Best place to buy pen blanks?????

I see them on ebay all the time, often without any bids but of course it's always a hit-and-miss thing finding what you want.

Ken Grunke

You also might want to join the Yahoo Group penturners as they have lots of resources listed. I've gotten a lot of good info there.

Joe

I bought a box of 60+ assorted blanks off eBay for $20. Here is the link for that auction.

I live near Atlanta Wood Products which carries many varieties of exotic woods. I have gotten a bandsaw recently and plan on making my own blanks as it is much cheaper than buying blanks from woodworking stores which usually charge $1 per blank for the low end species.

If you can possibly avoid it, do NOT buy pen blanks. Providing you can find 4/4 stock in the wood that you want pens out of, or pretty much any other form, you will save a tremendous amount of money if you have the capacity to saw your own. Pen blanks have to be one of the most overpriced consumables in all of woodturning. There are many outlets online (including eBay) that sell exotic and domestic hardwoods in various cuts, many of them as lumber or various dimensions of turning squares or blanks. Even a tiny band saw or a homeowner's tablesaw would be sufficient for sawing out pen blanks.

I am particularly fond of the guys at

Shop around for pen kits. My suggestion would be to buy a few from several different companies, and compare until you find a company that has kits you really like, because I have found that quality varies quite a bit, and in the case of pen kits you _do_ get what you pay for...ie. "cheap" kits usually means "cheap" kits.

caveat emptor

Try

Paul

Bill, I find a great source for FREE pen blanks at my local custom door makers' shop. They usually have tons of scrap maple, walnut, cherry and mahogony in thier dumpsters! It's unbelievable what they throw out! I know my dad also frequents a local furniture shop where he lives and they give him all the maple he can carry! TimQ

What kind of blanks? Solid wood? Stabilized?

I prefer to buy big sticks of wood and rip them to be blanks - I like curly maple, so I buy a 6" wide 6' song (or so) piece, and rip it on the tablesaw to the correct width. I DON'T cut it down in length, but just cut off how much I need, so I get more blanks out of the wood I use.

We could also answer the question easier knowing -

Where you live (area wise) Your relative skill level Whether or not you have a table saw or band saw

I like these folks a lot:

Also try penturners.org , there's apile of references there.

But, if you are doing just wood pens, I strongly encourage you to make your own blanks. I get curly maple (my favorite) for 7.75 a board foot, and can make at least 16 pens (allowing for saw kerfs and screw-ups) out of a board foot, less than 50 cents a pen! Even expensive woods such as koa, ebony, cocobolo, or tulipwood become much more reasonable when you source the wood yourself.

Mark

And, if you want to turn corian, a countertop shop can help you with that.

Mark

I cut pen blanks for a second income. Starting from a rough-sawn (or even 'bark on') piece and taking it down to smoothed 3/4 x 3/4 x 6" in a dried state is certainly worth at least a buck a piece even for pine. For more desirable species, it is entirely reasonable to pay $1.50 and up per stick.

I pitch about 5-10% of my pieces as being unfit for use and retain another

So I am assuming all the risk. I lug the wood, I breathe the dust, I use the saw, I place the ads (and have to pay whether I sell or not), I closely inspect the finished product and then I absorb the scrap and 'seconds'.

If you cut your own blanks, you get to do all of the above.

Search "goncalo alves pen blanks" on eBay today ... there are five

Bill