Blank Maker

[tom d]

Hi, I'm a tree surgeon who recently got into knife making and started sawing up some of the interesting bits of wood that we have in the yard. I started shopping on line for bits and bobs and discovered there's a whole world of blanks from all kinds of wood not just for knives but for pens and other things. I have way more wood than I will ever use for my own projects so I have decided to try and find a retailer for some blanks. The issue is I don't understand the market at all. Some places are selling a knife blank / scale for up to £60 whereas others may be selling bits for £3. I realise that dying and stabilising adds value but even then the differences seem huge. I don't want to sell off all my burry elm for rock bottom rates, but I also don't want to make it so expensive that I cant sell any. I just don't have the time to run an on line or eBay shop so I'll need to sell through someone who does. This means I'll be selling at half retail price or thereabouts but I don't mind that if I can sell a decent quantity. So I'd just like to ask what are you guys wanting from a blank? stabilised? dyed? dried?

Thanks for your time!

Tom

 

[tom d]

A couple of pictures

 

[Pàvel131]

Hi there Tom. I take it you are in the UK. If you are on Facebook. Here is a list of woodturning and pen making groups. For my sins, I concentrate on pen turning, but do the odd project such as bowls and goblets. I hasten to add that I have my own supplier for blanks, who is very competitive and reliable. Here is the FB list. Woodturning UK and Ireland public group | Facebook. UK Pen Turners & Blank Makers Community public group | Facebook. Woodturning UK public group | Facebook Log in to Facebook | Facebook Pen Turning UK public group | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/220613315117/?ref=group_header
Just click on the links provided. Am sure you will get some good advice and help. All are excellent woodturning groups.

 

[Phil Dart]

He's already had good advice - just not publicly. Tom is trying to get a branch (no pun intended) of his business off the ground and that sort of detailed advice is not necessarily the sort of thing that is appropriate to discuss in public. Just because there are no visible replies here does not mean that he's been ignored.

 

[Penpal]

REfreshing approaches are always welcome IMHO at any time or way. Welcome Tom and Paul.

Peter.

 

[flexi]

Whilst I am a member on a few Facebook groups, I have to say the best advice and knowledge has always come from on here, again from fellow"turner's" not "arm chair" critics' as I constantly find elsewhere.....I think in recent months it was on here that CA met it's death in favour of Melamine not on FB..... Historical wood has been used by members on here for years, long before the band wagon rolled across FB.
It is members contributing that makes a forum on what ever platform that may be, but I do like to know that it's solid/grounded advice I am taking onboard.....
Just my two peneth!!
And I am now green too..... legend!!

 

[flexi]

By the way if that's the level of blanks you can supply....hope you get sorted soon
That's nice wood!!

 

[tom d]

Thanks for the replies. Yes there's plenty more wood like that, unfortunately the elm is getting rarer and rarer, even up here in Scotland. I still have a decent stock of it and of course a little goes a long way when it comes to pen blanks, but once it's gone its gone!

I have a pretty huge chunk of yew that looks really promising, which I'll be cutting up soon, in addition to the stuff I already have. Having had a few conversations with pen turners and knife makers I think i'll stick to doing the best grade most interesting wood I can find and leaving the high volume less interesting wood to other suppliers. I cut up some laburnum yesterday, just a tiny bit I rescued out of the log pile, it looks pretty nice, so I might do a run of that if I can find some more.

I will keep looking out for other interesting things to mill up, and on that note any requests? I have around 200 tons of timber in the yard of a whole range of species, is there anything that you guys are looking for in particular?

 

[alan morrison]

Anything with an interesting grain, eg your top picture, tight grained timbers, burls are of interest

 

[wm460]

A couple of picturesView attachment 40542
View attachment 40541View attachment 40541

 

[tom d]

So what's your tolerances for blanks?

Heres some burr elm I cut recently, i dried it for 25 hours at 50C and I have had some movement. This is almost inevitable in burr as the grain is so uneven. There are ways around it however, I could dry larger pieces rather than individual blanks then saw them to final size afterwards. I could also dry them more slowly, but even then I still think the burry stuff will move around a bit. What I want to know is since most pens seem to be in two pieces and so you will cut the blank in half anyway? does a small amount of movement matter? or do they need to be perfectly straight?

 

[flexi]

Personally I would be more than happy with those....if you can get a drill through it leaving enough meat around the hole either end then I am happy. Yes you are right "most " people will cut then in half, but there are some nice pens out there that use a longer blank, but those still look well inside those tolerances.
At the end of the day, if you show someone what's available as you have done here...it's their choice if it fits what they want it for....but it's a real good start

 

[alan morrison]

They look good enough to suit any pen kit.
It would help to put a ruler in the photograph for size comparison.

 

[tom d]

The darker ones were cut at 23mm square by 150mm long, the lighter ones are 20mm square. I will be cutting most blanks at 130mm as this is a good length for a knife scale too, that way I can saw the blocks into either. I’m setting up a dehumidification kiln which should be a lot more gentle than the oven, although it will be a bit slower. 130mm should still be long enough right?

 

[Paul hd]

130mm is great. I like the blanks at 25mm as that gives a good error margin. 23mm is also good.
I like the way Buga does business. Shows a heap of good wood cut up and you buy it if you like the look of it. Good prices too.

Your Yew pieces look great.

 

[Chriscb]

So.... when are they going on sale then? Your burr looks really good. What else do you have in your log pile?

Drying slowly makes sense, I tend to dry mine over several weeks. But speed isn't an issue for me.

Regards,
Chriscb

 

[tom d]

I’m hopefully going to sell through a retailer as I don’t really have the time to sell small quantities on line. Once. I have perfected the drying process and got a decent amount together i’ll get them selling. In the mean time I may sell a few on eBay just to get some feedback.

I’ve got some birch burr, some cherry burr and some other bits and bobs like laburnum, I have a massive lump of pippy yew that must contain 10000 pens, but it’s a bugger to saw up it’s an Irish yew and it has bits or stone and metal included between the stems.

I’m hoping to do some coloured and stabilised stuff too.

 

[flexi]

Glad to hear your sorted, I look forward to seeing some of this for sale.

 

[Chriscb]

You could always offer some blanks on here - you’ll get expert feed back and generate a good customer base for the future. :wink:

Rumours of me having an ulterior motive are entirely unfounded.:wink:

Just a thought.

Chriscb

 

[tom d]

What are the rules on selling on here?