Anybody else ever get the turning yippes?

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PenMan1

PenMan1

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Jul 8, 2009
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Eatonton, Georgia
My wife makes jewelry and about 3 weeks ago she started taking her stuff to a local weekly "handmade only" market. Since she was paying the booth fees and I didn't have to invest anything, I sent a few high end pens and all the wooden slimlines that I had not sold over the years.

She sold everything on the first day and came home with a list of customers who wanted small wooden pens. So off to the shop I go to make $20 pens (yippee--NOT!).

Now, I can't seem to turn a slimline pen with a CA finish to save my life. I must have made thousands of them over the years, but now I can't seem to get one right in less than two hours, AND IT IS NEVER THE SAME PROBLEM TWICE!

I usually turn between centers, using my own design and triple checking each joint with calipers. Now, I have reverted back to a mandrel, new bushings, and only deviating slightly from a "basic" pen.

Either the bottom barrel does mate exactly with the top barrel, or after the CA is applied it is thicker than the centerband, or worse, I'll get one sized exactly right and then stick the paper towel in the CA resulting in re-sanding and undersizing the pen.

This week, I have made 2 majestics from malachite, 2 Cambridge Ultras with casein in LESS time than it took to make 4 perfect slimlines. Dang, THIS IS AGGRIVATING. I call it the turning YIPPES.
 
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Heh, heh, heh, interesting story. I hope you solve your dilemma before the market on slim-lines crashes.
 
Jgrden said:
Heh, heh, heh, interesting story. I hope you solve your dilemma before the market on slim-lines crashes.
Click to expand...

You mean, crashes AGAIN!

I think this is a marketing fluke or some other kind of anomoly. After all, the ones that sold quickly last week, had been in inventory for over a year!

Normally, I keep slims "under the table" at juried shows in case somebody asks for one, but usually I don't sell very many. My cigar pen sales are way off too, But rollerballs and europeans are way, way up!
 
I got the "yippees" one time m aking a pen set for my dentist. He wanted real ivory. I made them but the tension was unbelievable! $175 for 3 blanks. Didn't use the last one. Made a pen for someone else.
 
I also think a slim is one of the harder pens to make. JG's and such are super easy for me, but a slim is a challenge. The nib mating area is tiny, so the material left is paper thin. and i think the bushings for larger kits are machined with tighter tolerances than the brass tube directly on the mandrel.
 
I'd love my wife to have that problem. :biggrin:

She keeps selling the Diva style pens. I'm not complaining, but I'd love her to bring home an order for 20 or so Slims.
 
I have never understood why some people sell the slims at a low price. To me, they are more difficult to make than almost any other pen. The materials are fully exposed in the center and very small tolerances in fit.

I smell what you're cookin', Andy, I feel your pain.:)
 
I just finished 150 of the slimlines. I don't really have an issue with fit and finish but do find that making the larger pens are much easier and enjoy making them far more. I can turn and finish a slim in about 10 min but am now SICK of making them now.
 
While I use quite a few slimline kits I don't make slimline pens any more . I modify all the slimline pens I make now . I can get a higher price for them and they are allot easier to make , and they look much better then a stock slimline pen .
 
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