Ordered a Pen starter kit

[sscherin]

I ordered a Pen starter kit and a few blanks to make Christmas gifts..
My fist step down the dark path of Pen turning.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKSP103E.html

I wonder what kind of slippery slope I just stepped on lol.

[mattyj1907]

Nice, pen turning is fun and easy. Its crazy all the projects you can make with the set up as I'm sure you have seen in the catalog.

[dbhost]

Pen turning is something I have wanted to try, but just haven't taken the time to even look into much... Keep us posted on the what and how as you figure it out...

[Eric]

I ordered several things from them this year.

Pens are fun, quick and easy. Nice project that you can go out to the shop and have complete in less than an hour. Always seems to impress people more than the projects that I spend days and hundreds of dollars in supplies on for some reason.

[Richard in Smithville]

I've been turning pens, bottle stoppers, flashlights, and numerous other items for a few years. It's a great way to relax and see projects come to completion in just a short time. Also friends will be amazed at what comes off the lathe. But you can get "hooked" easily

[Bill in Buena Park]

Welcome to the addiction

If you want to see the slope youre embarking on, check out this site:

www.penturners.org

[BigguyZ]

+1 on checking out the IAP (Penturners.org).

I will say this about pen turning, it's definitely one of those hobbys that has several sides to it. At the begginner's level, it's easy, fun, and you can churn out a pen in less than an hour.

However, it's a bottomless hole- and I mean that in a good way. There's so many different options and routes one can take the hobby, and to become truly as expert it can take quite some time to master the process.

Just in finishing, there's so much to it. For a beginner, you'll probably use Mylands or some other friction finish. Super easy to apply, takes minutes, looks OK. But then there's a CA finish. Takes longer, can be really tricky, and if you're an expert the final finish should be within a few thousandths of the diameter for the part. Then there are other finishes like plexiglass (typically home made, created by mixing a brew of plexi and acetone), or lacquer (sometimes applied by rag, sometimes by dipping), or poly. There are even many ways to obtain the level of shine you want- whether that's high polish with buffing wheels or a matte finish.

And of course there's the material for the pens... Starting out you'll use domestic woods like Oak, Walnut, and Maple. But then you'll want to go to burls, and other figured woods. Even better, you'll buy larger wood stock and start cutting your own blanks- either from a chunk of burl, or just a board. Experiment with the angle of the grain, and plain walnut can take on a whole new look! Then there's segmented blanks, where you can piece together different pieces of wood to create patterns, or even mosaic like images. Oh, and then there's plastics. Get some of the standard blanks from PSI, or maybe get some of the ones that other turners have created- excellent blanks with a level of depth some of the commercial blanks don't have. OR- create your own. That'll lead to casting, which is great because there's so many things you can do with that. Print labels/ images, wrap them around the tube, and cast in clear plastic to get a pen that is limitless in it's customization. Take some rotted wood or a cap of a burl, cast some colored resin to it, and you have an interesting combination of wood and plastic. Take a scroll sawn blank or piece of wood, cast that, and again you can create a custom image on your pen.

And of course for alternative materials you have metals (aluminum, brass, copper), deer antler, feathers, curcuit boards, ebonite, and other plastics (casin, celluloid, and others)...

I'm not going to even mention fountain pens, and getting to know the different types of nibs and pumps.

And of course, there's custom pens made with only parts of kits, or no kits at all... or even casting your own parts like some do.

So yeah, pen turning can be pretty cool. My point is that there's so much more to pen turning than what PSI shows you, or that you may have seen at a Rockler or Woodcraft class. I don't mean to show you everything you can do and say you have to do all of these. But I would encourage you to experiment and use your imagination with it.

Oh, and my personal tips:
-I like stabilized blanks, as I've had too many issues with wood movement.
-Stay away from Ebony. Even if they're selling the blanks for $1, just don't bother.
-I've used a CA finish with great results. But while some pens are fine forever, some (even pampered pens) have cracked like a son-of-a-gun and I'd reccomend a General Finishes water based finish instead. I've tried dipping the pen, and I've gotten great results.
-I use a skew to round over the pen, but my preferred chisel to get to final thickness is a scraper.
-When you advance, calipers are your friend, as is HF's big set of drill bits (that frees you from having to use a specialized "pen drill bit", which is just not needed when you have 101 or whatever bits).

