# First Big Order



## Turned Around (Jan 26, 2012)

I was talking to a vendor at work this morning, and he mentioned his 25th anniversary of his company was coming up. He said he'd have to ask his wife about it, but he thinks he'll get about 20 of one certain pen. Well, he got back to me about an hour ago, and said his made him ask about 100 pens.

He picked out the style and the wood. But there's my problem. How does Cocobolo look when laser engraved? I'm worried if I get too dark of wood, then you wouldn't see the engraving. Am I right to worry? I tried convincing him or getting something a bit lighter, but he was dead set on the cocobolo.

Also, how long would it take to engrave 100 pens?



Nic


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## wizical (Jan 26, 2012)

Cocobolo Engraved looks fine, as long as you do a colorfill on them.

Also, what style pen did he pick out as well? also when does he want to take delivery of the pens?


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## HoratioHornblower (Jan 26, 2012)

I don't know how long it would take for 100, but I am about to have one engraved on a Jr. Gent. I will try to have one engraved and post pics on Saturday or Sunday. I also am going to try to get a silver paint or something like that in the letters because of the color of the wood, and then seal it with CA. Be posting soon!

David


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## Turned Around (Jan 26, 2012)

He wants them done by April.
How do you fill in the engraving? I've never done it before.
He wants Cocobolo on the El Grande kit. something simple, yet classy-ish. He said it seems like a classic "man" pen. Since we're in the oil business, I think he made a good choice.


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## HoratioHornblower (Jan 26, 2012)

Also, for blanks check out this guy! I have never ordered from him, but someone on here has and spoke highly of him. He has 100 blanks for $50+shipping! Cocobolo Inc., RareTropical Hardwoods -- Ipe


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## Turned Around (Jan 26, 2012)

HoratioHornblower said:


> Also, for blanks check out this guy! I have never ordered from him, but someone on here has and spoke highly of him. He has 100 blanks for $50+shipping! Cocobolo Inc., RareTropical Hardwoods -- Ipe


 

wow, thanks. I was just going to go to Woodcraft and get a board to cut up, thought that might be the cheapest way, but this seems like the way to go.


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## Sancho (Jan 26, 2012)

If you're going to turn 100 pens from Cocobolo I highly recommend using a respirator. Personally, I get a reaction to dust from that wood. If it doesn't bother you then you may be OK, but I understand the way allergies work is that you become more sensitive to certain things the more you are exposed to it.


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## wizical (Jan 26, 2012)

1) Most Pen Engravers should have a colorfill option available to you. 

2) Also, are you turning between centers or on a mandrel?  That will determine also how long it will take to make.  

3) You have to find suppliers that have those pen kits on hand and which plating did they want.  Also get have the money up front and then take the rest on delivery!

4) you would probably have to turn at least 2 pens day, which should give you plenty of time to finish the job

5) wear long sleeves and a respirator when turning Cocobolo, this stuff can leave a nasty rash and will impair your breathing


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## crabcreekind (Jan 26, 2012)

Turned Around said:


> I was talking to a vendor at work this morning, and he mentioned his 25th anniversary of his company was coming up. He said he'd have to ask his wife about it, but he thinks he'll get about 20 of one certain pen. Well, he got back to me about an hour ago, and said his made him ask about 100 pens.
> 
> He picked out the style and the wood. But there's my problem. How does Cocobolo look when laser engraved? I'm worried if I get too dark of wood, then you wouldn't see the engraving. Am I right to worry? I tried convincing him or getting something a bit lighter, but he was dead set on the cocobolo.
> 
> ...



IIf you are doing 100 cocobolo pens, wear a respirator and gloves! I am not allergic to the dust but the oils puff up my skin around the eyes. So be careful. Also diamondtropicalhardwoods.com is the best for cocobolo. They have really high grade stuff! Also on the kits make sure you get a good plating such as chrome. Dont get 24 ct gold or some garbage plating. You dont want 100 pens coming back to you.


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## JimB (Jan 26, 2012)

What type of finish are you planning? Some folks have a bit of difficulty finishing cocobolo. Have you worked with it before?


