eBay Niche Product: Pen Blanks

February 25th, 2008 | Niche

If you've been told money doesn't grow on trees, whoever told you had not heard about pen blanks. Pen blanks are pieces of wood, cut to about 6 inches long and 1 inch square. They are put on a small lathe, and turned to make the most beautiful wooden pens. Most of the craftsmen are making these pens at home, some have created for themselves a nice retirement income.

The amazing thing is that cabinet makers and wood workers throw away some scraps that could be sold for pen blanks. I few years back I was contacted by a gentleman who wanted to do just that. He had a tree farm with many semi-exotic woods. He harvested the trees to create boards used as trim inside very nice homes. He saved the scraps and hired me as a Trading Assistant to sell them for him. I regularly sold maple, hickory, red bud, box elder, and even Japanese maple blanks. I'd sell sets of 10 (which fit nicely in a USPS Priority Mail video box) for $15 - $30 depending on the wood type.

A tip for sellers: Wetting the wood before taking photos is acceptable and really brings out the grain better. It gives a better representation of what a varnished pen would look like. You may want to indicate in your description that you've sprayed the wood to bring out the grain, just to make sure everything is clear to the buyer.

What kind of wood sells?

Most of the blanks sold on eBay are hard woods, some are very exotic and bring high prices. A couple types you'll commonly find fetching higher prices are:

Hawaiian Curly Koa from Hawaii
Cocobolo Rosewood from Central America
Afzelia Xylay
African woods such as Puduak, Bloodwood, and Purple Heart
Australian Corrugata Burl

These woods bring very good prices because they're difficult to obtain. What about more common types of wood though? It sells very well too, the hard maple you have in your back yard may make a nice pen. The quality most desired is heavy, dense wood that can be worked on a lathe. No one wants a pen made of balsa wood.

Spalting

If you look into pen blanks, you'll notice a term that pops up over and over on the higher priced items: Spalting. Spalted wood has generally developed an intense striped characteristic that makes a very exotic looking end product. Spalting is usually caused when mold develops inside the wood. Disease and insects can also create these colorful marks. Since it is a type of decay, soft or "punky" spots can develop in the wood, making it unusable for some products. Large pieces of spalted wood can be used for things other than pens, such as turned bowls.

Below are some current examples of pen blanks being sold on eBay right now: