Whahoooo!! Doncha love it!!

[Wild Dingo]

Well yous blokes know that
a) till a couple of months ago Id never even turned a lathe on
b) till a couple of weeks ago Id never turned a pen
c) Im still a bloody novice and really have no friggin idea what the blazes Im doin

And knowing that you also know

a) that Im a cheeky sod
b) believe Im an arty pharty old phart

So there I was the other day makin me 20 somthin pen getting quite the daring do I am to even if I do say so meself when me daughters fiance rocks up and says "Hey dad you want to sell one of them?" well aside from my first inital reaction of rollin about phissin meself at the thought that someone would be so far off their rockers to actually want to buy one I asked "yeah why not?" dead set the young fella says "Well name a price and I think Ive got one sold for you" at this point I fell of me moanin chair onto me date takin me cuppa with me proptly sloshin it all over meself and the banksia blank Iwas muckin with when he threw that one at me "YER WAT?" "Yeah one of me aunts saw the pens you gave me an Lukas and wants one but wants to pay you for it" now as is me want in situations like this I cussed the gods that didnt give me a friggin clue about pricings and such and just said "Look mate tell me what she wants and I'll make it" but he persisted so I responded like so "Well Ben me boy pick a figure double it then times it by 10 and that will do hows that?" He smiled "so about 50 do you" 50? For a bloody pen thats cost me what about $3 in parts some scrap and all up about an hour to turn out? "TOO FRIGGIN RITE IT WILL DO!!"

Anyways make a long story short he got back to me later that night and said she wants a tuart one nice straight one no bumps (this refers to the more daring do types Im presently muckin with" can you have it done by lunch tomorrow?" So first I told him to get her to think a bit more about the wood she wants tuarts bloody bland as hell and I then went on to tell him of the many differnt types of wood I had to make her the sweetest finested beatilishus pen she ever dreamed of he went quiet for a minute or two tellin his aunt what I was sayin but it came back "definantly Tuart"

So yesty I barreled full steam ahead into the shed and knocked up the finest Tuart pen ever created... went beautifully it did

And now Im the proud arty pharty sold by commision artist type old phart Ive always wanted to be!! Whaaaaaaaaaahooo!!

Pic in a wee while :cool:

[CameronPotter]

Dang! I am happy to have sold any pens (even if I haven't seen any of the money - it went to Ian007's son's school). I have also swapped a pen (or in the process of it).

$50 for a basic pen is a VERY good price.

I too hate the question, what do you think is about right... :confused:

Mind you, my latest pens are getting pretty good and I am thinking that I should start looking for a way to get some of the money back.

Cam (who definitely prefers the simple lines on a pen rather than the bumpy looking ones).

[Wood Butcher]

And knowing that you also know

a) that Im a cheeky sod

Wel I don't know about the rest of what you said but this bits true http://www.ubeaut.biz/mhihi.gif

[Termite]

An hours work in total less the cost of materials, $50.00 is a fair trade.
I make Lame's for the baking game, the things that put the slash in the top of a loaf of bread, I get $5.00 each for 1/2 hours work less $0.40 for the stainless blade and $0.20 for the stainless screws. Bloody plastic imports are shirt and most blokes won't use them but they keep the price down.

[Groggy]

Executive summary: "Dingo sold a pen"

:D Well done Dingo, first of many such (cash) sales I hope!

[Wongo]

Dingo you got to give that young fella some credits mate. He is going to make a fine son-in-law. A bloke who is able to spend $50 for a pen just to please his future farter in law got to be a good one.

Sell one to him for $500 and see what he will do. If he is for real he will pay up no worries.

Cheers:D

[Wild Dingo]

Well translated groggy :cool:

Yes a real life sale!! Friggin amazed the hell outta me I can tell you ;) From time to time over the years people have asked me what I want for something Ive made but Ive never actually sold something before my preference has always been to give away what I make... PREVIOUSLY... now I KNOW that people WILL actually pay me to make something... well... sorta changes the picture somewhat eh!! :D

So anyway which one and what others did I make? well here we go

The Tuart at the top was worth $50... mmmm wonder what someone would pay for the Huon Pine or Jarrah ones with the bumbs? :eek:

[Groggy]

They are nice pens. I recently sold thirteen as part of the forum fundraiser, I discovered that, in general, people want fairly plain shapes, but are willing to experiment with colour and designs. At least the guys and gals I sold to.

cheers

[CameronPotter]

In my experience, mostly the bumps are there for the turner's pleasure, not the buyer's...

I prefer the smooth pens as they are more functional (and look better in my opinion too).

Cam

[Wild Dingo]

Sigh... Well then :p

Why do you make fun designs? ala the closed end pen... design being a part of function or the other way round while I agree that most people have a preference for the straight slimline "normal" type pen simply I think because theyre comfortable with that style having been bought up with it... "the bumps are there mostly for the turners pleasure" mmm interesting yes I suppose I enjoyed making it ;) but I think its more a safety zone thing... once held the pen is actually more comfortable than the slimline to use the HuonPine one is particularily more comfortable for some reason... however I also personally prefer the slimline style :rolleyes:

See Cam ol son I believe YOU were the one to start me rockin an rolling with these bumpywumpy ones!! :D

[Stuart]

I'd say- here's one of mine, done just to see if I could. (On a GMC lathe, with the pen mandrel mounted in a drillchuck that had been scavenged from a broken $15 drill, which in turn was held in a 4 jaw $35 chuck).

http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/%7Estuart.lees/triton/Images/Showcase/Stuart/pen.jpghttp://home.swiftdsl.com.au/%7Estuart.lees/triton/Images/Showcase/Stuart/pendetail.jpg
(Apologies if I have posted these pics before - can't remember!)

[CameronPotter]

Nice pen Stuart.

Close ended pens are something of a fashion amongst pen turners I think... Most customers probably don't know the extra work that goes into them. As for why I did one, to see if I could. :) Also, as an aside, it makes for a very light and comfortable pen (and displays the end grain on the pen).

As for bumpy pens, I don't think that I have actualy done many/any? That being said, some work and some don't. I think that I hold the pen too hard to put up with bumps near the tip, but turning a ring on the tail end like Stuart's, well that is just cool... :cool:

Maybe it has more to do with function for me. I also like smooth lines and generally don't like something that is overly "tizzed up". For instance, knives, I like smooth lines with traditional shape. The ones that have all kinds of curves (often called fantasy knives) simply don't do it for me.

I prefer to let the beauty come of the material with simple designs. That being said, I have no problem with other turners doing their thing and adding embellishments - they just are not my cuppa tea... :p

[Wild Dingo]

Damn yous jokers!!! :mad: Friggin heck just as I get into the swing of gettin them knobby things sorted some friggin gits gotta get smartassed and throw up one with a ring on the bloody thing!! :rolleyes: look mates Im a simple fella from the bush tossin things like that at me without an explaination is... well... its just not cricket ol chap! :(

So you didnt say if you liked it or not? see now if you could make that ring outta say Karri or some darker wood wouldnt that look the ducks knuts? :cool: cause it would!! :cool: So comeone you mad git Stuart howd you do it... or is it yet another of those hidden secrets of the mysterious lathe turners society ;)

AND!!! I want to know about this "club" that you were inducted into by the world renown RuffyRustic... another secret society? bloody ell you mob!!! its becomin more insular here than many a yachty club!!! :rolleyes:

[Stuart]

Heh - glad you liked it. Glad no real turners have seen it (yet) - as I am a rank amateur. Watched a video which showed spindle turning and thought it looked cool, so decided to try it. This is about my 10th pen ever so don't look too closely (and GMC lathe don't forget).

Dingo - how would you get a darker ring to fit? The ring is not removable - it was turned in place all out of the same lump of wood! (Apple btw)

As to how it's done - in terms I can understand - I made 3 raised areas and then slowly undercut the middle one from either side until it broke free. Not sure how others do it, but I took a very cheap lathe chisel and ground it to a much sharper tip than usual so it could get right in under the ring as it formed.

[Stuart]

Nice pen Stuart.

Thanks - like your work as well. Just wish I knew how to use that hard plastic stock material - tried once, and ended up with lots of broken bits that hadn't even come close to looking like a pen. The stuff is so hard... I know there is a way, as there are lots of nice pens made out of it, but I'm obviously coming from the wrong (ie total inexperience, running before i can crawl etc) direction I can't figure it out.

[Wild Dingo]

I dont have a friggin clue Stuart!! Man you think your an amature!! ;)

I was just thinking as I waited for this computer with very slow dialup today to load this page and wondered... awhile back there was a post somewhere about a peice that had a figure 8 in it in different colored timber and one of the members took the time to figure out how to create it... buy cutting the main timber and glueing in different colored timbers at different angles... So perhaps that is a way it could be done?

[Stuart]

The thought crossed my mind, but then there would be a glue joint, and the beauty and mystery of a spindle is working out how the seemingly impossible was made, without cutting and gluing.

[CameronPotter]

OK.

Here we go...

First of all Dingo, "The Club" is just 'cause Ruffly posted a thread asking if anyone listened to the wood (i.e. you start making one thing and end up making another). I plead guilty to that in this thread...
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?p=294569#post294569

(Nothing sinister - no real club, just an in-joke).

As for lathe turning secrets. I will come out and say anyone can ask me any question about anything I have done and I will try to answer it. I believe that if you are good enough, you don't need to worry about "trade secrets". Now, I may not be good enough, but I am only a hobbiest and if people didn't help me out when I was in a pickle I wouldn't be doing this... :o

Thus, feel free to ask me any questions, just please make them specific (and short)... :p I will do my best to answer them, even if it is only - "I dunno..."

The ring on the pen is really cool (and I would consider it a difficult thing to do) so well done.

You COULD put a different coloured ring on, but it used soaking and compressing the wood. It is kind of cheating. It works the same way that you can get a solid wooden arrow through a hole in a glass. Soak the bulbous end, compress it down, slip on the ring, then rewet the wood and it should return to its original shape (approximately). It might crack the wood though. :(

Plastic ain't that hard, I did my third pen in plastic. :D

The trick is to change your cutting angles slightly. Also, I find that gouges work a bit better on plastic (probably just my poor technique).

However, if you find plastic hard, DON'T try the compressed fibre and resin blanks... It is REALLY hard.

Have you tried dymondwood? To me it turns kind of like plastic. Get the angle right and it is a dream, get it wrong and it is a PITA. Thus, experiment with cutting angle while roughing the blanks. Get plastic right and you can end up with extremely long shavings that look great when they are coming off, but are terribly annoying as the get stuck on the mandrel.

Cam

[tonysa]

"Get plastic right and you can end up with extremely long shavings that look great when they are coming off, but are terribly annoying as the get stuck on the mandrel."

ain't that the truth !

[ss_11000]

great sale dingo, and great pens, i like the bumpy huon design.

stuart, great idea with the ring. did you use the proper tool for it or just a normal skew?

[Stuart]

great sale dingo, and great pens, i like the bumpy huon design.

stuart, great idea with the ring. did you use the proper tool for it or just a normal skew?

What's the proper tool? I just ground the crap out of one of the cheap tools that came with the GMC lathe. I don't even know what they are called :o

As to plastic - perhaps my problem is that the blanks I tried were resin - they looked so good, but they certainly showed up my lack of experience! One of these days I wouldn't mind doing a course, or having someone show me some real techniques...or even owning a decent lathe!

[CameronPotter]

Sorry, the resin is what people call plastic.

I would say stick with it, it shouldn't take too long to get it right. I haven't had anyone show me how to do it as such, but I just took my time and experimented to see what worked.

