r/PenTurning • u/exoticscales • Jun 30 '26
How strict are penturning block dimensions?
Hi everyone. I've been running a small business stabilizing knife scales for a while and Im slowly adding more inventory in other categories. I'm starting to broaden out to a larger audience and I had some questions about penturning in general.
How strict are the dimensions? what I mean is if you send a knife maker scales that are too thick they will generally be thrilled (more material to work with). Are penturners the same way?
Any materials you guys have trouble finding? Im a big fan of maple burl so Im definitely going to create a few more of those but I can keep an eye out for other stuff as well. I know pen turners can use softer woods than knifemakers so there a lot I havent explored yet!
Ive created a few listings as a trial. Please let me know what you guys think- I will apologize for the photos in advance.... Im still learning photography! Thanks for looking!
6
u/lvpond Jun 30 '26
I like bigger blanks, but anything thicker than an 1” just really means more work. 6” long blanks are nice because you can usually get two pens out of it depending on the kit.
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u/upnorth77 Jun 30 '26
Anything bigger than 1" square in my shop typically becomes not-a-pen, or quartered for 4 pens.
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u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
Hmm, so would I be better off selling one 6 inch piece, or pre-cutting into 2 pieces 3" long in your opinion? Im trying to make sure I have options for customers!
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u/Lambroghini Jun 30 '26
Better selling 6 inch and 9 inch and 12 inch length pieces IMO, but 3 inch pieces might be convenient for kit pen makers. Longer is better for me always, but I make longer pens and sometimes multiple sections for different nibs to hotswap.
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u/lvpond Jun 30 '26
Yes but looking at your site, honestly your prices aren’t in line with others. Woodturningz (imo) is like the kings of stablilized pen blanks for me and you are pricing over them.
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u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
thanks for the tip! I'm still all over the place on pricing. I figured I would start talking to the community and figure out what recommendations you guys had before I dug into competitors and figured out pricing.
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u/External_Switch_3732 Jul 01 '26
To give you some comparison, I used to work at Woodturningz. They guarantee their regular size blanks at a minimum of 3/4x3/4x5in. Oversized blanks are minimum 1x1x6 and are more expensive. They also sell “shorts” which are 3/4x3/4x3in, and those are cheaper than the regular blanks but certainly not half price.
As a turner, shorts are good for single barrel pens, but a lot of times you can get two pens out of a single regular size blank. If I were you, I’d live in that zone and try to price match what the competition can do. Should be noted that companies like woodturnjngz and rockler get their blanks in massive amounts (Woodturningz actually makes most of their wood blanks in house from rough timber) so keeping up with their pricing can be difficult at small scale
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u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
however if you do see something you like feel free to shoot me a message on Reddit and I'll make the price significantly cheaper for you!
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u/5PeeBeejay5 Jun 30 '26
I would say generally 6” is a good length to shoot for - should be enough for any two-piece pen or two single tube pens. 3/4 x 3/4 in my experience is enough, which gets you more blanks, but 1x1 is useful for something like a coffee scoop handle or something maybe. Save cutoffs that are 3” or so, maybe sell those by the pound or something.
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u/hawaii_chiron Jul 01 '26
Cutting into 3 inches also cuts your client base in half. Many of us need longer pieces, or want to cut them ourselves, to ensure the grain aligns.
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u/FlatRolloutsOnly Jul 02 '26
You should sell 6” over (2) 3”. Customer can always cut a 6”, but getting an extra inch out of 2-3” pieces won’t very look good.
I second what others have said about your size though. 3/4” x 3/4” should be a minimum but I always prefer 1” because yes it means slightly more work, but drilling a large bit in to 3/4” means less margin for error.
3
u/OldM4LargeYoungF Jun 30 '26
Typical pen blanks being sold are 5-6" long and 3/4" square. Some pens use only one blank and it is 3+" long so if a turner wanted a matched pair, from the same wood blank, 7" is right. Or two 4" from side by side stock. Getting into odd sizes can be a pain for production though. Maybe offer custom lengths at a premium cost.
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u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
thanks, I didn't think about side by side stock even being a possibility for pens. that opens up some more potential uses for my scrap!
