Please help a newbie turn pens.

[jseklund]

Ok, so about 8 months ago a friend of my parents gave me a small lathe. He is cleaning out his house, has a huge collection of tools- most of them older but great tools- and he has doubles of many items. He gave me this lathe for free (lucky me!) and I helped him get some floor space.

Anyway, I've yet to even put it all together and turn it on. But the idea of making about 8 pens for Christmas gifts has recently come into my head. I went to Penn State Industries' website, picked out 8 different pen kits....and that's about how far I've gotten. I now have to pick out the blanks and don't know what I don't know.

What is the difference between Maxi and Mini blanks? How do I choose blanks to fit the kits? How hard is it to turn these things?

I've never turned anything before, but everyone says how great pens are to get started....I'm just not sure I am going to be able to carve out the shapes correctly...is there something I'm missing?

Any help to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated. I'm running out of time!!

[RayintheUK]

I did a tutorial a while ago for another Forum member, which can be found by clicking here. It does, however, assume some knowledge of turning - hope it helps a little, anyway.

Ray.

[ragswl4]

Ok, so about 8 months ago a friend of my parents gave me a small lathe. He is cleaning out his house, has a huge collection of tools- most of them older but great tools- and he has doubles of many items. He gave me this lathe for free (lucky me!) and I helped him get some floor space.

Anyway, I've yet to even put it all together and turn it on. But the idea of making about 8 pens for Christmas gifts has recently come into my head. I went to Penn State Industries' website, picked out 8 different pen kits....and that's about how far I've gotten. I now have to pick out the blanks and don't know what I don't know.

What is the difference between Maxi and Mini blanks? How do I choose blanks to fit the kits? How hard is it to turn these things?

I've never turned anything before, but everyone says how great pens are to get started....I'm just not sure I am going to be able to carve out the shapes correctly...is there something I'm missing?

Any help to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated. I'm running out of time!!

Rays tutorial is great, I viewed it a couple of times before I ever turned a pen.

I have found that pen turning is on the easy side of WW. I would suggest that you start with a slimline or comfort pen kit but just about any kit is rather easy to assemble. The big thing is to have sharp tools and take it slow when you first start. Don't get in a hurry as thats when disaster strikes. I found that turning at high speed has worked the best for me, but sand at a lower speed so you don't heat up the wood. A nice wood to turn is cocobola and it has a beautiful grain and polishes nicely.

There are a number of finishing techniques that can be used. I am also a novice at pen turning and I didn't want to compound my learning curve by jumping into a difficult finish. I use Myland's Friction Polish, Myland's wood sealer and carnuba wax. It is absolutley mistake proof, takes only a few minutes and all is done on the lathe right after turning the pen.

Here is a link to my first pens.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=34698

As far as which blanks to buy it is the standard 3/4 x 3/4 x 5" that works with most pens unless you get into the bigger pens. Don't start with the burls that is a different world and more difficult. I am struggling with that at the moment. Oh! and get ready to spend some real $$$ as you will probably get hooked on this pen turning gig.

I am by no means an expert on this but just sharing what I have learned in the past couple of months. There are many others on the forum with far more experience than I. Look around on the Web and you will find some good info on pen turning. Penturners.org is a good site.

[Tom Hintz]

I have a story on turning pens at the link below that might have a thing or two in it that will be of help. It does get easier, I promise! Like most things in turning, practice goes a long way to making them easier.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/turning/trnpens.html

[Whaler]

I am by no means an expert but I do love turning pens.

I will second the advice to look at Ray's tutorial, it is great. Rag's advice was real good.

When it comes to pen kits I have found that the Polaris from PSI or the Atlas from Woodcraft are the easiest to turn and make a very nice looking pen. For wood my favorites are Cocobolo, Zebra Wood and Olive. I also turn the acrylics but I would suggest that you start with wood as acrylic can be a bit tricky.

Here are 3 acrylic Polaris pens and a Euro desk set of olive.

Go for it, enjoy yourself and be prepared to get hooked.

[jseklund]

Thanks for the responses! I have looked through some of the information, but not all of it. It has been a big help already though! Seeing the process from start to finish in Ray's tutorial gave me a better idea of what I'm looking at.

I'm sure there is a certain amount of "jump in and try it". This will be a big help though. I will read more as time allows. Thanks to all!

[TB Roye]

Watch it! Turning pens becomes addictive, but in a good way. I started in October and have gotten enough confidence in my ability to give them away as Christmas gifts. I took and class at Woodcraft one evening to get me going and it helped. Get a High Speed Steel set of tools, look for the pen turners kits, usually have 3 tools in them. That should get you going. you will be supprised how fast you learn. Get a shield for you eyes and a dust mask as the dust especially when sanding is bad. The are a number of DVDs out to use also. If you have Woodcraft or Rockler in you area check them for books and DVDs.

Enjoy and have fun

Tom