Pen Turning Suggestions Needed

[Steven DeMars]

Hello, I am a "Newbie" who has been lurking and occasionally commenting on things I am familar with.

Need help with initial shopping order . . .

What I am in need of is coments and suggestions on tools & materials.

As you will see on my list, I have covered everything pretty well, but I know there will be things I am missing.

Also what is very important to me is specific info . . . as to what to buy and what to stay away from . . .

Lathe - JET 1014 (Have one for the wife and one for me)

Pen vise - (Have a Rockler now with a PH Design on order)

Pen press - (Have Harbor Freight 1 ton Arbor Press)

Grinder (Have Delta 8" Variable Speed grinder 1725 to 3450 RPM

Grinding wheels (Have stock 60 grit white wheel & 36 grit that has to go, suggestions for best replacement)

tool rest for mini - is stock OK?

Mandrels - yes we want to start out with a mandrel . . . .later maybe turn without . . .adjustable pen mandrel or non-adjustable?

bushings - do you use with both adjustable & non-adjustable mandrel . . . do they come with the pen kits or do you keep different sizes on hand

barrel trimmer - what size -

barrel trimmer pilot shafts - what about several pilot shafts vs. turning bushing to acomadate a standard?

drill bits - type & sizes?

60 degree revolving center - do you use this for turning with a mandrel & turning without a mandrel?

60 degree revolving center - who makes the best one for pen turning?

turning tools - suggestions definitely needed?

pen tube insertion tool?

organizer boxes?

pen disassembler tool?

abrasive rolls?

friction polish?

polish?

wax?

glue?

blanks - best type of wood to learn with?

pen kits - best to start out with?

Book - Turning Pens & Pencils by Kip & Rex?

DVD 1 & 2 by Kip & Rex?

OK, what did I forget?

I am looking at Craft Supplies USA as a vendor . . . .

Any suggestions are tips on any or all of the above . . .

[Mark Hix]

Everyone has their own opinions on most of these questions.
The tool rest is fine. I use an adjustable mandrel but never adjust it. I use bushings as spacers, keep is short and only turn one barrel at a time. Bushings are seperate from kits...use calipers for the best fits. Barrell trimmer...there are several kinds...I use the 7mm and instead of buying other shafts, turned some sleves out of some practice pen barrels. Drill bits vary from pen style to pen style. Turning tool....big debate here, I learned to use my skew and alot of pen turners will tell you that is the only tool they use. Tube insertion...what ever works for you. I use an old screwdriver because it was handy when I started, I know one turner who uses the top off of the CA bottle. The best Disassembler tool is the cheap Harbor Freight transfer punch set....not that I ever have to use it. The finish question is another big debate...I learned to do a CA finish, sometimes w/ BLO, sometimes w/o. You need a finish that will last. Blanks.....start w/ cheap and practice before you invest in some expensive ones. I use CA or Epoxy to glue in the tubes. Videos are all over the place....Russ Fairfields site comes to mind and the IAP is a penturning forum w/ tons of help. Most people start w/ slim pens and go from there. I only turned a few before I went to different styles. Craft Supplies is a good supplier. Check out Arizona Sillouette.


Have fun. It is just as adictive as bowls and can be just as challenging. Hang onto that first pen and compare it to the 10th, 100th...The learning curve is fast. Post us some photos!

[Bernie Weishapl]

You got some good advice from Mark and can't add much. I do use a adjustable mandrel. I use it when I do like Sierra's that only use one blank. Makes it so much easier than using spacers in my opinion. I use CA finish without BLO. I also use Enduro finish from Bear Tooth Woods. It is Enduro sanding sealer and Enduro Glossy Topcoat finish. Takes a day or two but gives a nice finish. Ernie is good to work with and will make anything right if there is a problem.

[Greg Cuetara]

Mandrels - yes we want to start out with a mandrel . . . .later maybe turn without . . .adjustable pen mandrel or non-adjustable?

I started with a non-adjustable mandrel. It really depends on the type of pens you are looking at turning. I would suggest to get a non-adjustable one to start with...turn a bunch of slimlines and then you will see what you want and where to go.

bushings - do you use with both adjustable & non-adjustable mandrel . . . do they come with the pen kits or do you keep different sizes on hand

you need bushings for each different pen type that you turn with either mandrel...the bushings tell you the thickness at each end but Mark is correct that if you really want to be accurate to use calipers

barrel trimmer - what size -

if you want to use a barrel trimmer that is up to you...or there are setups on sanding discs...i use a barrel trimmer and it is ok. Probably the easiest but it does require sharpening. I think there is a company out there who makes a carbide trimmer and that might be worth the few extra bucks. Again you need to determine what type of pens you will me making and go from there. I opted to just buy the whole kit right from the get-go so that I could use it for anything but there are methods to use a standard 7mm trimmer in any tube.


drill bits - type & sizes?

to start out you will probably need a 7mm. This is the most common. You may want to just start out with slimlines until you get the hang of everything and then when you jump into other pen kits buy the bushings and drill bits then when you know exactly what you will need.

turning tools - suggestions definitely needed?

if you are trying to go on the cheap harbor freight has some turning tools on their website and if you do a search in the turners forum there are a bunch of threads on them.

pen tube insertion tool?

