• voracitude@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    4 months ago

    For a specialty item like this, you’re not looking to sell it to the average person who wants a practical pen (like most of us are). They’ll go buy a Parker with a plastic body. You’re upcharging for the uniqueness; you could get hundreds of pounds if you write a good little story about the wood you used, and the tree it came from, and find the right buyer. I’m sure there are established pen stores you can contact to see if they’d be interested in selling such a piece for you. You’d get less, naturally, but your products would be getting in front of the right eyeballs to be sold.

    Or, keep it, and have a truly unique pen as a status symbol 😊

    • vext01@lemmy.sdf.orgMEnglish
      12·
      4 months ago

      If you image search “wooden fountain pen” you see lots of similar pens the same shape and with that same section, so my guess is that it’s a kit.

      I see you turn the wood yourself. It’s very nicely done, I must say!

      Maybe etsy would guide your pricing?

      https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/907603725

      • original2@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        82·
        4 months ago

        Thanks, the problem is very few people have made pens with this wood on those sites.

        I used purpleheart, which is probably 4-6x more expensive than any of those in the etsy shop (I primarily make furniture, and a log of olive is even 10x cheaper than purpleheart of similar size). It is also somewhat harder to turn due to it’s density.

        edit: there are some purpleheart pens but nobody really knows how to finish it properly. A furniture guy from the uni of Edinburgh once told me that you should use turpentine and a fat coat of linseed oil.

        • ericjmorey@lemmy.worldMEnglish
          2·
          4 months ago

          nobody really knows how to finish it properly

          Including yourself? Are you saying this is an open question in the woodworking field? It’s an opinionated and debated question?

          Or are you saying that “others” don’t know what you’ve discovered through trial and error, so you get superior results?

          I don’t know anything about finishing wood beyond tung oil for cutting boards and using Thompson’s Water Seal for water and UV protection for decks.

          • original2@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
            2·
            4 months ago

            Well its response to finishing varies hugely on a sample to sample basis, due to prior heat exposure, moisture, age and other things hard to verify (more than other words) so it’s a matter of getting lucky