date.  I just made 4 pens (2 single barrel, 2 double barrel) and I added the time it took over the days I worked on them.  I took 9 hours to complete 4 pens with all step included.  They were segmented but it big easy pieces.  
When I was making a run of Inlace Slims I was drilling, tubing, turning, finishing and assembling 10-15 pens at a time ad was down to an average of 30-40 minutes per pen.  I was not happy with many.  I had an issue with the assembly on them.  
I could do it again and make them better now but I want to enjoy this stress relief now and not stress about a dead line of a pen that didnt come out right working at a hobby that was ment to be a stress relief.
Enjoy the ride.  Speed will come overtime if you want it.


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## Seer

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!


 
And the only correct way to do it.  If you think you need to finish it in a certain time frame always you will rush and you never know what might happen DAMHIKT FUBAR happens then


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## soligen

DCBluesman said:


> "There is no perfection, so work on your pen until it reaches your desired level of imperfection."


 
Absolutely. Perhaps I should have stated that the quest to approach perfection is a greater motivator to me than profit. Nothing I have created do i consider perfect.


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## BigguyZ

I guess I'm one of the assembly line turners.  I'm trying to build up enough stock to do shows.  Also, I don't find drilling, painting (for acrylics), and gluing fun- so I prefer to do it all at once.  It's just that much more efficient.  Especially if there's an error when turning the pen to size, I can just move to another pen.

But I do take my time with each pen, on each step.  I don't rush, as I know that'll lead to errors.  

I'd still say that it takes me a total of 1-2 hours per non-wood pen, and 2-3 hours for the wood pens.  But if you take into consideration additional time factors that go into the projects, like stabalizing all of my wood blanks, that adds more to how many hours it takes.

When people ask how long it take me, I usually say that a pen will take me anywhere between 2-4 hours to make.  Given the $60-$70 average cost of my pens, that isn't a very high hourly wage, so it makes people feel better that I'm not making too much off of them (people are funny that way).


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## Rick_G

I can spend most of a day on a slim.  It's getting a CA finish on it I'm happy with that takes the time.  I don't use accelerator so I put on a coat of CA then go do something else for 15 or 20 minutes.  Repeat till I get the buildup I want then sand and polish.  Then start the other barrel.  Good thing I'm not in this to make money.


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## DBMyers

A lot depends on the type of pen you're turning but in general it usually takes me about an hour and 15 minutes "maybe a little longer" to complete a pen. Now if you don't want to apply a CA finish or caliper the fit than you could turn one in about 15 to 20 minutes, but where is the fun in that?


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## spnemo

When everything goes "perfectly" I can turn a single tube pen in about 45 minutes.  However, most of my pens take about 2+ hours.  If I screw up,  it will take much, much longer.


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## lazyguy

bensoelberg said:


> Thank you for all the responses. I don't want to give the impression that I am impatient with my turning, so perhaps a bit more information would be helpful. I am a full time teacher/debate coach with a two year old at home. My wife and I just bought our first home and are a couple of weeks away from closing. My tools are currently set up in my father's garage. On the rare days when I feel I can sneak away to turn something, I always feel rushed because time is short. (I imagine that this problem will mostly go away once I am in my own place and can just slip into the garage for a bit.) I just started selling a few pens, (buying MM pads to use on my CA finish has really increased interest) and I hope to be able to continue to sell. Going into this hobby, I had no idea how long it would take me to turn a pen. Based on the posts that I mentioned before, I could only conclude that I was extremely slow and was wondering what I was doing wrong. After reading what the rest of you have posted, I am feeling much better.


 
About an hour and a half plus or minus thirty minutes. Given your situation you might want to cut drill and tube up a hand full so that the next time at your father’s you can feel more productive.


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## rjwolfe3

When you guys refer to how long, are you including how long you are waiting for the glue or finish to dry? Or is that the time that you actually spend actually working on the pen? 

For me I like to wait over night for my tubes to dry after gluing even though I am using 5 min epoxy. I also like to wait for my CA finish to dry overnight before wet sanding. I know neither are necessary but both seem to work better for me.

I do believe that production turners like Alan Shaw and Brian Goulet turn out many, many pens in a day or else how would they be able to complete 1,200 pen orders? Having seen their work I would definitely call it professional (not fishermen).

