Any Pen Turners out there ?

[Pen & Wrench]

`After several years I finally got into turning pens. I bought a pretty inexpensive Wilton Mini-lathe several years ago and am finally getting around to using it. I tried turning a larger piece on the lathe and it isn't up to the task but it seems pretty good for turning 3/4 by 3/4 pen blanks. I ended up replacing my tiny drill press so I could drill out the pen blanks better. I have a set of steel turning tools. Are the carbide turning tools worth having? I can see that a better sharpening system may be needed at some point. Right now I touch up my turning tools on a diamond honing block. If I keep this up, is there a better lathe I should consider, or just try to wear out the Wilton? So far I have not made anything terribly fancy, but it looks like these are going to make pretty good Christmas gifts for the family. I'm up to 20 pens made, probably a pretty small number compared to any veteran pen turners on the forum, but I can see where this could be an ongoing activity. This whole thing started with trying to figure out some use for our Eastern Red Cedar trees we have been cutting out of our pasture. Most of the pens in the pic are eastern red cedar, but 2 are black walnut from a tree we cut down at our home.

 

[alinc100]

Carbide. With a little time and effort you can get a carbide insert much cheaper than the woodworking stores: https://www.globaltooling.com/colle...-2515154-r50-woodturning-carbide-insert-knife I made my own tooling from 1/2" barstock ,milled a flat ,tapped a hole and added a 1-1/2" aluminum handle filled with wood and epoxy. Great when you start cutting acrylics and such. Also for a really good forum look at IAP, https://www.penturners.org/
I drill all my pen blanks right on the lathe with this type of set up: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JGNL7RH/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Pen turning is addicting and can become costly, but also rewarding that within an hour you can walk out of the shop with a finished product. I don't turn as much as I should, last round of pencils I made for gifts last year:

 

[bmxdukie]

Thats so cool!

 

[DBS5Window]

Carbide with replacement inserts. I get longer life and smoother cuts when turning acrylic pens and bottle stoppers.

 

[ALinCarolina]

No pictures handy but I have made several different types. The most dramatic wood has been olive wood but I also had a small piece of Kingwood that is beautiful but very hard. It is an exotic and very scarce these days. I get most of my supplies from Packard woodwork here in NC but I have also used Craft Supplies.

 

[428PI]

My son and I made some years ago. I wish he would get into it again.

 

[ZRX61]

Saw all sorts of gubbins at Rockler's on Sunday.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Lathes are a slippery slope . . .

On a lark I took an Intro to Spindle turning class at the local Woodcraft. I didn't own a lathe at the time.

I bought a Jet Mini lathe of FBMP cheaply.
I bought the HSS Chinese toolset with a variety of tools - gouges, scrapers . . .
I bought a slow speed grinder to sharpen the tools.
I made pens and wine bottle stoppers as gifts.
You can make several different models of pens. Rockler, Woodcraft, Penn State Industries come to mind as suppliers. You might need different drill bits and "bushings" for each model of pen. All my "stuff" is in a machinist chest.

Over time I upgraded to carbide insert tooling.
It's been years and I'm not a really good turner but I can make things as desired. I've made magnifying glasses, sewing seam rippers and all sorts of things. I've turned bushings from plastic for various projects.

I like using CA finishes on wood (Crazy Glue) as it gives a hard, glossy finish.

You can use acrylic blanks with HSS or carbide tools and they polish very well.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Copymutt]

In some other thread I posted the use of carbide tipped circular saw teeth from a trash blade repurposed for lathe tool tips. Just cut em off w/ an angle grinder & mig weld to the tool shaft.

 

[rharman]

I got into pen turning many years ago but haven't done anything the past maybe 10-12 years. Bought everything except the lathe which I already had (my ShopSmith).

Makes for nice gifts. One year, I made things for all my techs (computer/telephone) at work - screwdriver sets, flashlights. For some office co-workers, I made upscale pens and corkscrews. They were all well received.

I like the acrylic blanks but always ahd a high rate of chunkout when turning tose. Maybe better chisels would help? I bought a set of small carbide chisels from Rockler but have never used them.

Yeah, mixing brands lends itself to more tooling. So many different mandrels & bushings....

Might be time to try and get back into it somewhat.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I turn. I did my first thousand pens on a 60yo Shopsmith, with complete **** tooling. Now I turn on a huge old General with a lot of HF tooling and die grinders, as well as a few hand made gouges. Though currently I'm taking a break from turning to broaden my horizons and also get some necessary work around the property completed.

If you're planning on going to carbide, it's like only using scrapers. There's no cutting or slicing. There are exceptions to this, but most are just nifty scrapers.