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## woodgraver (Jan 26, 2012)

Here is a picture of a club I made from Cocobolo and then engraved. I think it will give you a good idea of how it will look with and without color fill.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f45/martys-big-stick-75693/

I have never engraved more than 20 pens in a single order, so I don't have a jig made up that would reduce the time it takes to engrave them.  In general, for a simple engraving, I can do 20 pens in 30 minutes by manually placing each pen one at a time on the  single pen jig.  That means 100 pens in 2.5 hours.


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## keithbyrd (Jan 28, 2012)

HoratioHornblower said:


> I don't know how long it would take for 100, but I am about to have one engraved on a Jr. Gent. I will try to have one engraved and post pics on Saturday or Sunday. I also am going to try to get a silver paint or something like that in the letters because of the color of the wood, and then seal it with CA. Be posting soon!
> 
> David


 I have done a couple of engravings and then filled with CA - DON"T LIKE IT.  IF the wood is too dark the engraving all but disappears,  If it doesn't disappear it looks like a decal - you use the depth.  I just finished 8 pens, engraved and actually turned 24 to deliver because of dark wood, poor filling?, log disappearing.  Talked customer into plain engraving.  Will have available Monday and will post pictures of all my experience.


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## Scooley01 (Jan 28, 2012)

Would you CA finish and then engrave?  I would worry about the finish cracking...

Or just use a friction polish instead of CA on engraved pens?


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## keithbyrd (Jan 28, 2012)

I have had a few engraved with no cracking - since the laser burns throgh I doubt that it would crack - I am picking up 8 on Monday and will let you know!


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## keithbyrd (Jan 31, 2012)

keithbyrd said:


> I have had a few engraved with no cracking - since the laser burns throgh I doubt that it would crack - I am picking up 8 on Monday and will let you know!


 
I picked up 8 pens from the engraver that were finished - (approx 15 coats of thin and med CA on average)  There was absolutly nothing wrong - in fact they came out great.  I would not worry about cracking!  I did put a little REN wax and buffed them a little - Perfect!


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## whegge (Jan 31, 2012)

I am just finishing doing 30 pens for a company that what their logo engraved on it.  The pen a slimline made out of black Corian.  Here is what I have learned.

1) If possible keep away from logo's with a lot of "open" space in the logo.  In other words a lot of space that needs to be engraved out.  This is not a problem for the engraver but is a pain in the rear to fill.

2) Also if possible make the area that is going to be engraved as flat as possible.  Not literally flat but no hump from the top of the blank to the bottom.  What will happen is the engraving on the ends will be at one depth and the middle will be deeper.  The main problem here is the middle area may heat up to much and possibly crack the blank.  Also the deeper the engraving the more fill you will need.

3) I used paint and paint filler to fill my pens.  The lettering filled fine.  Logo took about 6 times to fill properly.

4) Make sure the graphic you get or make is stored in a vector format.  This means eps (ecapsulated postscript) or avi -NOT- bmp, gif or jpeg.

5) Get ready to get bored.  Doing 30 has taken me 2 months to do.  Granted I have a full time job and at least 3 of the weekends were full with family stuff.  But still, I will be so happy when I am done with this.  Should be this weekend.

I have several done.  I will take a picture tonight and post it.

HTH,

Wes


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## Turned Around (Jan 31, 2012)

i just got together with the customer. He changed from 100 of the El Grande, to 15 Executives, and 10 Sierras. No more cocobolo. One set with my own casted poly resin, one set with Jara burl, and the rest assorted acrylics. How does the acrylics and poly resin casting vary from the wood being engraved? Do iI need different prep work for different material?

He did say this was just the beginning, just to see if it's what he was loking for and hopes to see a good reaction to the people he gives them to.


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## Chasper (Jan 31, 2012)

I have made a few cocobolo pens with laser engraving and no color fill.  The engraving is subtle but definitely noticable.  It is also very classy looking.  The lasered letters and logo will be mostly black.  For lasering I buy Mexican cocobolo from Griffin Exotic Wood pen blanks it is more red than the orange that comes from Hondorus.  I like the way the lasering looks on red better than orange.