I think for those that turn as a hobby can take as long as they want on a pen. But I think that for those that want to do this full time as a business, they have to learn the tricks to turn out quality pens quickly. I wish I knew those tricks because it takes me forever to turn out pens.:redface:


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## azamiryou

A great question, and something I've been wondering about. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in not being able to crank out dozens of pens a day.



soligen said:


> I also spend time sitting in my shop looking at the parts ... thinking (some may say over thinking :wink



I do this, too. Every pen I make, I carefully consider which fittings to put with a blank, which end is which, where the center band will go, what shape I want to turn it.



soligen said:


> I have no intention of making this a business.



I do. But I'm trying to reach a market where I can "create" rather than "produce". (Good thing, too, given how long it takes me to make a pen!)


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## mrcook4570

While I agree that most people who claim to make pens quickly also make poor quality pens, I can assure you that it is possible to make excellent quality pens with a CA finish in a short period of time.


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## ed4copies

mrcook4570 said:


> While I agree that most people who claim to make pens quickly also make poor quality pens, I can assure you that it is possible to make excellent quality pens with a CA finish in a short period of time.




And, if you use resins, that time is further shortened.

As has been mentioned, if you do shows, FAST is important.  Since we quit nearly all shows, I have no deadline and enjoy turning more.  

So, take your time and have fun---what difference does it make how fast someone ELSE can do it???


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## Lenny

I know when I tell my wife "I turned 5 pens today" or something along that line, what I really mean is .... 2 days before I rounded the blanks, yesterday I drilled them and glued the tubes in .... and today "I turned 5 pens" !  :biggrin:

I did, with the help of my little brother and my Dad, catch about 150 fish one day!   honest ... I DID!  The mackerel were running that day! Had to go door to door giving them away! I don't even LIKE fish!


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## Mark

I agree with most of the posts. It takes you as long as it takes to have a completed item.

I cut glue and drill my blanks one day and hope to get to turning, finish and assembly the next. If it's two or more days later, so be it. I enjoy it. That's what really matters.


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## bensoelberg

> what difference does it make how fast someone ELSE can do it???


 
That is a very good point. I doesn't really matter how fast someone else can make a pen. I do want to make the best possible pen that I can make, but I also want to feel like I am working efficiently. From what the majority of the people have said, it sounds like the time that it takes me to produce a pen is about average, and that now I just have to make sure that the quality of my pens is constantly improving.


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## grub32

I have to say that impend ten mins total with my ca finish...that's it...the rst takes a lot more time :  )

Grub


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## johnspensandmore

Anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 days!


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## Wildman

Agree with everyone that says time to make a pen not as important as getting it done right. Some have mention they use an assembly line approach to making pens. I prefer to use the term get organized. How you organize yourself entirely up to you. Goal here is get most out of available time you have to make pens.  

I do not use a written plan, but if that helps you get organized go ahead. My routine does not vary too much from what other have already said.


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## Parson

1-2 hours for a two piece pen with a standard pen blank I purchased (wood or PR).

My segmented pens sometimes take me weeks of work 3-4 nights a week to build. Most have 30-50 hours in them.

I just got my first "big" pen order for 30 shredded money elegant beauty kits, and I hope to do them assembly style and get them done in 20-25 hours, but I have no idea how many holes I'll have to fill with CA and sand down, etc.

Hope this helps!


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## penfancy

Ben, you and me are in the same boat. I've got two little girls at home and it was _hard_ for me to find time doing what I was so passionate about. I would steal away to the garage to turn a pen while my wife had the kids in the tub. I dreaded that phone call telling me to come inside. I made a lot of mistakes doing it that way. 
Arrange it with your wife ahead of time and do what you can do. Remember, this is fun. Breath deep and enjoy your new craft!


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## SDB777

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!


 

Gonna have to say this is the best answer I've seen for this topic!!!  AMEN!!!  And it's what I do.  If it takes me 4 hours to finish a Slimline, so be it.




Scott (hope it never takes 4hrs) B


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## jfoh

First of all you only get to see the success case not the cases that ended up in a shoe box. We all have them. The blanks that ended up too plain, too whatever that makes them just a wasted blank or a wasted tube. No one mentions them but we all have them.