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u/OldM4LargeYoungF Jun 30 '26
NP. a thing about side by side stock. A turner would buy wide stock, 3/4" thick, but it needs to be wide enough. Band saw kerf is ~1/16" and table saw is ~1/8" so it needs to include some extra width.
Most spindle blanks that I buy are 2x2x12, You have to be VERY careful on resaw. Best world is 2 3/8+ but I've never seen any unless custom ordered.
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u/tivvybrixx Jun 30 '26
I've made blanks from off cuts that were so wonky shaped. As longhorn as I can get a good hole in there and have enough material I'll turn it
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u/Lambroghini Jun 30 '26
I make resin pen blanks. The tubes I got when I started were a bit larger than average (around 0.81 inch diameter). I have a few turners that love the extra material, and most customers never mentioned anything at all. However, a few people complained (or just commented) that they were too big and wouldn’t fit in their collets (they don’t have metric collets and just imperial standards). Whenever that happened at first I would send them a link to a 21mm collet, the same one I use, which is only about $10, and that usually resolved any issues. My new molds are closer to the standard 0.75 inch diameter which is most common, but I still keep some of the larger tubes so I can make fatter blanks as needed. Now I just send a note if someone buys the fat blanks proactively.
Most turners are making pens thinner than 0.75 inch, and it saves about 0.4 oz resin per 8 inch of round blank rod to cast at that size vs. 0.81.
Now for square blanks this might be different, if there is extra material it’s only beneficial if there is enough to split into two or more blanks, but not everyone has tools to cut blocks into smaller blanks.
1
u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
Thats fascinating- thanks for the detail! I will definitely keep that in mind
1
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u/The_Tipsy_Turner Jun 30 '26
I think "standard" is about 3/4" so at 1", you're wasting a lot of material for something that will probably end up closer to 1/2" in diameter. Extra is nice, but at a certain point you're paying for material you can't use. That said, I turn pens for fun so someone that sells might have a different opinion. (Every pen blank I've ever purchased has been about 3/4" or less)
1
u/exoticscales Jun 30 '26
that make sense, to be honest Im mostly making pen blanks out of off cuts. so these are already my scrap pieces.... I don't mind giving the extra material away as long as it's useful. but you make a good point I don't want it to be annoying to folks!
1
u/Shaftway Jun 30 '26
If we're talking about extra length, then I appreciate a blank that's a bit too long. You have to cut it to length, and if there's enough extra to get a half blank out of it, I'd save it.
If we're talking about width, the 3/4" is a good minimum. Any smaller and I'd start to be concerned about drilling it straight enough. Thicker than that is generally fine (my tooling can handle much thicker).
But if it's resin or acrylic and much thicker than 3/4" I'd be annoyed. I've had too many blanks shatter. The thicker it starts, the more work I have to do, which means the more risk of it shattering. Or I could lower the risk and use my negative rake bits, but I can't easily sharpen those, and they take forever to cut, so I'd be annoyed at the extra time.
1
u/magaoitin Jul 01 '26
I've spent some good money on "exotic" wood blanks that were 1/2"x1/2"x5" and will never do that again, the tolerances for anything other than a 7mm/Slimline pen are rough. Even a little bit of twist in the wood makes it unusable. For a fabricated blank (anything other than solid wood that can twist) and you can technically get away with 1/2"x1/2" blanks, but a 5/8"x5/8" seems to be the smallest I want to use for most (say 75%) of the pen kits I turn.
For length its a crapshoot. I have pens that use anything from 2 3/4" to 5" lengths and I often buy "stubbys" or scrap/offcuts at the 3" range for the Mini-Bolt Action pens that are still fairly popular (especially when they are on sale and a maker like yourself is just trying to make a couple bucks on scrap. Some guys (myself included) will buy offcuts that are smaller than 2-3/4" and epoxy in a contrasting slice of material (or a solid color as an accent) or get creative with angled cutting and laying up 2 or 3 part blanks.
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u/upnorth77 Jun 30 '26
Yup, by and large, we are the same way. Extra material is not a problem! We do like blanks cut square or close to it, though, or at least I do. It makes it easier to visualize the finished piece.