And lastly- post pics when you're done, I'd love to see how you do!

[sscherin]

Funny thing.. I've been on IAP since 09 when I got the lathe going..
Took me this long to jump in and order a few kits.

I ordered a zebrawood and Carbon fiber blank with the kits..
I've had a burl blank in the drawer along with a small stack of maple blanks I ordered 3 years ago.

I'll probably practice on some poplar off cuts I have kicking around first..

When the shed caught fire last month it killed the Russian Olive tree next to it so it had to be cut down... I saved a few pieces to cut up into blanks. We'll see how that turns out..

Can I do 5 by Christmas? We'll see..

Thanks for all the ideas..

What about epoxy finishes? I have a ton of thin laminating epoxy I used for composite work. At some point I'd like to cast my own Carbon fiber blanks.. I have lots of the stuff.

[sscherin]

Kits arrived yesterday..

My wife had already laid claim to the Vertex kit with the Carbon fiber blank when I get it done.

Guess I better sharpen my tools, make a fixture to drill blanks and get to work.

[crokett]

I just started turning pens this month also. After some experimenting, my finishing schedule is minimum 4 coats CA, mircromesh then 2 coats plastic polish. It is easy to do and you get really good results with it. One day I will have a buffer. With the setup for pens you can also do things like key rings or seam rippers- they are all more or less the same process.

[sscherin]

First pen ever done..

Polaris gold kit with Lignum Viate and CA finish.
I think this wood would go better with a chrome or gunmetal kit.

Turned between centers.
I could have gone a bit smaller. It's a fatty
It has a slight lip at the nose so I guess I need to turn tighter to the bushings.
I over estimated how much sanding would take off and finish build up.

[chopnhack]

The pen came out nice! Torpedo shaped, very aerodynamic :-) Why did you pick such a hard wood for your fist turning?

[BigguyZ]

I agree that Ligum Vitae is a difficult wood to start off with, even if you're done spindle turning before!

Good work on turning between centers. To me, that's the bext way to go- though I don't use bushings at all. The reasons are many, but most important to me is: I don't have the expense of a new set of bushings if I want to try a new pen out, I don't have to worry about setting the bushings up incorrectly, I don't have to worry about organizing or misplacing the bushings, I don't have to worry about shoddy bushings being out of round, I don't have to worry about variences between kits of the same type that would make the bushings not quite match, Bushings tend to get turned down themselves and thus they have a limited life span, and when finishing I don't have to worry about CA getting on the busings. CA will still get on the centers, but that's easier to deal with.

While I think straight B2B (bushing to bushing) is more attractive, IMO, I still think that turned out very nicely and is something to be proud of- especially with the CA finish.

The only other reccomendation that I would make would be to get a cheap digital caliper from HF or Rockler and use that. I prefer plastic jaws, as that won't mar the finish when measuring for your final dimension. But with a caliper and a 115 bit set, there's no kit you can't use. Measure the tube and use the best bit drill bit- never mind which pen bit the kit says. Then use the caliper to measure the fitting for the kit you're actually making, and turn the barrel until you get to the final dimension (with finish) you need.

Keep working at it, and keep the pictures coming!

[sscherin]

After finishing pen #2 I tore down the Polaris and cut it down some because I was disapointed with the shape and finish..

#2 is a Zebra wood Majestic Squire.
OMG I can't believe how Zebra wood stinks.. It smelled like the cat dropped a log in my shop..

I took Big Z's advice and turned it right down to the bushings then took them off and did my sanding and CA finish on the centers.. It works so much better..

This one has 1 coat thin CA. 4 coats thick, sanded up to 600 grit then buffed to a nice gloss with white rouge.

I need to work on my pen picture taking setup.. Treat it more like a macro shot and close the iris to increase depth of field.

Polaris revise cut is still on the lathe with it's 4th coat of CA drying.

[sscherin]

Here's the re-cut Polaris..
I also added a Red Chestnut stain.. The natural color of the Lignum wasn't working with the gold. My wife recommended a red stain.. It really helped. The flash washed it out.. It has a nice red tone now that contrasts well with the gold.

This one had 4 coats CA. sanded to 600 grit.. buffed with white rouge then biffed again on a loose cotton wheel.

Next up will be a Purpleheart Diva.