How many Sierra type pens can you make in a hour?

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OldWrangler said:
I like the Sierras as they are easy to assemble and just the one piece of wood to turn. My timing would be as follows......

Turning on the lights in shop.....2 min
Turning on the 3 fans...............2 min
Finding a piece of wood to turn......2 min
Unloading the bandsaw table to get to the blade .....5 min.
Finding the cutting sled.....2 min
Cutting the blank to size......2 min
Getting a slight knick from bandsaw .....1 min
Going to house for a bandaid.....4 min
Cleaning off the drill press......2 min
Looking up the right drill bit size......3 min
Finding the right drill bit............2-5 min
Drilling the blank..........2 min
Looking for the right size brass tube.....2 min
Roughing up brass tube.....2 min
Finding the right CA to glue tube......2 min
Glueing the tube in the blank......1 min
Getting fingers unstuck from blank......2 min
Time for glue to set.............4-5 min
Looking up what bushings to use........2 min
Finding the bushings........5 min
Setting up blank on mandrel......2 min
Cleaning sawdust off of lathe .......3 min
Setting up to turn.....1 min
Turning blank.......2 min
Sharpen the gouge......2 min
Turning some more......3 min
Sharpen skew.......2 min
Turning to size.......2 min
Sanding blank.........10 min
Finishing blank with CA/BLO......10 min
Getting CA off fingers.......3 min
Cleaning off work bench for assembly.......3 min
Finding arbor press............2 min
Assembly of pen........5 min
Disassembly of pen......5 min
Correct assembly of pen....5 min
Quick buffing on wax wheel.........2 min

Hell, it looks like I can whip one out in about 130 minutes if everything goes as normal. That's a couple a day if I don't get caught by the TV or make too elaborate a lunch. And a couple of beers will make things look like they are going faster.
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Hey, you left out the coffee breaks to get the glue off the fingers, and the coffee breaks to let the glue set up on the blanks, and the coffee breaks just cause you want one - not to mention the pit stops in between. :biggrin:
 
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My list looks more like walk to shop
forget that I left kits on kitchen table.. return to house to get kits.
return to shop just in time to realize I need to go to the bath room... return to house.
Return to shop search for kits I laid down in a hurry, this can take anywhere from moments to 10 minutes. in the case of ten minutes return to house to find kits on back of toilet.
return to shop. well you get the idea. other than that we must be using the same shop. of course I am really good at moving everything from the table saw to the drill press just to insure I have to move it again. from the drill press to the lathe etc. etc.
 
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maxwell_smart007 said:
Four days....drill the hole...go fishing
glue the tube...go fishing
turn the tube....go fishing...
assemble...Apologize to SWMBO and leave the fishing rod and lathe alone for a while! :)
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Well I be dern! Great minds think alike!



As far as how-many-per-hour, I cannot say. I tell my customers that a pen takes 1-3 hours to make, but in reality it's more complex than "man hours".

As mentioned by some above, I do pens in batches unless they are a commissioned work. I drill 10-20.....go fishing:biggrin:...... trim the tubes and turn......go fishing:biggrin:.........spray them all with conversion varnish......go fishing:biggrin:........assemble (if they don't need a gloss buffing), go fishing:biggrin:..... take my wife on a much needed date night (she won't go fishing with me:frown:)....... Renwax them all, make price tags and info sheets...... then buy more kits.......
 
Randy_ said:
I've got one pen I have been working on for a year and a half and it is still only half done!!:biggrin:
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LOL, it took me a year to complete my stars and stripes pen. Also took a year to do an Afzilia X lay pen. Both are astounding to look at though. I now have a few others going on two years, but I have taken a year break.:)
 
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