Best Pen Suppliers

[Gregg Feldstone]

What's the cheapest place to buy quality pen kits? Also with good variety?

[Brian Poor]

I'm not sure that cheap goes hand in hand with quality, but it will be hard to beat either Craft Supplies or Woodcraft for variety of supplies. They are both long term suppliers to the industry.

[Nancy Laird]

Berea also has great prices and quality on pen kits - and they supply Craft Supplies and other retailers.

[David Wilhelm]

Gregg you need to give us more info. What style pens, what are your plans for your pens market price ect. How many are you buying at one time.... all these things come into play. Woodcraft has a pretty good selection but in no way the widest selection. Just looking at the numbers of choices they have in slim style pens I'd say you could multiply that by 20 or more with all the total choices i've seen. most of the time. 24 plain gold slim will be your cheapest kit 1.60 to 180 or so 100 -200 order. Different finishes go up from there and well as styles of pens. Try Penn State, Hutt, of just google the type of pen kit you want to buy and see what comes up. I buy from hutt and woodcraft in large numbers and when wood craft has a 20% off sale. One thing to keep in mind. Woodcraft has a titanium black kit. looks really sharp, but if you use the kit and build a 20-25.00 pen with it....... the kit sets you back almost $10.00. I'm scolded often by a fellow turner for useing a more expencive kit in my pens but i like the look and they sell at my price. However the cheaper kits I use work just as well and use the same refill and sale just as good.

[Greg Ketell]

The leaders in the industry
Craft Supplies
Arizona Silhouette

Cheaper prices but not quite as much variety
WoodNWhimsies
WoodTurningz

[Robert Torkomian]

Here is a good site with lots of variety... link to pen turning forum removed

[Bernie Weishapl]

I like dealing with Ernie at Beartooth Woods. Lots of variety. Great to work with.

[Greg Just]

A basic supplier with good customer service is:

http://woodnwhimsies.com/

[Rich Souchek]

Greg,
The cheapest pens sure aren't the best, but then for practicing and give-a-wasy, why not?
That said, it is still much nicer to have quality pen parts that fit consitently and whose plating doesn't wear off very fast. What I found is when I made a sweet pen, it really got me mad at myself if it was on a cheap pen. And on Europeans, got some cheap ones to shart, and then some better ones. Guess what? The parts are not interchangable and I got them all mixed up in the storage box. Sure wish I had stayed with one vender on those. Cigars are the same way. Thought some real cheap cigar pens were good, till I ordered some real good ones. The difference to the builder is a lot.
Now, I try to order most of my pens from Arizonia Siloutte or Craft Supply.
there are several other good suppliers, but I have found it good to stay with one or two suppliers.
Rich S.

[Gregg Feldstone]

Thanks for the info...some of the suppliers I did not know about. What do the numbers David mentioned in his post refer to....."1.6-200 pen or 20-25 pen? I thought he's refering to quantity but I'm not sure. I am new to pen turning.

[Greg Ketell]

Yes, pricing at quantity. $1.60 or $1.80 at 100 or 200 quantity. Etc.

$20-$25 selling price pen, etc.

Basically, be sure you know your sales price and buy the kits/blanks that let you hit that price. Or, use the kit/blank that you feel makes the best pen and then price it to make a profit. ((Long threads on various pricing calculations over at International Association of Penturners.))