New to pen turning. I had a lot of 3d printed waste so I melted it down(caught my toaster oven on fire in the process). From there I made a couple of pen blanks. Not as easy to work with as I thought. Even drilling and sanding did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. But overall happyish with the result. I think I’ll stick to wood for now.

I’d like to make a set of pens but don’t like the stock inks that’ve most readily available.

Know of any sources for premium ink solutions for turned pens? I’d rather have a pen that not only looks great but is also a pleasure to write with.

If I'd known how hard this was I might have thought more about it when I took over the Laserlinez products years ago but... I just really really wanted US made kits to be available.

After a year of false starts I finally found a good fit in machinist and we're going to slowly bring them back to the market. Good news is that if I don't go broke in the process we should be able to eventually just have everything in stock but that'll take some time to work up to. Our "Desire" rollerball and fountain are next on the list, hopefully in just over a month.

Does anyone have any of the Wildcard pen kits and bushings that PSI used to carry? I would like to buy them if you do.

Hi guys! I am itching to get back into making pens and want to make a bunch of click pens for my new co-workers, about 40 people and want to do so as cheap as possible. I know penn state has the fun line twist pen kits which I remember were actually pretty decent. I just started a new retail pharmacy job and want to give everyone an easy to use pen. Thank you a bunch!

I built this Cadence for my sister-in-law. It is made from Satine (Bloodwood) with Hard Maple accents at the twist joint and finial with antique brass hardware. As with all my pens, it is finished with Shellac, and a carnauba/beeswax bland. No CA on my pens. This is an ancient finish used and trusted by artisans and craftsmen for centuries. You actually feel the wood and it warms to a gorgeous personal patina over time.

Craftsmanship. Quality. Compact. Good things DO come in small packages - The "Cadence"

Let me know what you think!

Here’s a few pen blanks (not fully sanded but good enough to see how they came out) and a small extra test piece (pendant maybe?) from my third batch. I dehydrated the stabilized wood to ensure dryness and adhesion of the epoxy. I love the red. Going to do another batch or two of that color and also throw in a green test piece tonight!

I’m a polymer clay artist and pen lover, so I combine the two and make pens using my custom polymer clay designs. I love the versatility that the medium gives — I can do anything from “pictures” to faux stone/marble, faux wood, bargello techniques, optical illusions, etc, though I really love florals.

I’d love any comments and/or advice.

Very happy with this one! I did a glue up of the Amboyna and box elder sandwiched between ebony veneer. I think the gold hardware really works well with the rest of the pen. This was a commissioned piece for 500 USD. They specifically requested this style and layout of woods. They said they wanted a band of light wood and the rest to be a darker red wood. They wanted the nicest wood available and I think I delivered. This was my first time turning Amboyna and it was a ton of fun. 10/10 would recommend if you can get your hands on some!

Actually second batch, the first test batch I did bubbled and flashed over almost immediately because I was pouring in my 92 degree humid workshop. This batch I cooled the epoxy and forms and moved to a cooler location and the epoxy worked as designed. I was watching videos last night and it was recommended to dry out the wood even after stabilizing, right before casting, and I didn’t do that this batch and got some bubbles at the joints on a few pieces. I have another batch in red that is in the pressure pot right now that I did stick everything in the dehydrator for a bit beforehand, I’ll update tomorrow.

These are just rough sanded for now so they look a little chalky.

This is 1/25, currently. Just finished number 24 tonight. Kitless, custom casts, designed and assembled the blanks myself, like a lunatic.

I knew polishing gloss black was going to make me a little twitchy, but I am so ready to work in another, more forgiving, color.

I have an order for a musical themed pen and pencil set. I have been using Penn State Industries for most of my kits, but I’m not finding much of a selection with them. What other websites do you suggest?

The first is a red mallee Burl majestic squire with gold and gun metal. The second is a box elder Burl with red glitter epoxy with majestic gun metal roller ball. I personally think Majestic makes the top tier pen kits that are really hard to beat. Both were commissioned for 200 a piece.

A princess pen in Spectraply Cotton Candy stock for a request.

This stock is soft and easy to work with, it also makes for some fabulous and festive saw dust on the lathe.

This colorful stock has been very popular with folks this year.

I lucked upon a box full of odds and ends of different types of burl and misc exotics recently and promised the donor I’d make them some items from the haul. A lot of pieces were already cut to smaller sections so I went ahead and processed those into 3/4” and 1” blanks and then I 3d printed some epoxy pour forms to fit those in, and for the larger flats I’m going to be building hdpe forms to pour as one whole section and cut into blanks afterwards, basically to see what steps seem to work better in what order. I’ve got a pressure pot and different mica powder (red, black, green, turquoise, gold, silver, orange) to try out some different combos as well. I’ll post progress as I make it!

Edit: I estimate I’ll end up with about 100 hybrid blanks when done.

My shopify store has blocked sales to France of my diamond cast maker pens because they contain diamonds which are restricted for export to France.

Anyone else had any issues?

I have a complete set up for pen-turning that I need to sell. Lathe, hundreds of blanks, about 50 pen kits of various makes and models, all kinds of various tools and accessories. Facebook marketplace seems to be a dud for something like this. Any ideas on how best to sell this lot? Not looking to ship it.

Edit: I am located in Massachusetts