Thank for visiting my website!
My name is Len Kaltman and although you couldn't tell from this website, I'm a corporate photographer.
http://www.westchesterphoto.com
I've always enjoyed woodworking as a hobby and made a fair amount of furniture, shelves, dog beds, clocks, chairs, desks and many other things over the years.
When my youngest son Michael was 12, he wanted to start working in my shop with me. The thought of a young boy using a table saw scared me a bit so looked for other options. When I was at my local woodworking store, I saw some teens taking lessons on a lathe. They were turning pens. I watched the lesson, then spoke with the instructor who told me that pen making was a great hobby and turning wood on a lathe is probably the safest thing you can do in a wood shop.
Since a lathe was one of the few tools I didn't already own, I thought this would be the perfect addition to my shop. (always looking for an excuse to buy a new tool!).
I purchased lots of supplies, and taught Michael how to make pens. He LOVED it. For about two weeks. Then he got bored.
On the other hand I was addicted and started cranking out pens left and right. After about 50 pens, my wife gave me a look and asked how much my new hobby was costing us. It's not terribly expensive, but she suggested that if I want to continue making pens, that perhaps I could sell them, either directly or through give stores. Sort of a hobby business.
Originally I made pens from a variety of woods, but once I started working with Buckeye Burl (from the Ohio State Tree) I decided to use only that wood. For one thing, it's relatively rare, and very beautiful. And since we live in the Buckeye State, I thought it would be fun from a marketing point of view.
So, Buckeye Pens was born, and before long my pens were sold in twelve high end gift stores throughout the state. However, before long - the hours I was spending in my wood shop were competing with the time I need to spend behind the camera. So I cut back.
Recently my wife and I became empty nesters, so I started scaling back on my photography so we could travel more. And I'm spending a little more time in my shop making pens.
So that's basically the story behind Buckeye Pens. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line anytime!
Enjoy the website,
Len
My name is Len Kaltman and although you couldn't tell from this website, I'm a corporate photographer.
http://www.westchesterphoto.com
I've always enjoyed woodworking as a hobby and made a fair amount of furniture, shelves, dog beds, clocks, chairs, desks and many other things over the years.
When my youngest son Michael was 12, he wanted to start working in my shop with me. The thought of a young boy using a table saw scared me a bit so looked for other options. When I was at my local woodworking store, I saw some teens taking lessons on a lathe. They were turning pens. I watched the lesson, then spoke with the instructor who told me that pen making was a great hobby and turning wood on a lathe is probably the safest thing you can do in a wood shop.
Since a lathe was one of the few tools I didn't already own, I thought this would be the perfect addition to my shop. (always looking for an excuse to buy a new tool!).
I purchased lots of supplies, and taught Michael how to make pens. He LOVED it. For about two weeks. Then he got bored.
On the other hand I was addicted and started cranking out pens left and right. After about 50 pens, my wife gave me a look and asked how much my new hobby was costing us. It's not terribly expensive, but she suggested that if I want to continue making pens, that perhaps I could sell them, either directly or through give stores. Sort of a hobby business.
Originally I made pens from a variety of woods, but once I started working with Buckeye Burl (from the Ohio State Tree) I decided to use only that wood. For one thing, it's relatively rare, and very beautiful. And since we live in the Buckeye State, I thought it would be fun from a marketing point of view.
So, Buckeye Pens was born, and before long my pens were sold in twelve high end gift stores throughout the state. However, before long - the hours I was spending in my wood shop were competing with the time I need to spend behind the camera. So I cut back.
Recently my wife and I became empty nesters, so I started scaling back on my photography so we could travel more. And I'm spending a little more time in my shop making pens.
So that's basically the story behind Buckeye Pens. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line anytime!
Enjoy the website,
Len