I use to do a lot of high number production work. An order for fifty pens of one type was small. When you get into large numbers you not a hobby turner but a production turner. Different world, with less satisfaction and tons more headaches. You learn to hate one pen style at a time because you do it over and over again until you hate it. 

The time savings is in doing repeated steps as efficiently as possible. In fact if you are not highly efficient you will never finish a order. It is all numbers, time and thinking in advance. We all know all the steps in making a pen but have you thought how to do it efficiently? Not likely because you want to enjoy the process not bang them out like eggs on a layer farm. Here is how I do large orders with a rough time estimate.

You need hundreds of blanks to work with, maybe a thousand for large orders. Your selection of blanks the best blanks makes the entire output possible. If you have a order for 50 pens you start out selecting 60-65 of your best blanks for the job. Draw a line, witness marks,  on two sides of the blanks for matching later. Two sides because you can see one of the two sides easily when you pick the up later and find your witness marks for faster work. Figure 30 minutes to find and select 60-65 nice blanks. 

Then go to the band saw and cut each blank to length using your sled and put both blanks together with a rubber band to hold them. Place them is a box to keep the entire group together. Figure half an hour to cut all the blanks.

Now go to the drill press. Drill 120-130 half blanks. Making sure that the witness marks are used to keep both halves aligned in your pen drilling press. I use a small waste block under every one to prevent blowouts. Then put the two half blanks back together with the rubber band. Repeat over and over again.  Figure 30-45 minutes for the drilling.

Now you get to glue the tubes in the blanks. I used Gorilla glue so I did not scuff every tube to give the glue a surface to grab. That had to save me ten seconds on every blank. You still have to load the tube surface with glue, work the tube into the blanks several times to get even glue coverage. Then wrap the pair back in the rubber band. This time I went around both blanks the long ways to use the rubber band to keep the tubes from extruding as the glue dries.  Put on a long flat area so the glue can dry. Another 20 minutes glueing the lot.

Then you get to trim the blanks by your method of choice. I use to use a drill press vise to hold the blanks and a end mill trimmer in the drill press. It took half a minute per set of blanks. 30 minutes if all went well 60 if real hard wood which takes much more time than say a soft spalted maple.

Then I went over to the Woodwrite lathe and set the blanks on the production mandrel. It is a automatic lathe and will round the blanks into a perfect cylinder after four or five passes. You do not have to watch the process. I just wanted the blanks turned round and maybe 75% if the way down to the final size. While the blank was turning I would be working on my Delta lathe on another blank so the time spent here was free because I was working on a second pen. Well it still takes time to mount, set and run the lathe so figure two to three minutes moving blanks around and set up time. 

Then they are taken off the Woodwrite and put on my Delta lathe. Then the real hand work of turning is done. When you turn the same pen a few hundred times you can turn on down to 1-2mm of the final size in a very short time.  Simple pens take five to ten minutes and complex ones take ten minute to an hour. We all get bogged down sometimes. Figure ten minutes as a good average. 

Sand as needed with the factory steel bushings. I use to dry sand all blanks to 800-1200, then I found MM and it took even more step. EEE if you like, sanding sealer if needed based on the type of wood. Another few minutes, maybe a lot more. Call it five minutes in a perfect world.  

Then off the Delta and onto the old Delta lathe in the "clean area" that only finishing is done. Might need five or ten coats of finish. May find that after five it just does not look like you expect. Then you have to decide if you will be better sanding it down, sanding it all off and starting over or decide the blanks is never gong to be a keeper and chuck it in the trash can. If it turns out perfect and the finish is all that you hope for you place the finished pen blanks in a plastic bang and set aside. Call it 10 minutes on a good day and 30 on a bad day. 

Now you have perfectly finished pen blanks that need to be assembled. First check everyone of them again in better light. Do not be surprised if you fine a third of them need more finishing or have some here to fore unseen blemish. It is either redo them to correct the flaw or pitch them. Blanks and tubes are cheaper than pen kits but by now you have a real major investment in time in each semi finished pen blank. It is a judgment call, but sometimes you just have to admit the wood wins again. I finished one blanks four times before I gave up. Hard to quit sometimes. If perfect you put them together and re-polish as needed. Then into the display case or into the pen box they go. Another one or two in a perfect case ten or more sometimes. 

