Pen kits

[David Starks]

For those pen turners in here, where do you order your kits?

I recently purchased a quantity of kits from a company (whom im not going to name to avoid slander/libel) and when I turned a cigar pen tonite, the ink cartridge doesnt retract. also, Id ordered some slimline pencils from the same people and some of the cartridges are bent and wont fit into the barrels and work properly. they also shorted me 2 pieces of a 3-peice bushing set. To say im displeased is quite an understatement.

I am going to call them tomorrow and see what they'll do for me to make things right, but in the mean time, Im going to start looking for another place to shop.

[Montgomery Scott]

I only order from craft supply and berea hardwoods. I won't order from penn state any more. Having said that my last few orders were done through the group buy on penturners.org and they only ordered through craft supply.

[Robert McGowen]

I have always had excellent service from Arizona Silhouette. I have probably placed 7 or 8 orders over the years, so the service has been consistent. If you google it, the site will come right up. No affiliation with the company.

And it is only libel or slander if it is not true..........

[Mike Newell]

I just ordered some slimlines and mesa pen kits from http://www.woodturningz.com/Pen_Kits.aspx and they are very nice. They look good and fit together great. I also order from Craft Supply and have never been disappointed in any of there products. Both companies ship fast.

Mike

[Marty Eargle]

Craft Supply is my go to for just about everything except for pens. Woodturningz.com is where I get my kits...I fight their prices to be really good and it never takes more than a few days to get an order.

[David Starks]

Ok, woodturningz is where i got my stuff. the mesa's i ordered seem to be fine. my slimline pens i bought off ebay but appear to be pennstateind stuff but i dont know for sure. the pencils are bent and the cigars dont work. Looks like im gonna hafta look into craft supply.

[Marty Eargle]

I order my Slimline kits from woodturningz, which are the exact kits (fancy Slimline) from PSI as far as I've seen. I've ordered dozens and have never received one from WT that was flawed and it doesn't take 1+ week shipping that PSI can.

[Barry Elder]

The vendors at the IAP are about the best of the litter.

[Roger Chandler]

I recently got 40 pen kits from woodturningz..........while I like the kits........the clip especially, I have had several of the refills that don't write smoothly............a lot of skipping and I have had to change out 3 or 4 out of a half dozen I have made in the last couple of weeks and given to folks as gifts.

The price was right, and they look good, just the refill with the kit is crappy!

[Richard Allen]

My understanding is that there are two makers of pen kits. The sizes of the components are not necessarily the same between the manufactures. This is to say that you should pick one supplier of your pen kits and stick with that supplier. Sometimes the bushings from one supplier will not work on the kits from anther manufacture. This same incompatibility can often be found between bushings and mandrils of different manufactures.

Look at the pen kits available from different suppliers and know that you should limit yourself to the kits from that vendor.

[Jim Burr]

Although Daycom is the primary maker of pen kits, several companies make/design their own. I have ordered from CSUSA and Berea for years and have yet to have a problem.

[James Combs]

I have ordered from most all of the vendors mentioned here except Woodturningz.com but have general settled on Bear Tooth Woods(not mentioned) I find that their prices tend to be the best. As Richard noted there are only couple dominate manufactures of pen kits. You can generally categorize the two as being one from mainland China and the other from Taiwan with the one from Taiwan as being the better of the two.

The following is from a recent post on the same subject In this forum.

Woodcraft's kits come from Berea Hardwoods - In Ohio. They partner with a Taiwanese firm for production. They sell pens directly and through a large # of online dealers in my experience. I've delt directly with them and also purchased their kits through Woodcraft. They are great, and helpful, to deal with.

I added the following to Jeffs comments.
To add to what Jeff has said. Berea Hardwoods Kit Vendors (To the best of my knowledge all of the following sell versions of Berea Hardwoods Kits. Some of the kits are customized just for that vendor but it is still imported from Taiwan by Berea. Berea(and the other sites make a point of noting that their pen kits do not come from mainland China.) There are probably others. My favorite is Bear Tooth Woods.


Berea Hardwoods http://www.bereahardwoods.com/
Bear Tooth Woods http://www.beartoothwoods.com/catalog/index.php
Arizona Silhouette http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/Gem...Pen_Blanks.htm

Woodcraft http://www.woodcraft.com/Category/1001056/Pen-Kits.aspx
Rockler http://www.rockler.com/search_result...=38&Search.y=8

I am not positive but I believe that PSI imports from mainland China. In the past they have been perceived as a lesser quality supplier of kits but I think they have been improving on their quality over the last year or so. Some of their high end pen kits are really nice although they still have their "value" line of pens.

There are other suppliers of PSI kits similar to the Berea Hardwoods scenario. I believe the following supply PSI Kits and parts.

Just Added Wood Turningz http://www.woodturningz.com/Pen_Kits.aspx
Wood n Whimsies http://www.woodnwhimsies.com/pparts.html
Pen Making Supplies http://www.penmakingsupplies.com/?gc...FaM45QodS23upA
The Wooden Post http://www.woodenpost.com/breakingnews.htm (not positive about this one being PSI)

Other Pen Kit/Parts suppliers
The Golden Nib http://www.thegoldennib.com/index.php
TGN is a high end kit/parts supplier. Most of their pen kits are "Dayacom" kits. Dayacom is a high quality Taiwanese kit supplier (maybe the one that supplies Berea Hardwoods, don't know for sure.) Generally speaking if you know it is a Dayacom part/kit you can count on it being of high quality.

[John Terefenko]

I won't go into what kits are better but will throw another name out there that has kits made specific for him. They are based on some of Dayacom's high priced kits but for alot less money because he elliminates the middleman which drives the cost of these kits up. http://www.timberbits.com/

[Keith E Byrd]

I have purchased from all the suppliers mentioned. I found PSI to be worst in terms of response/timeliness. Only had one order that had any problems and still trying to get that straightened out.
I have found Bear Tooth Woods, Craft Supply, Berea Hardwoods, Arizona Sil, and others to be very good. I have probably gotten more from BTW and CS and am very happy with them.

[Donny Lawson]

I buy 95% of my kits from Craft Supply and the other 5% from others including PSI. I've turned alot of pens and have had only one bad kit from Craft Supply but they replaced the parts plus threw in a few extra for my trouble. Excellent service. PSI is another story and I will not go start with them.