Couple of newbie questions

[Chris Daigh]

I have been lurking here for quite a while, bought a lathe about 2 years and have finally built the last piece of my bedroom set. I am burnt out of flat work and ready for the addiction. Now to the questions, do i need a pen press? I don't plan on doing hundreds of pens. Also when using DNA drying process, how do you know when you DNA is getting diluted from the water in the wood and you need to add more or dump it out and start over. Thanks

[Neal Addy]

I use a pipe clamp as a pen press. A bench vise would also work as long as the throat is deep enough (4" or so should do).

[Phillip H Smith]

Chris...

I can't help you with the DNA question, as I haven't yet tried it myself.

But... for the pen press... I've used my bench vise and/or various clamps. And recently, I built my own pen press. You can see it here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=59932 There are some other pen-related shopmade jigs that work very well in my hands.

There's also a link on my post to a site where I found detailed plans for the pen press. If you compare my press with the one on the site above, you'll see that I made mine a bit less complicated. It works great and saved me $40.

[Ron Raymond]

I put a flat-headed bolt in my drill press and use it to assemble my pens.

[Barry Elder]

I don't have Dave Smith's url handy but if you Google the "drying wood with DNA", it will usually refer you to his site. He has a very good scientific method for determining the percentage of alcohol in your "soup". As to the drill press, if you don't want to spend the bucks, then you just rig something to use as a press; you can even the head and tail stocks on your lathe.

[Mark Pruitt]

Chris, give this thread a read for some ideas as to answering your DNA question. There's some nonsense going on, but you can pretty easily pull the useful stuff from it. Disregard the pseudo-intellectual smokescreen baloney and stick with the posts that make sense and you won't go wrong.

EDIT: I wasn't referring to Joe in that last sentence. Just so Joe won't take it wrong.

[Jonathon Spafford]

An easy way to make a pen press is to turn two morse tapers for your headstock and tailstock and you can just use your lathe to press the pen parts together... I've also used a rubber hammer for pressing pen parts and it works fine!

[Patrick Taylor]

I bought the $40 pen press. The convenience was worth it to me (not much more than $40 though....) With relatively small purchases like that, I usually decide that my time is worth more, especially if I'd have to go to the store to get supplies anyways. To each his own....

[Chris Daigh]

Thanks, I will definately save myself $40 for now.

[GLENN THOMAS]

When I bought my first pen kit at Woodcraft they tried to get me to buy the pen press but I was too cheap. I once saw someone use a Irwin quick clamp and thats what I decoded to do. You can squeeze the clamp with one hand and hold the pen pieces with the other. I never have tried a pen press but I cant imagine it being much easier than the quick clamp.

GT

[Bonnie Campbell]

When the 'boss' told me to 'get what you need to start' I went ahead and bought the pen press. I've learned at times buy a bit 'extra' it pleases the boss lol He's the one that told me you need to have the right tools. Granted, there are ways around a bought press, but I figured the pen making was enough to figure out to begin with.

[TYLER WOOD]

Bonnie, I think I love ya. A woman who listens to her man!

JUst joking gosh.......

Don't splurge on the pen press, make your own. A little more flatwork won't kill you. Plus the money you save on making one you can spend on a HF set of chisels to learn to sharpen on

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the pen press and it is worth the money. As far as DNA goes I soak bowls, boxes, etc. in it for 24 to some I have forgot and left for a week with no harm. About every 3 to 6 months I just add some DNA depending on how many pieces I have had soaking. Are you planning on using green wood for pen blanks? Most blanks are kiln dried and don't need DNA. I would think if you are going to use green wood you could soak a whole bunch of them 24 hrs. and then let them dry for a couple of weeks.

[Chris Daigh]

The DNA would be for bowls and other things. Just looking down the road. Its a little hard to find decent green wood in Denver but I'm going to try. Thanks for the responses, lot of good ideas.

[Chris Tiedt]

I use to use a quick clamp until it caused me to push the twist mechanism too far into the pen tube because the "clamping" action isn't as smooth as a vise. I now use a good ole fashion bench vise because the threaded closing mechanism allows me to gently press the pen together with minimal work and I can press the twist mechanism in a tiny amount if need be where I could get that precise with the quick clamp.