So the pen order of 50 pens takes me well over 1725 minutes or a little over 28  hours by my quick estimation. 40 or more in some cases.  Call it a pen every 30 minutes. Think my times are too slow for each step? I just finished a order for 175  pens for the local high school and It took almost a hundred hours for the job. Worse I donated the blanks, kits and time. The only thing they paid for was laser engraving. The things we do for our kids.

So when you hear people claim a pen takes an hour or more they are working fairly quickly. When they claim it takes three, four or five hours they are working on a hard pen style or they are working at the Federal Governments speed.


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## PenMan1

ldb2000 said:


> As long as it takes to get it right !!!


 
Same here!

Sometime 15 minutes sometimes 15 weeks. 

My shop is like Mr. Roger's neighborhood. People are always dropping by to see what's new, just to chat, have a beer, borrow tools, etc.

Fortunately, My wife has learned to recognize when I am onto something special and keeps folks away.

I have gone to the shop and stay for 36 hours before. When I "get in the zone"  I'm there until that nagging idea in my head spews ink. Sometimes my best work comes after 10-12 hours of repeated failures.

Sometimes the simplest tasks elude me. I went through a phase not to long ago where I couldn't make a slimline. Then a pahse where I couldn't make a CA finish.

I guess my point is that if you try to put a stopwatch on your pen making you are apt to ruin your passion. I know I would.

Respectfully submitted.


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## soligen

Wow - great post jfoh. I never though about how pens would be done en mass. Thank you.

I guess I work at federal gov't speed - but I have no public to server, nor is it my livelyhood, so I dont care.


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## aggromere

I work kinda like Jhof's post.  I make runs of 25 pens at a time in steps.  (two piece pens so 50 blanks) I do it over a period of two days, sometimes three, depending on what else I'm doing.  Sometimes I just don't feel like making pens so I take a day or two off to do other things, like visitings stores, etc.

1.  Table saw:  cutting blanks and segments.  (30 minutes)
2.  Workbench:  gluing up segments.  (2 hours)
3.  Lathe:  rounding blanks  (1.5 hours)
4.  Lathe:  drilling blanks (2 hours)
5.  Lathe:  Squaring ends (2 hours)
6.  Lathe:  Turn to size (1 hour)
7.  Lathe:  Preliminary finish (1.5 hours)
8.  House in airconditioning:  Gluing on cigar labels (1 hour)
9.  Lathe:  Final finish (3 hours)
10. Lathe: Assembly (1 hour)

About 15.5 hours to do 25 pretty nice pens or about 35 or 40 minutes a pen.


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## Texatdurango

I would be in the camp with those who say... "Who cares how long it takes"! Is it important to know your neighbor has a replicator and can crank out 20 pens an hour?

There are a ton of different answers since no two people really turn exactly for the same reasons.

I am so glad I never got to the point to where I had to crank out pens to build up stock for a show. I consider my pens more than "Stock" on a table and consider the time spent making each pen as a pleasurable time. I take pride in my craft and would rather display a dozen very nice pens than 300 "Stock" pens any day.

And keep one thing in mind........ some folks tend to exagerate just a bit now and then! :biggrin:


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## mick

Texatdurango said:


> I would be in the camp with those who say... "Who cares how long it takes"! Is it important to know your neighbor has a replicator and can crank out 20 pens an hour?
> 
> There are a ton of different answers since no two people really turn exactly for the same reasons.
> 
> I am so glad I never got to the point to where I had to crank out pens to build up stock for a show. I consider my pens more than "Stock" on a table and consider the time spent making each pen as a pleasurable time. I take pride in my craft and would rather display a dozen very nice pens than 300 "Stock" pens any day.
> 
> And keep one thing in mind........ some folks tend to exagerate just a bit now and then! :biggrin:


 
:good: What Roy said!


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## Shannon

It takes me about an hour and a half per pen.   I have a fridge full of beer next to me, so I'm never in any hurry to finish.


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## jfoh

IF it is a hobby you can spend five or ten hours on each pen. IF you have a large order you can not. Most, if not almost all posters here are hobbyist, who sell a few pens, so they have no need to churn out pens like crazy. You can spend all day on a pen if you like. 

