Thread: My 1st pen

From memory woody pear is quite soft, the most important aspect of preparation is the glueup , super glue is the least best option as it will let go as it gets hot.and as you can see you only have a thin veneer of timber at the finish . If you were doing a scraping cut a slight dig and its all over , Not sure if you are experienced with a skew but in most cases it is the best tool for pens ,at least after roughing with a gauge . All the individual operations in pen turning are very basic, but getting them all working properly together is just plain Practice at least you kept going till the finish ,and you may still use the first half at a later date ,there are some kits that only require one half turned,and the cap is metal, good luck with the penmaking ,once hooked its a slippery slope hehe,cheers ~ John

Thanks John,
I was using my small skew (freshly sharpened). I guess I must have gotten slightly out of shape with it and boom ... all over I spent a few years at school doing woodwork and learned the basics but that was a long time ago now, so for now its a lot of practice, and probably a LOT of mistakes to learn from ! Thats why I continued to finish the half which didnt split.
What glue would you recommend ? I used Gorilla Glue ... I saw it being used in a couple of videos.

Tim ,gorilla glue should be fine as long as it's not the super glue type, the ultimate glue-ups are 2 pack epoxy , but some of the expanding wood glues are pretty good as well ,just take care they don't push the tubes out as they start expanding , for slims sometimes a 7mm drill can be a loose fit and thus room for glue,other times it can be a bit tight,depending on heat generated in drilling and type of wood ,it can contract slightly when cooling off. I am guessing you bought some predrilled wood blanks from Carbatec ,they are usually ok for hole size What I am saying is you need some slop to allow glue to cover the whole area of the tube ,too tight and it just wipes it off as you insert it .Did you plug the end of the tube before inserting ,this stops glue going into the tube ,and helps push glue along as you go ,practice will soon see you all OK hehe, cheers ~ John, If you are anywhere near Beenleigh you are welcome to drop in and see how I do things

I am down Beenleigh way quite often. I might have to take you up on the offer of dropping in to see how its done !

Originally Posted by Tim_N

I am down Beenleigh way quite often. I might have to take you up on the offer of dropping in to see how its done !

Would be well worth your while. Nothing like one on one tuition, where if something goes wrong, the tutor can see it and set you straight immediately. Things never seem to go wrong on all the videos we watch, it all looks easy.

Tim,

Blow outs can happen to the best of us, but normally its associated to the type of material being turned or poor bonding of the material to the tube. It can also be a slip in concentration but these should be avoided when around machinery like a lathe

I too am down Johns way at Shailer park and would be happy to catch up and have a chat and share some tips and tricks feel free to drop me a line.

Cheers
Tony.

I dont think there would be many of us that hasn't had something similar happen at some time, it's all part of the learning curve and as John has already stated practice makes perfect. I to am down at Beenleigh and would be happy to share advise and a cup of coffee.

Originally Posted by tdrumnut

I to am down at Beenleigh and would be happy to share advise and a cup of coffee.

Certainly a nice little active group of you guys in close proximity there.

Tim, never happened to me!! Amos---actually----usually it is the bonding of the material to the tube, coat both the inside of the blank and the tube thoroughly and then insert the tube, of course it is best if the tube has a plug put in it, minimizes the amount of epoxy that can get into the tube. Amos

i now only use the Yellow Gorilla Glue for Wood, (not the PVA or Superglue sort), it works a treat and has a lot less foaming than other polyurethane type glues

MIK

Originally Posted by tdrumnut

I to am down at Beenleigh and would be happy to share advise and a cup of coffee.

Looks like I am going to be drinking quite a bit of coffee in the fairly near future !

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Originally Posted by Tim_N

Woody pear blank, pre-drilled (I dont have a drill press)

G'day Tim,

I don't have a drill press either, but if you have a chuck, then I recommend the 'pen jaws' as a cheap alternative. They're about 60 bucks, and I drill all my pen blanks with them. Sure the blanks need to be square(ish) and I always mark which 2 corners my jaws clamp down on so once the tube is glued in, I can remount it and use a mill drill bit to clean up the ends. just a thought.

Happy turning

Gab

Originally Posted by Gabriel

G'day Tim,

I don't have a drill press either, but if you have a chuck, then I recommend the 'pen jaws' as a cheap alternative. They're about 60 bucks, and I drill all my pen blanks with them. Sure the blanks need to be square(ish) and I always mark which 2 corners my jaws clamp down on so once the tube is glued in, I can remount it and use a mill drill bit to clean up the ends. just a thought.

Happy turning

Gab

I do have a chuck, it was a part of what I picked up with the lathe. I don't have pen jaws but it is an option once I am out of trouble with the boss for dropping a whack of $$ on the pen setup and a nice grinder so I can have sharp tools !
I do have a pen mill so can square the ends easily. A future (near future hopefully) project is to turn a nice little handle for it.

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