What happens to finished pens

[Tyke121]

Hi ,Just wondering what everyone does with their finished pens ,Keep ,Sell ,Give away? ,I’m still new to pen making but people seem to want to buy them ,Guess I’m a bit worried about selling and then it breaking on someone ,Uou never know how they get treated when gone to someone else ,Thanks

 

[Penpal]

The age old quandary. Yes they do get broken by rough handling and yes it becomes decision time,to charge or not to,how much. Mates rates etc all your own decisions,often hastened by family and friends.

Peter.

 

[flexi]

I sell 'most' of mine.....problem solved..eh not quite right....yes it's difficult working out how much a pen owes you and what you should charge..... different areas create different price structures.....it can be a mine field

 

[wm460]

Sell some if I am lucky.

Give a few away

Keep the rest hoping some one will buy them one day.

 

[Chriscb]

Morning Ian,

Same as Mark really, I sell most of my pens. Reliability of the mechanism is directly related to the cost - so try to stay away from the cheap Chinese kits. You’ll find good examples on this site of the kits that both sell well and are reliable. Beaufort Ink and TaylorsMirfield’s are a couple of sellers I’d recommend. That said I buy 7mm pen and pencil kits at less than a pound to turn for fairs and such like. These are my £5 pens - sort of an impulse buy when you’re wandering around the stalls.

I have pens out there that are getting onto 9 years old. I know of one fountain pen that is still in regular use - the chap upgraded his nib only a few weeks ago. If your finish is resilient and the mechanism good, then you’ll have no problems with the pens breaking down.

Anticipating you asking “how much to sell for”, answer is dependant on a number of factors. I’m going to give you my take on how I work out the price. I’m retired, have several different activities I’m involved in and don’t need the income that I generate from selling my turnings. I take the sum of the cost of both kit and blank and add 50%. That’s the starting point that means I don’t make a loss on sales. You need to look at your market, who else is selling and at what price.

No doubt you begin to realise that this isn’t an easy question to answer. Many here will give their own take on your question.
Take what you can and go turn some pens!

Regards,
Chriscb

 

[Bill Mooney]

Mine get sold for my charity.

 

[21William]

I saw some pens for sale at a recent fair and the prices seemed very reasonable. The only ones I can recall though were the large clutch pencils at £38 each. Is that cheap?

 

[Chriscb]

Depends on the metal hardware and blank. There are some on Etsy at £65 plus!

 

[Frederick]

Hi

I give most of mine away at the moment to charity and friends etc. but saying that, some people have "forced" me to sell some. When I feel that the pens I make are absolutely flawless and perfect I will start to sell them in earnest.
I have been invited to take part in a charity craft fair in November so I will take some bowls and platters as well as pens and see how I get on. No idea at all what to charge having never done one before.

Cheers
Frederick

 

[Mark James]

Give most away. My brother and other relatives really want to compensate, so I just ask for material cost. They are happy with that, and so am I. They basically are paying for me to play in the shop.

 

[Pierre]

I started off my penmaking as a business and sold all of them (apart from a few presents) and I still sell them, but as has been mentioned above, once you do that then you have to give a guarantee, so you have to buy quality mechanisms. I give a one year guarantee but it is limited ie I wont replace it if someone has put it in the washing machine (dont laugh I've done it 3 times now!!) nor if the pen is put on a radiator or on a window sill in full sunlight (the latter causes the wood to split). I start at 20€ for a 7mm and I go to 120€ for a fountain pen depending on who makes the nib. The more expensive pens get the more expensive burrs and exotic wood and some of the 7mm can be more expensive if I have had to use an expensive acrylic blank. The reality is that my guarantee tends to be lifetime because I dont like to see my pens break so any repair gets done at the cost of the mechanism.

PG

 

[Les ELm]

SELL, SELL and SELL more.

Les