Gav,
Two things seem to get debated at length on penturning forums, the use of imperial/metric drills and what should pens be sold for.
Its quite simple, if you ask me. It's what people will pay for them, nothing to do with what they are worth, nor the price of the components, the length of time it took to make them or the price of the blank, the latter is a small percentage of the price. A good blank makes it easier to sell amongst the others than may inhabit your stand, it wont normally get you a better price. I have frequently had over 200 hundred different woods on my stand and am greeted by someone asking me if I've got any in oak! To put that in perspective, I am often asked "You sell pens?" to which my rather deceptive response is, "No, I sell stories!" Its a genuine response as I explain that nobodu rushes home and tells everyone what pen they have bought Aunt Sylivia for Christmas, but if Aunt Sylvia was a nurse and you had a pen in Lignum Vitae, which as the wood of life has medical connections, or if somone of distinct Caribean connections bought a pen, I could sell them one again from Lignum as the national flower of Trinidad and Tobago grows on the tree. Of course if Aunt Sylvia was an undertaker, then it would have to be made of Elm, the traditional wood of coffins as they were resilient for some time to rot and helped, it was thought to preserve the body before the soul departed. And you heard the one about someone beng six feet under? OK it means that they are dead but it is actually a reflection on their wealth as gravediggers were paid by the foot, and if they werent rich they ended up in a paupers grave which was a cloth sack and two feet down. Now paupers graves were often near Yew trees, planted there not so much because of the myth about keeping evil souls away from the graveyard or the slightly more practical reason of keeping cattle out of the graveyard, but the real purpose was that the smell of yew is repugnant to foxes and rats and it stopped them digging up the grave and having a take away!
By the time you have added value to the pen its worth more than the £7/8/10 quid you see some slimlines being sold for. Gary Rance told me a very valuable tale. Put a pen in a box and it becomes a gift. My own addition to that is that a gift is worth, generally, more than a pen, particulalry if it has been thought about and the wood chosen to match the recipient.
Main law of business, doing business with friends and family is bad news, it always comes back to bite you on the arse. I get round this by giving friends and relatives a price list and telling them that they get 12.5% off, takes the awkwardness out of negotiating.
£15 for a streamline and £18 for a streamline stylus is what I charge, nice to get more but it is a fine balance in that I need to generate volume sales, its great making pens but if they sit on the shelf it doesnt fund your table fee!
