Highly figured Cocobolo Pen blank wanted

K

keepanionme

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a very picky customer who wishes to have a Cocobolo pen made for him. All the blanks I have in stock are not what he's looking for. He wants "Maximum swirl patterns, oranges, whites, greens, and purples." As a first effort, I thought I'd check here. If anyone has such a blank, or blanks, please either PM me or post pictures here along with pricing.

I'd be looking for a piece no shorter than 5". Ideally 3/4" x 3/4" x 5", but I can cut it to those dimensions if necessary.

Thank you.
 
keepanionme said:
I have a very picky customer who wishes to have a Cocobolo pen made for him. All the blanks I have in stock are not what he's looking for. He wants "Maximum swirl patterns, oranges, whites, greens, and purples." As a first effort, I thought I'd check here. If anyone has such a blank, or blanks, please either PM me or post pictures here along with pricing.

I'd be looking for a piece no shorter than 5". Ideally 3/4" x 3/4" x 5", but I can cut it to those dimensions if necessary.

Thank you.
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This begs to ask the question - what does this 'high maintenance' customer want to pay for that blank? This is normally a $2 - $3 blank. Because he wants pictures, maximum figure which will probably never be good enough and so he'll want more pictures, etc, what does he want to pay for the time a merchant or anyone would have to put into this herculean task?
 
Joe Barringer said:
This begs to ask the question - what does this 'high maintenance' customer want to pay for that blank? This is normally a $2 - $3 blank. Because he wants pictures, maximum figure which will probably never be good enough and so he'll want more pictures, etc, what does he want to pay for the time a merchant or anyone would have to put into this herculean task?
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He has a $75 budget for the entire project, so I don't think much.

He's very picky. I have about 50 cocobolo blanks and none were "sufficient." I told him I'd give this site and another a try. If I don't find anything "sufficient" I won't be able to do this for him. It's becoming more trouble than it's worth.
 
If you can forgive one other unsolicited comment:

I have turned coco and seen "oranges, whites, greens, and purples." The colors never lasted for me. :angry: Eventually they were all shades of the same color. Your customer's request makes me wonder if he knows this, or if you know how to make the colors remain vibrant.
 
MVPCues said:
If you can forgive one other unsolicited comment:

I have turned coco and seen "oranges, whites, greens, and purples." The colors never lasted for me. :angry: Eventually they were all shades of the same color. Your customer's request makes me wonder if he knows this, or if you know how to make the colors remain vibrant.
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I've told him this and shown him several examples. I have cocobolo pens I've made and photographed. Over time, you can see just what you're describing happen. I do not know how to make the colors remain :) Despite this, he insists on having just what he wants even if it is just for now.
 
Green cocobolo

LOL the piece of cocobolo that turned green on me was a accident...

It looked army green and only under allot of light and only on one side.

I couldn't see the green in or under my shop lights, only when I finished the cue and took it to the pool hall where the customer was waiting for it , and then it was the customer who showed me the green in it .........................................

Straight up, there was no green in the wood to start off with........

You might look on e bay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Cocobolo-...100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=261991740016#ht_88wt_719
PS the customer loved the way the cue looked and played.
I never got a chance to photograph it, and it was the 2nd cue I had made at the time.
 
keepanionme said:
He has a $75 budget for the entire project, so I don't think much.

He's very picky. I have about 50 cocobolo blanks and none were "sufficient." I told him I'd give this site and another a try. If I don't find anything "sufficient" I won't be able to do this for him. It's becoming more trouble than it's worth.
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The keywords here are, "It's becoming more trouble than it's worth".


This is the customer who will never be satisfied. Send him down the road to the next pen maker and let him deal with it. Your time is too valuable and you're only spinning your wheels in a direction that will produce nothing. Even if he picks a piece of wood, he'll still find fault later on. Let someone else deal with him. And, this is great advice. In the time you spent on this project you probably could have built 2 pens and sold them at half price and still made more.
 
I would suggest to him that he find the blank and when he does you can make his pen.
 
Just pass on it. The cue making suppliers deal in 18 x 1.5 x 1.5" turning squares mainly and the piece of wood he wants in that size would be well over his budget if it could even be found. It would have to be fresh cut to see the rainbow of color and the rainbow will fade away real fast with air and light exposure and pretty much instantly when finish touches it. If you had a piece that had the swirl grain he wants, but not the color, take a thin slice off the edge and you will expose the rainbow usually about 1/8" to 1/4 deep if your blank can spare that much. Or if he sees a swirly piece that is good enough then turn it round and let him see it and let that be the last you talk about it if he does not like it.
 
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cueman said:
Just pass on it. The cue making suppliers deal in 18 x 1.5 x 1.5" turning squares mainly and the piece of wood he wants in that size would be well over his budget if it could even be found. It would have to be fresh cut to see the rainbow of color and the rainbow will fade away real fast with air and light exposure and pretty much instantly when finish touches it. If you had a piece that had the swirl grain he wants, but not the color, take a thin slice off the edge and you will expose the rainbow usually about 1/8" to 1/4 deep if your blank can spare that much. Or if he sees a swirly piece that is good enough then turn it round and let him see it and let that be the last you talk about it if he does not like it.
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I do have several pieces that meet the swirl and grain, but not those colors. I'll give your idea a try to see if I can bring out those colors. Thanks for the tip. If this doesn't work, I'll take Joe's advice and just pass.
 
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