The few here who try to make real money on pens will tell you off line that it is a very hard to remain highly profitable making and selling pens.Most just hope to offset the other cost by selling a few  pens to pay for other cost in pen making . Like people who stock guns find out that their average wage is below minimum wages, most here will fine that you work more often for less than a buck an hour than you do for more than ten dollars an hour. DO the math. It is a hobby, not a big money maker. If pens were major money makers they would have sent all the work over to China. We can have fun with our hobby and still recover some of our investment. Kind of like having your cake and eating it at the same time.


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## fantasticalwoodworks

spend how ever much time makes you comfortable to get it how you want it speed will come with time


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## WriteON

I realize this is an old thread but would like to say to a newbie....take your time. Every time I rush or try to Mass Produce the work ends up in the trash and I do it over. Take your time and do it right the 1st time.


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## Edward Cypher

I agree with WriteON it is an old thread but still very relavent.  It takes as long as it takes.


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## John Pratt

Some may say, "Until it is done."

I would refer back to the old saying: "A true artist never finishes a piece, they just stop working on it."


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## jcm71

I have found that the more I am in a rush to finish a pen, the longer it takes.  Slow down and don't worry about it.


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## Mike Powell

I'm still new to this whole pen turning stuff. For me it depends on the pen and the material.So far anywhere from an hour and a half to six hours.


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## ljpilcher@suddenlink

*How long does it take.*

I am a little over a year as a pen turner and have not yet graduated beyond slim lines.  I timed my self on one pen from start to finish. It took 3 hours and that was one that went without a hitch.  I usually only make one pen at a time,  use a shop made jig for drilling and hand barrel trimmer, use CA finish.  So, better drilling would be the main thing I could improve on.  I just don't see any way of doing better that a couple of hours.:frown:


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## jzerger

I usually start two or three at a time in hopes that I have a new pen by the end of the day (3-5 hours).  Seldom are they the same style.
I'm kind of glad the probably 2-3 hours per pen isn't much shorter...I have more pens than I need and a large inventory (for me this is about 100 pens) just means I need to get rid of some...somehow!  I don't do shows...about half a dozen fundraising sales a year.  I guess I should admit...the time to make a pen includes beer consumption.

But I'm having fun!


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## jfoh

Turning pens is either a hobby or work to be completed. If a hobby you spend as much time as you desire and enjoy the process. If work you try to be as efficient as possible so you get the job done. Pens are a hobby for me so time is not money it is therapy. 

I make pens for the local high school graduation ceremony. 175-200 pens each year are turned and engraved with the students name. I figure it takes 30 minutes a pen these days. I turn 200-225 pens and select the best 175-200 ones for use. I turn extras because final turned blanks are not all equal. Wood is a very funny thing to work with. Some blanks get very average when completed due to loss of grain pattern or  odd grain structure.  Average pens are no fun to give to a person on his or her special day. I want them all to be as perfect and special as I can make them.

My engraver no longer will engrave finished pens. He is concerned with the chemicals and the laser causing him health problems. So for the last several years all pens are sanded to completion, names engraved and then I have to finish them. 

My real bottle neck is finishing. Sometimes I can get a finish to come out perfectly with just a little time and effort and sometimes I repeat the finish over and over again. Some pens finish up well in just a few minutes and some seem to take hours. The engraving for this years class is completed and about two thirds of them are finished. After finishing I let them sit for a month and go back and inspect the finish. Sometimes you miss stuff and sometimes they just get weird. Time spent aging the blanks does let the finish stabilize. 

This year is my next to last year doing this and next years blanks are already turned round to over sized blanks. I guess if I tracked the time I would find 30 minutes per pen might be low, perhaps more like a hour. But this is a gift and I do not care about making them on a tight timeline  and time or cost per pen is not my concern.


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## Tiger

Great post, I think that it's handy to know where you can speed things up and not lose quality. I'd say it's at the turning/finishing stages. Cutting blanks, drilling and assembly - there's not much you can do there to cut time so it's at the turning and finishing stages that you can gain a bit of time. Sharp tools help to get your blank ready quicker, they save sandpaper as well. The part that slows me down is the CA finish. Once the calipers come out time is lost in another dimension.


