Hi, all.  I'm a Marine, having served from '94 to '02.  I used the MWR woodshop when I was active (at Ft. Meade).  I enjoy flat work, but don't have the time to really build things, nor much space for it (ww'ing has to share space in the garage with my other hobby, motorcycles).  I took a lathe safety class years ago and was hooked.  Now 99% of my ww'ing is lathe work.

 

...and since pen turning can get so expensive:  kits, wood, tooling, etc., I've started selling my stuff.  I don't sell a lot, but enough to feed the habit.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the work the rest of you guys do!  Thanks to Arlin Eastman for pointing me here.

Jason,

Welcome to TPW and glad to have you aboard!

I checked out your site and you have some nice pens. That was also the first time I have seen turned dart sets. they look very cool.

 

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

Thanks, Allen!

 

That's the first and only set of darts I've turned.  It's a cake walk, basically three slimline bodies.  If you ever decide to turn them, and you want them weighted, you'll need a scale and lead wool (both sold by PSI).  Unweighted, each dart was 10g.  There wasn't enough wool in the kit to make them heavier than 18g each, AND the tube wouldn't hold any more wool.  Next time I'll try birdshot or fishing weights as their denser to get heavier; I prefer a 22g dart.

 

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Semper fi
www.swearingen-turnings.com

Jason,

Not planning on making any darts and I am lousy at playing darts. But I think that they are cool. I think that you may have some issues with bird shot as they can move unless they are solidly packed together or melted togethe. But then again, I have never done it so I may be totally wrong. I haven't turned anything for well over a year now as I just got too many other things to get done. I did make quite a few pens and sold a number of them, but our market out here in So. Calif. is really soft and over stocked as there are so many people getting into making things to sell to try get some extra money. One thing that I did make for a friend were a couple of desk pen sets with based and laser etching. He was working at a Christian School as they were starting up, but it never fully got off the ground due to all the legal mumbo-jumbo with the state and federal governments. They were pretty cool and I enjoyed doing them. They were made using a Slimline kit and a closed end mandrel to make the back portion. I did one set out of Cocoblo and the other out of Bethlehem Olive Wood. I had the laser etching done by a guy out in Las Vegas called "Kalashaan Woods" who is very well known for his pen etching. I also made a number of Sierras out of Bethlehem Olive Wood for our Elders at our church as Christmas gifts a few years back. Our church is "Olive Branch Community Church" so it was appropriate.

 

 

 

 

 

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

http://www.awcreationsandwoodcrafts.com

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk' J. Vernon McGee

VERY pretty pens, Allen!  Yeah, I met Ken from Kalashaan Woods from www.penturners.org and have him do engraving when needed.

 

For the bird shot, to prevent it from moving, you pack a little of the wood in one end, fill with the shot, and then pack the other end with more wool to keep it tight.

 

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Semper fi
www.swearingen-turnings.com

I've put pics in my profile of my recent stuff.

Arlin--It's me, smpr_fi_mac from Woodnet.

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Semper fi
www.swearingen-turnings.com

Welcome home and welcome to the site where sawdust flies as fast as the bull---. 

We all share the love of working with wood, sharing ideas and sharing our projects in pictures with everyone.

We all support our veterans and many of us are vets of other, older wars. The lathe is also one of my favorites and I have created many things on my mini. It don't take much money, just glue some wood scraps together and make something.

 

Ron

 

 

Again, great to have ya here Jason, and what a shot in the arm for some folks here, to know that your able to sell your pens is really gonna give a motivational boost to some of our folks here who are struggling with the whole marketing concept of their wares.

Did you ever make it to San Diego during your Marine days??

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Hey Ron, I represent that!!!


Ron Altier said:

Welcome home and welcome to the site where sawdust flies as fast as the bull---. 

 

Ron

 

 

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Thanks, again, folks! 

 

John--

I'm an MCRD Marine, and was stationed at Monterrey, CA for language training a decade ago.  Jeez, has it really been THAT long?

 

For sales, I'll offer any advice I can, but mainly, I would say to join up at www.penturners.org because they have a section that is dedicated to marketing and getting your work out there.  There are folks there that make and sell pens for a living, so they can give so much more and better advice than I can.  I will have to say that sales are slow (only been doing it for three months now), but the money coming in helps buy more tools, kits, and wood/acrylic.  Most of my sales are word of mouth, to friends, family, and colleagues, but I'm working on getting my name out there.

 

ALWAYS CARRY ONE OF YOUR PENS WITH YOU!  Make sure it's a great looking pen; this has led to several sales for me when someone borrows it while standing in line at check out or something similar.

 

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Semper fi
www.swearingen-turnings.com