I use an old pencil and it works fine.

organizer boxes?

I picked up a few boxes from Cabelas for organizing fishing stuff and they were half the cost if I had bought them in rockler.

pen disassembler tool?

Like Mark said check out the harbor freight punches. Something that I have yet to get.

abrasive rolls?

I would suggest that you pick up some really good sandpaper. I bought some of the rolls and they were crap and really made it difficult to get the pens smooth. I finally picked up different grits of Norton and that has made a world of difference. I like to start with 320 then up to 400 and finish with 600. I then use EEE ultrashine which is a micro-abrasive and that puts a super fine finish on. A lot of people like to use the MM up to 12,000. It is really up to you and it also depends on the finish you use.

friction polish?

I have tried the shellawax and it works great for larger items but not so good on pens. I use CA / BLO for my finish and had some great luck in the beginning but then it went downhill for a while. I think i just need to go back to some of the video tutorials on IAP so that I can get back to the basics. It is actually a very easy finish it just takes the correct steps in the correct order.

polish?

you may want to look into a buffing system which will put the gloss finish on the pen you may be looking for. (the beall buffing system is supposed to be the best but I don't own one so i don't know.)

wax?

glue?

I use medium CA for everything and it has worked out ok thus far. i think I need to expand to using thin and thick CA.

blanks - best type of wood to learn with?

you don't want anything soft like pine or hard like ebony....cherry or maple are fairly good to learn on if you are just trying things out.

pen kits - best to start out with?

if you want to really just get going and practice practice practice take a look at the slimline kits at Penn State (fun line series). i think the slimlines are about $1.50 / each so you are not really out that much if you screw up. Also the more you buy the better deal they are and they come in a lot of different finishes. They won't last 100 years like some of the other styles or finishes but they are great to practice on and get to learn how to use the tools and finishes etc. You don't want to start out on a $40 kit and then screw up the finish...lol..

Book - Turning Pens & Pencils by Kip & Rex?

I bought the pen turners workbook but also I would do some searching on the creek and also check out the IAP website. There are a lot of great tutorials over there which you can download. I printed out almost everything they have and read it all. Much better than any book and only cost me the paper to print.

DVD 1 & 2 by Kip & Rex?

again check out the IAP website for movies which are free. Also do some searching on youtube and you will find some good videos.

OK, what did I forget?

I am looking at Craft Supplies USA as a vendor . . . .

I just placed a big order with CSUSA and they are a great vendor to deal with. If you want good cheap kits to practice on though check out Penn State with the funline series.

Any suggestions are tips on any or all of the above . . .

take it easy and have fun. Post pictures of the pens you turn. I have tried to do some different things with my pens, the first pen i turned was segmentated but since then I have come back to just regular slimlines. They are good giveaways and fun to turn. i look forward to when i start selling the slimlines so that I can start turning some better pen kits.

Greg

[Paul Douglass]

Looks to me like everyone responding has covered it pretty well. You will adjust and grow to have your own preferences as you go along. I started out by cutting my own blanks from harwood that I had, instead of buying blank. If you but them you are pretty safe. I didn't have any destroyed blanks until I got better at it and than tried experimenting. That's when my failures came it. And that is OK. Got to try new things.

BTW I use Gorilla Glue in my blanks for gluing tube in. I'm not fast enough to us CA. It is all a matter of preference.

[Jon Behnke]

A lot of good advice has been given already but I wanted to touch on the 60 degree centers. A 60 degree center in the tail stock is better than the stock center, it fits the pen mandrel better. Later when you start turning larger pens you can use 60 degree centers in both head and tail stock and turn between centers without a mandrel. This is the best way to get a true round pen barrel.

[Joe Melton]

I suggest finding another pen turner local to you, and ask him to let you watch him turn a pen. Then ask him if you can try your hand at it.
Joe

[Steve Mawson]

You asked about blanks. I have used Oak, Maple and Walnut. I look for boards that have the ugliest knot that you can find. That knot will make some of the best blanks that you can find. Many times this part of the board was going to be scrap anyway. Most of the time the grain is great and makes interesting blanks. Since the pens are small the knots are easy to work. Just go at it and don't worry about all the tools. You will figure out what you will need and use.