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## sbell111

jfoh said:


> My engraver no longer will engrave finished pens. He is concerned with the chemicals and the laser causing him health problems. So for the last several years all pens are sanded to completion, names engraved and then I have to finish them.


He must not have his laser vented properly.  I hope he fixes it.  Breathing the smoke from the lased wood probably isn't very good for him, either.


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## sbell111

Tiger said:


> Great post, I think that it's handy to know where you can speed things up and not lose quality. I'd say it's at the turning/finishing stages. Cutting blanks, drilling and assembly - there's not much you can do there to cut time so it's at the turning and finishing stages that you can gain a bit of time. Sharp tools help to get your blank ready quicker, they save sandpaper as well. The part that slows me down is the CA finish. Once the calipers come out time is lost in another dimension.



I would argue that other than simply improving your technique (in every step), you can't save any time simply by doing something faster as that is how errors and accidents happen.

The way to save time is to cut down on the time you spend not working on making the pen; the time that it takes you to move from the drilling to gluing steps, for instance.  The easiest way to do this is to make many pens at a time.  That way, you aren't setting up the drill, drilling one pen's blank, moving on to the next workstation, preparing the tubes, gluing them in, waiting for them to dry, etc.  Every time that you move from one task to the other, you are spending time.  

I bet that we have around 60 or 70 pens currently in process because I work in big batches to save time.


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## ljpilcher@suddenlink

*How long does it take.*

Hey, I probably spent close to 8 hours on my first pen.  I think I still average about 3 hours.  Now, I do one pen at a time start to finish, so it takes a little longer.  Also, I use a shop made jig for drilling which slows me down.  I do a lot of measuring to be as sure as I can to get a smooth transition from wood to kit parts, especially on the nib end of slim lines.  Than, I don't always get it perfect.


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## Trees2Pens

I know one thing...when I rush my normal pace, things go wrong.  I'm sure my pace is slower than most but I'm happy with my results.  Now I have to take a nap


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## Smitty37

Andrew Arndts said:


> I know of guys that will say, I can dress out a deer in 3 minutes."  First I don't eat at their home and if they offer up I respectfully decline...  When I Dress out a Deer, I take my time to do it right.
> That being said, it doesn't matter how long you take making a pen.  Just do it right.
> I drilled and glued (epoxy) up 5 blanks yesterday. Drilled and glued up another in the morning.  Started knockin' them out in the afternoon.  Completed them all by 1AM.  I think I did pretty well far as time goes.
> 
> I heard somewhere that making pens is a skill builder. So lay your sharp tools wood.


 I don't think it takes over 5 minutes to properly field dress a deer.  What's so difficult?  And just what would doing it right entail?

That being said, how long you spend on each pen depends pretty much on how long you want to spend.  I cut, drill and tube in batches and usually leave them set for a couple of days before turning.  Sanding and finishing take me longer than turning most of the time because I sand/micromesh to a high polish.  Finishing usually involves more than one coat.


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## JohnGreco

However long it takes you is exactly the right amount of time. You're still new so don't rush it. Compare how you are doing now vs. how you are doing 50 pens from now...100 pens from now...250 pens from now. 

People post about how long they have been making pens, but that really isn't a standard for comparison when 5 different people who started out 3 years ago together may have completely different amounts of time allotted each week for penturning. Is it an hour a day? 5 hours only on the third Saturday of every other month? 

Don't try to be faster than somebody else, just try to be better than you were yesterday. Best of luck!


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## panamag8or

JohnGreco said:


> Don't try to be faster than somebody else, just try to be better than you were yesterday.



Wise words.


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## Marc

If it's wood and not spalted, or punky or too burly to hurry, I can probably knock out just about any pen in about 20 to 30 minutes.  Those pens I get about 2 to 3 times material costs.  If it's fancy and needs a fine touch, all bets are off.  If I want to make a Celtic knot or a segmented pen or a real looking cigar pen, it can be many hours, not even counting glue curing or other waiting time. 

I like wood better, but tend to gravitate to the highly figured, burly, spalted unusual looking pens.  I like to dress them in top shelf hardware.  I really enjoy some of the guest artists blanks on many of my favorite sites.  You know, those blanks that can cost $35 to $100 plus just for the blank.  So many creative folks out there and such a thin demographic to purchase those high end productions.  But, that's what I enjoy.