Was it store bought resin? If not, try a store bought one first and then you can see what your homebrew resin is like. I have had batches that are harder then normal and softer than normal...

As for the ring, I think that the "proper" tool is a skew chisel. At least that is all I have seen it done with. i.e. exactly the way you described it.

Cam

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

As for the ring, I think that the "proper" tool is a skew chisel. At least that is all I have seen it done with. i.e. exactly the way you described it.

The "proper" tool is any one that works. :rolleyes: But I think he was talking about what's known as a ring tool, for fairly obvious reasons. Actually, it's a pair of tools, a LH and a RH, that are basically round-nosed scrapers with a semi-circular nock in one side, just back from the tip. Easy to make with a rat-tail file and a couple of pieces of CS stock.

They make it simple to get the profile of the ring properly round... with a skew chisel the profile often looks tear-drop shaped, with the tail pointing to the inside.

[Stuart]

Definitely store-bought. Will give it another try - thanks for the encouragement!

Skew chisel sounds good - so that is what I'll call it. Saw the technique on a Taunton's wood turning DVD, so at least had the opportunity to see an expert do it, and what shaped Skew Chisel ;) he used, and just tried copying.


skew chisel the profile often looks tear-drop shaped, with the tail pointing to the inside

Yup - that's what mine looks like - must be a skew.
You mean there is a tool specific for this? Sheesh - thought I'd been clever.

[CameronPotter]

Isn't a ring tool a tool with a sharpened ring on the end? :confused:

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

You mean there is a tool specific for this? Sheesh - thought I'd been clever.

Yep. Here's a pic of some Robert Sorby's (of course :rolleyes: ) direct off their site. They're a bit different to the std. ring cutting tools, but the claim is: "Unlike some simular tools, the original Robert Sorby ring cutting tools are designed in such a way that sharpening and repeatability are not compromised." (sic)

[ss_11000]

Isn't a ring tool a tool with a sharpened ring on the end? :confused:

i thought that too, you use em for bottoms of bowls.

skew described the one i was talking about.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Isn't a ring tool a tool with a sharpened ring on the end? :confused:

A matter of changing terminology, I think. The ring tools I'm talking about have been around for a long, long time. I've read texts describing their use in turning during the late 1800's... there's a lot of old turning tools that people are recently "re-discovering." The ones for interlocking pierced spheres, for example.

The ring tool you're talking about (I've always known it as a ringed chisel.) is a relatively recent development... but it has evolved from the old hook tool. Modern machining methods make it more feasible to produce the full ring, whereas hook tools were typically made by a smith.

I've heard both types referred to as ring tools, have done so myself, within context. Whatever, if you ask a turner about what ring tool he uses for making captive rings, I seriously doubt the latter would be mentioned! :D:D

[ss_11000]

from the carbtatec site

hamlet ring tool

[CameronPotter]

By the looks of it, I would say that a "ring tool" is what I was talking about and a "ring cutting tool" is what you were talking about.

i.e. that seems to be the way that Robert Sorby distinguised between them...

Of course, I could be wrong.

Cam

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It's a Kokoda Track type of thing, really. But not worth arguing. :D

[CameronPotter]

Not arguing, I had just never heard of the other thing and I wanted to place it in my wood turning repertoir (and tool set). :D

[Gympietech]

Onya Wild Dingo, I've made a few pens and have yet to charge for one, but then I'm a sucker for an admiring......admirer. Man that sounds cheesy!
I prefer the smooth pens myself, mainly because they slip in (and out) of my top pocket easier. I share with you all my PAIN of ....juuuust taking off a LIIIITTLE more of the barrel....and then CHIPPP!!..there she goes and I have to sand off the tube and go drill another blank!...oh well...
One of these days I'll lash out and buy a real mandrel, instead of the shaved-hex-nut-and-threaded-rod version I use now...just as soon as I sell off some pens!!
Trevor.