What I've been up to.

[Hoshneer]

Holy shit Dave... Those are beautiful man.

 

[Jesse]

Just incredible man, nice work.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Wow Dave... That is seriously high quality stuff.

 

[mdwest]

If you can tap into the "gun" community.. you'll sell the hell out of those things...

"bullet" pens I have seen frankly are most often cheaply made (china), lack any detail or custom touches, etc.. and are usually anywhere from $10-$30 (for crap)... yours are a far better product..

you should stop by the NRA museum in Fairfax on your way in or out of town one day.. they are carrying some of the crappy bullet pens in their museum gift shop... I bet you my next paycheck they would be interested in carrying some of your pens either as a stock item or on consignment...

 

[TonyRome]

Awesome work!! Those pens I would keep up with for sure!!

 

[mdwest]

I think the walnut or briar would look amazing if you could make them slightly bigger around and then attach a cigar band to it.

If you put big label bands on them (fuente, padron, NC Montecristo, Cohiba, RyJ, RP, Gurkha, etc..)... they would sell like hotcakes at my B&M/Lounge... especially this time of year... I bet you could unload 30-50 of them in the next 3 weeks if you had them on hand from just my 1 B&M alone.... if you had 20-30 B&M's carrying them... or could convince a large online retailer to carry them.. you could do very well with this idea Grrrrr....

 

[Smoqman]

If you do band them with cigar brand logos and intend to resell them, check into "Fair Use" law.... As it reads, I don't think the law provides protection from companies that own those trademarks and who could (if they wanted) sue you for profiting from such.

 

[mdwest]

Question on fair use (I am totally unfamiliar with it)..

If you are not reproducing the logo/band... but are instead using their actual product (taking the band off a cigar and then placing it on the pen).. are you in violation?

 

[Smoqman]

"Fair use" provides for the protection of say a magazine or newspaper that is describing a company, etc in an article they are writing.

Fair use does not provide for the protection of an individual or company that is adding copy written materials or logos of another brand in order to sell their own product. Further; to take another company's product, logo, cigar band and incorporate that into a different company's product in an effort to enhance desirability and sale of that product is a violation of their trademark and/or copyright. For instance, I can't take an image of Mickey Mouse and incorporate it into one of my widgets and sell it as a Mickey Mouse widget without being in violation of their copy written materials, logo or branding. If I violate that, they can take me to court and sue me for whatever profit I made by incorporating their materials into my product and selling it as such.

 

[mdwest]

using the mickey mouse example... I get that I cant take an image of mickey mouse that I got off the web or otherwise and use it without permission...

but... if I purchase a plastic mickey mouse figure from disney.... and then put that figure on the end of a pen that I have purchased from parker.. can I not sell my caricature pen as my own product? I have effectively purchased components to manufacture a unique product which I am now selling.. . or am I exposed to both parker and disney for remarketing their "components" without their permission?

If you use bose speakers to build a high end stereo system along with an alpine amp and a repurposed liga privada #9 box to contain it all... and then sell the system as your own unique product.. are you violating fair use? you have purchased all of the above components.. and simply assembled them all together to create a new/unique product.. do I have to go to bose, alpine, and DE and obtain permission or risk suit?

(the law student in me is curious)..

 

[Grrrrr609]

price please, I want that black one....

Ok the black one is yours Griz. Let me figure out my price. I will get back to you.

 

[Grrrrr609]

Oh yeah... Just scored the last of Civil War pen and Briarwood? pen! Thanks Grrrrrrrrr....these are frickin coooool! Gonna make great gifts to my brother ( of the blood) and brother-in-law!

Awesome. Thank you. Will send those out tomorrow to the addresses you provided.

Yea briar. The same thing pipes are made from. I got some small blocks from a guy and been playing with them trying to make things.

 

[Grrrrr609]

If you put big label bands on them (fuente, padron, NC Montecristo, Cohiba, RyJ, RP, Gurkha, etc..)... they would sell like hotcakes at my B&M/Lounge... especially this time of year... I bet you could unload 30-50 of them in the next 3 weeks if you had them on hand from just my 1 B&M alone.... if you had 20-30 B&M's carrying them... or could convince a large online retailer to carry them.. you could do very well with this idea Grrrrr....

Lol. Thanx for the compliment Dave. I've already tried one. Which I screwed up the band. There are others who already sell them like that. Trying to get the finish so that that band is sealed and smooth to the touch is a challenge for me right now.

Plus I did 2 pens and 2 tampers last night. I get 2 nights off a week. The rest of the week I work 60 hours. I just can't keep up with that kind of market(?).

 

[Grrrrr609]

If you do band them with cigar brand logos and intend to resell them, check into "Fair Use" law.... As it reads, I don't think the law provides protection from companies that own those trademarks and who could (if they wanted) sue you for profiting from such.

Not an issue if I use CC bands. Which is my plan until I understand that kinda stuff. Am I correct in thinking that CC bands would be safe?

 

[Grrrrr609]

"Fair use" provides for the protection of say a magazine or newspaper that is describing a company, etc in an article they are writing.

Fair use does not provide for the protection of an individual or company that is adding copy written materials or logos of another brand in order to sell their own product. Further; to take another company's product, logo, cigar band and incorporate that into a different company's product in an effort to enhance desirability and sale of that product is a violation of their trademark and/or copyright. For instance, I can't take an image of Mickey Mouse and incorporate it into one of my widgets and sell it as a Mickey Mouse widget without being in violation of their copy written materials, logo or branding. If I violate that, they can take me to court and sue me for whatever profit I made by incorporating their materials into my product and selling it as such.

I wouldn't be using a copy written logo per say. I would be using a band that I had already purchased. People sell craft items from repurposed materials all the time. Cigar box clocks, cigar box purses etc. I planned on selling pipe tobacco tin clocks too.

 

[dharbolt]

Damn Dave, those look awesome. Might have to pick a couple up for gifts.

 

[Ducttapegonewild]

I think that there are to many "small guys" to go after to worry about it. How many different "cigar box" crafts have you seen for sale? What about cigar band crafts? I think that since Dave is using it as art rather than a means to make millions, he would be safe under the fair use act.

If he was mass producing, different story.

 

[Grrrrr609]

Damn Dave, those look awesome. Might have to pick a couple up for gifts.

Let me know brother. Takes a little time to turn these believe it or not. Pens are faster.

 

[Grrrrr609]

Here is a commision for a guy who has a friend that just became a referee as a congratulation gift.

 

[Grrrrr609]

And a request from the wife as a gift for a friend whose favorite color is turquoise.