Thread: my kit stocks

Strewth Micheal I know you said you had a couple of kits but that will keep you busy for a while.
Cheers Skewturn

I did a tally of mine a couple of weeks ago. With pen kits and blanks its well over the $1k mark. I have kept receipts for any item purchased - kits, blanks, glues, polishes, lathes,etc and I am a bit frightened abut the outlay as compared to the 0 income.

One of our problems is we have to buy mostly by post,that being the case we usually get more than we need to help share the postage costs ,especially from the USA ,I for one find I can make pens quicker than I can sell them hehe,so stocks of finished and unfinished tend to build up I shudder to think if I looked in all my kit drawers just how many I would have ,not counting special blanks like laser cut ,shells snakeskin and the like . Best I remain ignorant of any grand total of stock costs Cheers ~ John

Hey Michael,

I have to do a stock take next week, for the accountant, like John I shudder to think what the numbers will show.


HazzaB

Once you start getting away from Slimline / Streamline & Jr Gentleman kits, and begin stocking kits such as Roman Harvests, Majestics and other higher end kits, you find you've spent well in excess of $1k in kit stock at hand alone, not to mention blanks and other materials. At some stage you have to say to yourself, is this hobby JUST a hobby, or do I want to make a little business out of it, as you have ended up with several hundred beautiful pens just stashed away in the cupboard. Then setting up even a micro business will set you back at least $500 with ASIC business name rego, Web site build & name, email set up, business cards, dedicated bank account / debit credit card for purchases etc etc. My little micro business is now self supporting, as I am selling at least several higher end pens per week, the proceeds deposited into the dedicated bank account, where it is used to buy more stock. So, my hobby is now self supporting. You sure won't be able to quit your day job, but at least you can now claim tools and machinery + kits and pen making supplies etc etc on TAX and the hobby costs you nothing. It also makes a lot of people very happy to get that special gift for someone that can't be found in shops.

Be very carefull what you write here guys.

The lady of the house may find this and put claim to a new sewing machine or some other tool for her favourite room

I got caught on the sewing machine a couple of weeks ago Jim and some other must have stuff too "if you are buying for your hobby, I can buy for mine too"!

The problem with my tally that it's kits only will start doing the blanks next week
I have not included all my extra small turning items like clocks , wine stoppers , calculaters , battery powered tea lights and etc. I am thinking of doing matching sets of pen & wine stoppers
I am worried if I get sicker and can't stand much longer at the moment its 20 min before I cant feel my legs.
All this might be going up for sale including all my tools
I have slowly making my workshop adjustable so if needed I can lower all my tools to chair height at the moment its stool height but this is getting harder to get up on to
Regards Michael

Originally Posted by coffenup

The problem with my tally that it's kits only will start doing the blanks next week
I have not included all my extra small turning items like clocks , wine stoppers , calculaters , battery powered tea lights and etc. I am thinking of doing matching sets of pen & wine stoppers
I am worried if I get sicker and can't stand much longer at the moment its 20 min before I cant feel my legs.
All this might be going up for sale including all my tools
I have slowly making my workshop adjustable so if needed I can lower all my tools to chair height at the moment its stool height but this is getting harder to get up on to
Regards Michael

Hey Michael, I'm sure someone makes a lathe stand that is designed so you can sit when working. Bet Jim Carol would know !. If not, you could always get a stand made to suit your lathe. I'm sure I saw one maybe on the Pen State Industries site ??.

got the woodfast midi lathe stand which will drop low enough I hope
but as this is nerve related I may get worse as my hands are starting to tingle more often.
thanks for the suggestions
regards michael

Yes Vicmarc produce a sit down lathe VL200

I would have in excess of $3000 in kits and stuff $1000 just in acrylics lol but I do sell some kits to friends and that helps support my habit when you take molds and casting stuff it certainly adds up also have a couple of hundred dollars of new bullet casings for bullet pens so lets just say my wife aint going anywhere near my shed LOL or I may end up sleeping in it in the future.

Cheers Ian

Originally Posted by plantagenon

I did a tally of mine a couple of weeks ago. With pen kits and blanks its well over the $1k mark. I have kept receipts for any item purchased - kits, blanks, glues, polishes, lathes,etc and I am a bit frightened abut the outlay as compared to the 0 income.

Zero income is about on the money!!

If I remember right I have made about $0 on my pens. Up to date they have all been given away to worthy causes, ie: family and pens for the troops. Never mind the costs as long as you enjoy doing it is my feelings. ( not the missus tho 0