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## Turned Around (Jan 31, 2012)

Like I said, it's changed to Jara, poly resin and acrylics.
Also, he hasked if the clip and cap can be engraved with the laser.


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## whegge (Jan 31, 2012)

Acrylics and poly resin and Corian are basically the same.  They should engrave just fine, the problem will be heat build up.  The deeper you engrave the more power needed by the laser, the more power used the more heat is produced.  So try to keep the engraving to an area that has some depth and the blanks should not crack.

As for the clip, I was just thinking about doing that too.  I am going to go see the guy who is doing my engravings tonight, I will ask.  I would think it is possible just not sure how the plating will effect the laser.

One other thing I forgot to mention is the height of the engraving.  If the engraving is too tall you will need to make sure the engraver has a rotary jig for his engraver.  If he does not the engraving may not look right, it will looked warped.


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## keithbyrd (Jan 31, 2012)

I was told by an engraver that the acrylic needs to be color filled because it doesn't show well?  Have not seen this but passing on what I was told.


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## Mason Kuettel (Jan 31, 2012)

Depending on the finish on the clip/other metal parts you can use a laser on them.  I had one done not too long ago and it looked good, just not as good as having it on the pen body.  I do not know the long term durability of the metal under the outer plating (only a month or two back that the pen was done).  

As for the color fill, it will depend on the color of acrylic or PR you are using.  I have done several that looked really good without the fill and several that filling just made it stand out really well.


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## gbpens (Jan 31, 2012)

Extreme caution! It is not just your immediate reaction to the dust but the long term biuldup in your lungs. It could give you problems 10 years from now. Get the best respirator/filter you can. 100 pieces will take a few weeks.


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## its_virgil (Jan 31, 2012)

...and not much fun after the first ten or so. I hope you chargef enough to make it worth the effort . I will be  interested to kown your thoughts after they are made znd delivered.  Congrats on the sale. Order more than you need...of every thing and extra tubes.
Do a good turn daily

Don

Sent from my  Samsung Epic using Forum runner


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## Turned Around (Jan 31, 2012)

its_virgil said:


> ...and not much fun after the first ten or so. I hope you chargef enough to make it worth the effort . I will be interested to kown your thoughts after they are made znd delivered. Congrats on the sale. Order more than you need...of every thing and extra tubes.
> Do a good turn daily
> 
> Don
> ...


 
Like I said, the customer changed the order. it was going to be about $4K total.
Now he changed it to 25 pens for a sampler with different pens, so the price changed for the time being. He said he had a budget between $4K-$5K for the pens.

So it's nothing too bad, not giving them away.


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## whegge (Feb 1, 2012)

Sorry, I did not get a chance to post this last night, to late at the office.

I included the unfilled top along with the finished product.  I will not be giving the finished pen to the customer, there is a problem with it. One of the band accents did not come all the way through.


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## HoratioHornblower (Feb 6, 2012)

Sorry this is so late! The letters did not come out as I would have liked, but I think it is definitely possible with the right method. I used acrylic paint to fill the letters, next time I might try metal dust or spray paint. Metal dust would take awhile I would think.
 
David


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## edman2 (Feb 6, 2012)

I recently made 90 pens for an order and had them engraved and back filled.  It took Ken at Kallenshaan Woods less than 48 hours to do the engraving and filling on the 90 pens.  If you do the fill yourself, then use acrylic paint on a cotton swab and wipe the excess off with regular rubbing alcohol.  25 should take very little time.


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## Turned Around (Feb 8, 2012)

so who does the filling of the letters?


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## seamus7227 (Feb 8, 2012)

Turned Around said:


> so who does the filling of the letters?


 
you can do it yourself! its easy once you figure out what color you want to go with, but as stated above, use a cotton swab and have a rag ready with some alcohol(not saturated) to wipe off the excess.


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## edman2 (Feb 8, 2012)

Turned Around said:


> so who does the filling of the letters?


 
Agree with Seamus.  Because I had a short time table I paid Ken at Kallenshaan to do mine for me. He regularly charges $4 a pen to do that.  He did a little better for me since it was a large order. :biggrin:

No reason not to do it yourself if time is not a big problem.


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