My First Pen (disaster)

[Rob Price]

Okay, so this side looks okay so I'll post it. It's been a bit more of a learning curve than I thought, which bugs me. I'm normally not this sloppy. It's some white oak burl that a buddy gave me. I started the pen using General Finishes WTF, but wasn't happy with the fill on the bottom part, some large pores were very apparent (very happy with the gloss and feel). The top looked great. So I tried taking the pen apart to try again with CA glue. The bottom part came apart fine with some long punches from HF. I sanded the bottom blank down and finished again with CA which worked much better- but it was now a different color than the top, so I moved my attention to the top.

When I drilled the top on my drill press the hole ended up being wayyyyy off center on the back end, and in my squaring up efforts on the belt sander I lost about 1/16" on the barrel length. When I assembled the pen, the twist mechanism became fused with the top cap (and never worked very well), and when I tried to separate them the twist mechanism came apart and broke.

I went ahead and made a new top from a new piece of the same chunk of wood. It's not grain matched to the bottom but with the burl it's not as noticeable. I bought the pen mill kit in the meantime, only this chewed up the burl, so I have some chunks missing near the trim ring. I bored the hole on my lathe using the chuck- my cheapo craftsman drill press has only about 1.5" of travel, drilling the blanks was a pain anyways. The new method was much better.

The ink is stuck in the 'out' position. I'm going to have to order a new pen kit (or find a replacement twist mechanism) to be functional. I'll keep it as a reminder of how badly I botched the job. My carbon fiber pen came out MUCH better, and the twist mechanism much smoother, but it cracked during assembly, so I have a replacement blank to turn again. Pics to come when it's done. Sigh.

[Tim Rinehart]

This pen came out looking great in spite of troubles. I'd not know the top and bottom were not together at one time, the wide band in middle helps this a bit I suspect. Looks great!

I will suggest that you drill in your lathe to reduce the error of drift. You can get fancy and make a better drill jig, or buy one (yikes, who does that) but I've prepped ALOT of pen blanks for demos using a lathe and get excellent results. If your blank is "just long enough" and you are concerned about breakout from the drill, I've used a small piece of backup material (some nylon rod turned down, or other materials work too) to sit down in your chuck.

Oh, yea, I used to use my pin chucks which provide very quick centering, but now just chuck up at center using any jaw set that happens to be on the chuck if I'm only doing one or two pens that I have to manually tweak the point where the drill starts.

Lastly...if you are using a drill that is very old or has been resharpened manually...you can get drift in spite of best setup. I sharpen my own drills, but don't use them for long drilling of pen blanks and similar. Save dedicated drills for that work that needs to stay straight over long depth.

[Jamie Donaldson]

This example is why we turners always have a good supply of "personal" pens to use!

[Jim Underwood]

Well Rob, don't feel too bad... I've done a lot worse. You can read about some of my escapades over on IAP. And Jamie is 100% correct. Some of my worst disasters have been personal pens...

[Richard Allen]

This example is why we turners always have a good supply of "personal" pens to use!

I have loads of Bic pen wannabes!

[Dan Hintz]

Rob,

Did my first two pens yesterday (see the DAMP January 2012 thread). On the Ambrosia Maple blank, the drill bit was off center when I started, so the first 1/8" was a huge hole. The wood wasn't really touching the tube at that end when I glued it in, so obviously when I got it thin enough that part blow out. Luckily, most of it was still on the lathe bed, so some more super glue (and shavings to fill in what I couldn't find) got it looking semi-normal. I put the clip over that small portion and you'd never know by looking at it.

Mistakes happen to us all, so have a beer and grab another blank for tomorrow.

[Doug W Swanson]

I think we've all been there and done the exact same thing. Sometimes you just want to give up but in the end things turn out....

This pen turned out great! Nice fit and finish!

[Rob Price]

Thanks for the tips. Yea, this one is definitely a personal pen. I just finished the carbon fiber blank but I need to get to work. It looks great, although really it's just because I followed the directions this time . I briefly thought about buying a drill press with more quill travel, but decided that's what my lathe is.

I saw a similar carbon fiber pen at a local fall festival and decided it would be one of my first pens, it's not wood, I just like the look. And the guy was asking $150. Kudos to him if he sold it at that price (he had nicer hardware on it), but I couldn't wait to make my own.

Jim I plan on checking out the turners club this month, will you be there? On my short list of things to try is a lidded box, and I've seen a bunch of yours around here- I'd appreciate a chance to shake your hand.

[James Combs]

It might have given you some problems but it looks great.

...When I assembled the pen, the twist mechanism became fused with the top cap (and never worked very well), and when I tried to separate them the twist mechanism came apart and broke...

Wood n Whimsies is a good source for individual pen components including the transmission(twist mech'), you can also do a "pen parts" search on eBay and you will get a ton of sources.

[Jim Burr]

See what we go through on a regular basis!!! Drilling on the lathe is great and with VSD...it's even better! I have one of those dreaded pen drilling vises and it works good, just make sure everything is square. A good lesson to learn is get your finish done on the lathe. Taking a pen apart isn't easy or even possible on occasion!

[David E Keller]

Been there and done that, but my salvages rarely look as good as what you've shown. I still use a drill press to prep my blanks, and I've had good success... It takes me longer to do on the lathe, so I've not really gotten into that. I tend to cut the blanks oversize to avoid what Dan experienced, and occasionally I'll soak the end of the blank with a little thin CA before drilling if it's soft and/or punky. Onward and upward...

[Rob Price]

oh the finish was 'done' it just had to be 'done better' and then 'done again'

The enemy of good enough is better, right?

[John Terefenko]

Rob, we all have some learning experiences and that is what you chalk it up to. As far as the Carbon fiber pen, depending on the kit they easily can command $150. Check out the Porche pens sold on line. Same material.

Just thought I would throw a couple things at you. First the barrel trimmer should be at least a 4 head cutter with a 6 head even better. This takes away the chances of grabbing which you will get with burls because of the different densities of the wood. That is also why most people like to use a disc sander on burls or any other iffy woods or materials. Drilling on a lathe is much more accurate and not hard to do.

Look forward to the finished pens.

[James Combs]

... I tend to cut the blanks oversize to avoid what Dan experienced, and occasionally I'll soak the end of the blank with a little thin CA before drilling if it's soft and/or punky. Onward and upward...

+1 on oversize(length) blanks and using CA to stabilize before drilling. I also use CA prior to using the pen mill and one more time after the milling is complete. Since I have been doing the latter I have never had a chip-out on the ends when turning but UMMV.

[Jim Underwood]

Yep Rob, I hardly miss a meeting. Looking forward to seeing you. If it's boxes you like, you'd have loved seeing our last demonstrator. We do have a DVD of the demo though... so you won't miss much.