Quiet..sheesh rush order !!!

[Sonny Edmonds]

Limey,
Well that's what you were doing when you should have been napping!
Is that the pink Ivory you mentioned elsewhere?
Jolly Good show!
Now a bit of a personal question and you don't have to answer, but, how much do you get for these?
Greedy minds want to know. :)

:D

Sonny Edmonds
"Precision Firewood Specialist"
http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/
God Bless America !

[Limey]

Yep that's a sample of the Pink Ivory that costs about two arms and three legs per inch.
Word of caution, try to buy it in the flesh so to speak (it's pink ..get it..oh never mind ). Colour can be vivid down to insipid. It's also a very dense wood so expect some shakes in it. Do you call them shakes or checks or splits. Anyway those little defects that really get in the way of any thing that you want to make.
However it can be for sale with grand canyon size slits both with and across the grain(not a mistake across the grain). I did ask in one store I happened to come across on a trip to Baltimore if he was really expecting to sell this particular specimen which didn't have a square inch of useable grain on a full price square($35 from memory). He just looked at me and said almost sneeringly that if I new anything about Pink Ivory then I 'd also know that this level of defect was considered normal.
If you can't see it make yourself a known customer at a specialist site and get to trust them that way.

For all you rich enough to buy and try, two things to bear in mind. When drilling it has this tendency to explode without warning.
Experts will disagree probably. but being dense I believe it cannot react to expansion and contraction rapidly or readily.
I try to avoid any heat build up (rapid expansion esp.on thin walls) by stopping and letting the blank cool, I don't care if it takes me ten minutes to drill a blank so long as I don't get pink firewood.
Secondly when polishing I tend to use friction polish and this requires it get get a little warm to work well.
I have had a couple of pens that have developed splits in the finishing process. So again I'm careful to not let it get too hot during the polishing stage.
Good news is that it turns very nicely ..with sharp tools... and I've developed a soon to be patented system that allows me to get a 7mm tube pen out of...(I measured this one today....) 11.1 mm square blank.
So Limey the cheapskate can extract maximum pens from minimum wood.. It pays to be cheap makes you think all the time.!!!

Sonny I'm going to be evasive on price as it depends on What wood, what style, but mainly whether I know the recipient and how much I like them.
If you look on the web ...the Professionals..read poseur artistes are charging anything up to $50-60 for good quality kits in nice exotics and burls, down to weekend warrior types who charge 20-30 bucks and where the quality may or may not be there , its hard to tell on some of the sites.
Some cheat and even use catalogue pics.!!!

IF I were selling at "Juried" Craft(ART) fair in CT. I have it on good authority that provided the quality is right and the presentation is "Haute Couture" $180 -200 is not out of the question.
I might just have the balls to crash this market !! But have heard that it's going to cost to get the intro.... always the same the world over.

I'll stop rambling now ,time to do my rounds and see how many little buggers I can catch asleep.

Cheers Limey

[volleyheads]

Limey,

Nice pens! Though it does look like two of them need to have sharper points ;)

Best Regards,

Bill

"If it is worth doing, it's worth overdoing"

[Limey]

Two of them were originally made with tortoise shell so they're a bit shy Thought I'd got 'em trained then they saw Sonny looking at them and they haven't ventured out since!! +)

Limeballs

[volleyheads]

Probably a safe idea for them. ;)

Best Regards,

Bill

"If it is worth doing, it's worth overdoing"

[Sonny Edmonds]

...I think I've been picked on.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have been.

Oh well, not the first thing I've scared.

But then ballpoints do one have only one ball to start with anyway. And at that, it's pretty small. :)
Speaking of little points, I'll be sure mines showing in subsequent pictures, OK?
I don't see any pink ivory in my immediate future. Not sure I could unload a rooster dink pink pen all that easily with the crowd I run with. :)
But I do appreciate your advise about its pecuilarities, Limey. Sounds pretty iffy to work with.
Spell that "a PITA" to work with.
I ain't gonna give an arm and two legs for something to snort up the vacuum cleaners hose.
Not that I'm cheap, but I'm not willing to hop around on one hand either.
Rooster Dink Pink, nope, don't think it would fly here. If it did, I'm not sure I could continue to associate with someone who had it.
I do have some morals, afterall. :) LOL!

:D

Sonny Edmonds
"Precision Firewood Specialist"
http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/
God Bless America !

[paula]

pbbbbbt!!!!

Oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry, back to reading...

[Limey]

Eee by gum, een't love grand !!

Sonny is so precious, Betty fills his world so completely that he has forgotten that 50% of the rest of the population are soft and cuddly.

Hey Sunbeam I don't turn Pink Ivory for my male pals but the wives sure do go swoony when their hubby gives them a pretty pink pen!!!.

And I CAN assure you that I haven't gone limp wristed after turning it..
Your a trip....one way excursion...but a trip all the same.


Cheers Limeykins.

[Sonny Edmonds]

... (in a Swedish drawl).
ROYFLMAO! :7

Limey,
No way would I ever think you to be limp wristed Brother. I am sure you have clients calling for those exotic and EXPENSIVE pink pens.
They do look very feminine.
As for me I ran off about 6 or 7 pens today. I considered ordering something along the lines of the slim ones, but backed out because I wasn't sure of the bushings for them.
So I'm going to start a fresh thread about variations. Hang on to your socks.

:D

Sonny Edmonds
"Precision Firewood Specialist"
http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/
God Bless America !

[Limey]

Got a rush order this morning for a few pens..busted my butt and if you'll forgive the brevity this is the sum total of this afternoon and evenings efforts.
Enjoy

Cheers Limey