So my answer? ....... It depends.


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## larryc

So it looks like all of us need to stand in that line for the new minimum wages.


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## Smitty37

Glenn McCullough said:


> My guess is, and they'll never admit it, that the ones who say they finish a pen in 15-30 minutes are making slims to sell for $15-20.00, maybe less. It is a b-b slim with a friction polish that will be in the garbage next year. They are not your typical penturners, here.
> They are in it for the bucks and thats all. God bless 'em.
> After 700 pens, I still take close to an hour for a slim...if all goes well, really well. But it doesnt. I had two blanks of found spalted birch the other day and one blew up, the other was so punky I had to ditch it. 0-2 was no problem, the other four I made yesterday are stunning!
> Dont feel because it takes a bit longer to make, you are not doing as well. I get no less than $35.00 for a slim. You can get it if you build your reputation to that level.


 I can turn a slim in 15 or 20 minutes but that's not the total amount of time spent on it....It usually takes me longer to sand and get ready for finish than it does turning...15 steps if I don't do any over....I don't use the CA finish that a lot do so I'm using other products --- that doesn't mean it takes less time though.


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## Darkshier

I was turning pens pretty fast for a while but I've since slowed way down. I found I had a tendency to get in too much of a hurry and kept forgetting little important steps and hurting my productivity. Since then my average time for 1-2 pens is usually about 4-6 hours. Not counting gluing barrels in since I let them setup for at least 24 hours before working on them. I know, that is a ridiculous amount of time with little actual payoff. But I enjoy the time in my shop and working on pens. Oh also part of that time is the finish I use. It takes a pretty good amount of time for it to dry on the lathe but much longer off.


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## raar25

So first of all anyone who tells you 15-20 minutes suffers from the same ailment I do (according to my wife) .  The turning may take 15-20 minutes, but it took alot more time than just turning.  It sometimes takes me 15 minutes to get the ends clean enoough for the pen mill or sanding rig.  So including marking, cutting, drilling, glueing, squaring etc, will cause the whole process to take more than 15-20 minutes.


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## raar25

So this thread has left me confused, with two questons:

1. Why would anyone dress a deer?
2. How do you get it to stand still long enough to put the clothes on?

Seems like a strange form of entertainment some of you have!


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## Smitty37

raar25 said:


> So this thread has left me confused, with two questons:
> 
> 1. Why would anyone dress a deer?
> 2. How do you get it to stand still long enough to put the clothes on?
> 
> Seems like a strange form of entertainment some of you have!


1.Obviously because they are embarassed to be running around undressed.
2.With a great deal of difficulty.:biggrin:


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## sbell111

raar25 said:


> So this thread has left me confused, with two questons:
> 
> 1. Why would anyone dress a deer?
> 2. How do you get it to stand still long enough to put the clothes on?
> 
> Seems like a strange form of entertainment some of you have!



Many restaurants have a "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policy.  If you are going to take your deer out for a nice dinner, she's got to be dressed.


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## Holz Mechaniker

raar25 said:


> So this thread has left me confused, with two questons:
> 
> 1. Why would anyone dress a deer?
> 2. How do you get it to stand still long enough to put the clothes on?
> 
> Seems like a strange form of entertainment some of you have!



Ohhh mercy, I....  
1. Okay the phrase, Dressing out a Deer is a polite way of saying, Removing the internal organs prior to rendering it into family size portions.
2. Usually it isn't standing. it is quietly laying down.


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## Smitty37

Holz Mechaniker said:


> raar25 said:
> 
> 
> 
> So this thread has left me confused, with two questons:
> 
> 1. Why would anyone dress a deer?
> 2. How do you get it to stand still long enough to put the clothes on?
> 
> Seems like a strange form of entertainment some of you have!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ohhh mercy, I....
> 1. Okay the phrase, Dressing out a Deer is a polite way of saying, Removing the internal organs prior to rendering it into family size portions.
> 2. Usually it isn't standing. it is quietly laying down.
Click to expand...

For those out of the know --- it's kinda like drawing a chicken.


----------