Personally, I'd keep the Wilton, and burn it up before I spent money on a bigger machine. Might as well get as much experience as you can out of it before graduating to bigger n better. Something you should learn is the skew. After that, everything else is easy.

 

[ATC]

I don’t have anything to add, but my dad went down the rabbit hole of making pens for years now on his Shopsmith.

 

[manwithtools]

Calling @CSRPenFab

 

[97tj-neil]

I bought a variety of kits and a mandrel with the intention of turning some wood blanks. I haven't done that yet, but I did make one pen on my antique Logan 200 metal lathe and used a few of the kit parts to finish it. It came out well, but the balance is off. I wanted a heavier pen, thus the brass. I probably should have made the lower barrel or maybe just the tip out of brass and used aluminum up higher.

 

[CSRPenFab]

Calling @CSRPenFab

Here here! I went deep down the pen turning rabbit hole several years ago. I was entirely self taught and wound up getting pretty good at turning out some high end stuff. I had a group of pen collectors that would commission a pen and I'd get from $200 to $300 for it, but being a perfectionist, I'd have 20 hours into the pen. After about 5 years of churning out pens in my spare time, I got tired of it and sold off my entire shop.

For lathes, get something small and sturdy. Heck, I started out with a Harbor Freight lathe that was terrible, but wound up with a nice variable speed Rokon. I highly recommend carbide turning tools, especially if you're going to dabble in resins and the more exotic blanks. Master the art of a good CA finish and you can turn out some very nice work.

Here is the Garage Journal of Pen Turning, and you can learn anything you'd need from there. There are probably hundreds of posts of my work still on there too: https://www.penturners.org/forums/

 

[alinc100]

I should add a few comments . I started out with a used Delta mini lathe( still have it) but I upgraded to a Rikon midi lathe not long after. It is a slight bit bigger,easier belt/speed change etc. The chucks/centers/collets are interchangeable between the two so It wasn't like I was re-tooling. I never learned to sharpen,so carbide is great for me. Pen kits are a giant rabbit hole and there are tons out there. Had the best "value" buying in bulk from suppliers like Exotic Blanks, and many other suppliers. I got rid of mandrel turning fairly quickly and do 99 % of my turning with bushings "between centers" referred to as "TBC"= turning between centers. I found it an easier way to to turn,finish,sand blanks. I love the look and feel and turning ease of Red Cedar. Your pens look great. Over time you will find different blanks, different kits,different materials and techniques. It's all a great ,long,expensive but satisfying journey.

 

[manwithtools]

My wife made many pens 15 or 20 years ago. I only got involved when there were challenges with a particular pen. It can be very addictive. One thing to bear in mind, it's not easy to sell them and make any money if that happens to be in your thoughts. Most people are not willing to pay for your labor and parts costs. They think they are cool, but not enough to pay for your time and effort. She went to many craft fairs and the time it took to setup a display, drive to and from, pack and unpack - it just wasn't worth her (and my) time. She sold more wine bottle stoppers than pens.

 

[Spareparts]

I worked for Hallmark Cards for several years and the plant I worked at made the Pen and Pencil sets, that was the most
enjoyable thing to watch the proscess it takes to make a pen. The wood's they used varied a lot, some exotic, some just plain
everyday types. It came bundeled on pallets 6' long and about 3/4" X 3/4" square, got cut to length bored and a brass sleeve inserted
and instead of turning they had a fixture that used a common router to shape the barrels. They even made their own ink cartridge, except the balls that were made in Switzerland. They were pressurized so they could write in every position even under water. When J.C. Hall passed they took a white oak tree down form his house, processed the wood and made pen and pencil sets for every employee. When the family took the Co. over things changed and that dept slowley went away.

 

[RamVet]

Pen turning is addictive however is rewarding and they make great gifts. The options are pretty much limitless, and you can tailor the pen for the person you are making it for. Been making them for probably 12 or so years on a Jet midi lathe with no problem. For sharpening, a variable speed grinder and Wolverine work well and are simple to use. Sharp tools are the key to good, clean cuts.
Beware though, once you get started, it is easy to get out of control!

 

[BrandonV]

Since they're redoing the deck of the New Jersey it would be a cool project to buy some wood and turn it!

USS New Jersey Teak Deck Pieces - Battleship New Jersey

Own an original piece of the Black Dragon. We are selling original pieces of BB-62’s Teak Deck to help fund our deck restoration project. All the proceeds from the sale of the teak do directly to the restoration and preservation of Battleship New Jersey. This item comes with a certificate of...

www.battleshipnewjersey.org

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Below is a picture of the most popular turned item in the household.

Jim