Pen Turning supplies

[TB Roye]

A Question for you Pen Turners. Where do you get your supplies. I have bought from PennState, Craft Supply and Woodcraft. We have a Woodcraft on the other side of town which I visit quite often and a Rockler about 2 hour drive (65miles) But am looking for a little more selection of Pen Blanks and kits and a little cheaper supplies than Woodcraft. I have looked at Amazon Exotic Hardwoods, Hut Products so far I know there are others but want your input and opinions. Need something to do NASCAR is almost over and boring, The 49ers, Raiders and Kings suck so need more to do.

Thanks


Tom

[leehljp]

There are 3 others that sell the same basic line of pens:

Berea:
http://www.bereahardwoods.com/new/

Arizona Silhouette (AS) :
http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/

Bear Tooth Woods (BTW):
http://www.beartoothwoods.com/catalog/

I think AS has the most overall choices of pens and pencils. Each vendor above seems to have an inside deal with the mfg for special versions of different kits.

AS does not ship outside of the USA. He is a fine man to deal with as long as you stay within parameters of his sight - i.e. calling hours. When in the US, I usually order from him because he usually sticks a nice blank in the box on orders over $30.00 or so for free. He is very prompt.

Ernie at BTW is very prompt also. He ships overseas, which is a big help to me. Good prices and good choices of blanks. Not much exotic wood blanks, but plenty of other kind.

I haven't ordered from Berea yet but most of their pens are available through BTW or AS.

CA glue: I order my CA glue from Manny / Monty at : http://woodenwonderstx.com/WWBlue/NewGlueWS.html
He ships overseas. While I can find CA here, I can only get it in 1 and 2 oz at the most. Sure is great to get 8 oz bottles! Prompt and helpful in emails.

AS, BTW and CSUSA get about 95% of my pen orders. PSI gets my specialty needs for USA delivery orders.

[Whaler]

I use Woodcraft as my primary source. The Woodcraft store is about 20 min away and is beautiful, the employees are friendly and happy to talk turning or whatever with you.

Rockler is 10 min away and is a nice store but no employee interaction with customers. I use them as a last resort.

PSI is my secondary source if Woodcraft doesn't have what I want, great service.

[TB Roye]

Dick and Hank

Thanks for you replies. The Woodcraft Store here is great, almost took a part time job there but decided against it for tax reasons. PSI is great, bought most of my start up stuff from them and have another order on the way. Hank the AS sit is great, the owner is a neat person and love his other activities. His friend who turned those segmented bowls is an Artist, huge bowls. I will probaly get some blanks from him. Right now I am still learning to turn Slimline pens and have a ball trying different techniques. Looks like Christmas Presents from me this year will be Pens/Pencils. I am planning on making the Pastor of our church a Pen and Pencil set out of Olivewood from the Holy Land. The women in our famils will get Pink Ivory pens for Breast Cancer awearness, with some lazer engraving. I have made some pens and will post some pictures this weekend, nothing fancy just trying differnt woods and learning to use the tools. Found lots of use for the disasembly tool. I have some large woodworking projects to do but it is nice to be able to do something that is fairly quick and get some instant gratification from. Hank last Sunday I talked a missionary from my church who was Lutheran Missionay in Japan for 40 years he is 83 now and I remember him talking at Sunday School when I was young. He was there right after WWII so he has a lot of stories about Japan. His 3 sons became Scholars of the Japanese culture and teach it at Major Colleges here in the states.

Tom

[DonHo]

I buy from all over but one of my favorites is

http://www.augumspenworks.com/
They carry almost the full PSI and Berea line of pen kits + they have their own line. They also carry most of the PSI tools. Their prices are cheaper on the tools and pen kits than either PSI or Berea and their service is first rate ( not that there is anything wrong with the service from PSI or Berea). They have a large selection of Acrylic blanks as well as wood blanks.

I also like Bear Tooth Woods for the Sierra pen kits, makes a good looking pen and one of the easiest to turn + you can get two pens from one blank.

I prefer wooden blanks for pens and I cut my own a lot, for instance I can order a 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" X 12" cocobolo blank from CSA for under $5 and depending on the length of the blanks I need I can get from 8 to twelve blanks. For the larger pens that require larger blanks I get the 2" X 2" X 12" and I cut 8 blanks for a little over $1 per blank. Sometimes if I only need a couple of the smaller blanks I'll pick them up at WoodCraft from their $1 slection.

DonHo

[Scottydont]

For buying on the Web, I second the recommendations by Hank. I have Rockler and Woodcraft convenient to drive from where I am but overpriced and often run short or out of stock on kits I want. For pen blanks I buy on Ebay a lot. Pen blanks are definately too expensive at Rockler or Woodcraft. I occasionally sell pen blank lots myself.

[Russianwolf]

Also go to www.penturners.org you can get lots of great blanks from the guys there in the for sale sections. I have been pourchasing some blanks from Ireland/Englang and trading extras. Now I have quite a stash of woods from all over. Lillian has had a blast watching me trade wood.

I have placed several orders from Arizona Silhoettes. Great guy to work with. Always a nice surprise in my package.

I've ordered from PSI before, but moved away from them as AS has a better plating selection on what I want (I only buy Chrome, Platinum/Rhodium,and the Titanium platings now due to wearing concerns).

also try www.woodpenpro.com he has some plating options that the others don't. I haven't purchased from him yet, but that will be changing soon as I have an order that only he has the kit for (that I've found).

[final_t]

What about a good source of Micro Mesh? The vendor I used to get it from, Wood Chips, went out of business this summer, so I've been looking for someone else to buy from.

[grandy]

Pen turning supplies

In looking for Pen Turning supplies, you may want to try:
www.steebar.com They have some pretty good prices on pen kits.

[Russianwolf]

What about a good source of Micro Mesh? The vendor I used to get it from, Wood Chips, went out of business this summer, so I've been looking for someone else to buy from.

arizona silhoettes and PSI both have it. I got mine off ebay.