Thread: How to turn a pen

Nice looking blank - what is it?

I assume that the post on "how to" is coming? I know of at least one person who would appreciate it!

Never be afraid to post something that even MIGHT be useful though.

Cam

When the students first go to do this job it will take them about three lessons from start to finish. It will give them an item that they can use through the rest of there time at school and it allows for individual creativity.

It allows for when a student finishes a new project in front of the others of the class rather than sitting on ass and being a pain they can make another pen. Each pen that they make they will be able to explore different shapes and materials and at the same time increasing skill. With a bit of practice a student should be able make a pen from start to finish in one lesson making it as I said before a perfect filler. Boredom in the workshop is a recipe for trouble and this is a project to tackle that. Another problem I have seen in the classroom when on prac is students stumped with what to do. All projects seem to them to take to much time or are to overwhelming this project again tackles this it lets them see that there is a start and a finish.

When they are proficient at this they can start making special resins to make into pens giving another dimension for your creative students.



Making the pen



In the first photo you can see I have found a piece of Wood and this is going to be the material I use.

Another thing I forgot to mention is this is cheap. You can get the wood from anywhere you could even make that part of the project the students having to find a bit of wood from out side to make it with. This would really give the students ownership of there project. The piece of wood I have is walnut.

We have the wood.

Next we need to make it into a more manageable size. There is a lot that can be said for how you cut up a piece of wood as the growth rings may make the wood twist after it is cut and finished but keeping this simple cut it up as you can and if you have problems in 6 months time make another one.

Depending on what type of pen you are going to make depends on how big you cut the bits of wood. 20mm X 20mm X 100mm will do most pens though.



Cutting the round log to flattish bits of wood. For those of you who have not used a band saw when cutting round wood like this you must make sure that it cannot roll or it will break the blade when it twists. Safety first.

Now cut into squareish bits or should that be rectangleish.

More..More...More. There's a greeny in it at the end.

Looking Pretty ay. Although on this pen it is not going to make any difference it is good practice to keep grain (pattern in wood) going together because in other pens it can add a great effect if it all flows.

Now we have to drill a hole in the middle of the little blocks of wood. For this pen they need to be 6.8mm in diameter.

That was easy wasinit.

Here you can see all the bits I need to finish the pen so lets go through what they are from left to right.

Block of wood 20mm X 20mm X 55mm

Brass insert for block of wood 6.9mm diameter 52mm long.

Block of wood 20mm X 20mm X 55mm

Brass insert for block of wood 6.9mm diameter 52mm long.

Biro writi bit.

Biro writi bit holder that also makes it move up and down when rotated.

Pen pocket clip

Top, bottom and middle cap of pen.

All this stuff not including the wood (wood was free) cost $3.00 if I was buying for my class it would be even cheaper I think you could look at somewhere around $2.00.

Putting brass insert into hole in wood. Those of you who are paying attention would notice that hole drilled was 6.8mm and brass was 6.9mm so it is a tight fit.

If you make a mess of hole you can glue in brass however that means you have to wait for glue to dry. See how I am using the vise to squeeze in the tube that is because it gives a straight line of constant pressure.

Here I am using a little hand cutter to make sure that the ends of wood are square to the brass tube.

Placing the bits of wood onto a lath and make some wood chips. As you can see in the pici there is spacers between the bits of wood. These not only keep the pieces separated but also are the right diameter for the ends that you put in later takes out the guess work.

We have turned down the wood. While it is on the lath we also need to sand it and polish it.

Now we do as for the brass inserts and use the vise to squeeze in the other pieces


Here is the finished product.

Here are couple of samples of what can be done

Originally Posted by Hagrid

Putting brass insert into hole in wood. Those of you who are paying attention would notice that hole drilled was 6.8mm and brass was 6.9mm so it is a tight fit.

If you make a mess of hole you can glue in brass however that means you have to wait for glue to dry. See how I am using the vise to squeeze in the tube that is because it gives a straight line of constant pressure.

Here I am using a little hand cutter to make sure that the ends of wood are square to the brass tube.

Placing the bits of wood onto a lath and make some wood chips. As you can see in the pici there is spacers between the bits of wood. These not only keep the pieces separated but also are the right diameter for the ends that you put in later takes out the guess work.

Am I understanding this right, that both blocks of wood have a brass tube fitted indiviually?

What are the spacers made of?

Is the stack mounted onto some sort of mandrel for turning?

As i said this is aimed at year 7 students. i am studing at UC and i used this in a unit i was doing, it has not been marked yet so any feed back would be greatly appreciated.
Cam the wood on the finished pen was walnut.
in the last pic on the cheese tray they are from right to left.
Huon Pine biro, Purple heart biro, Purple heart biro, Walnut fountain pen, Walnut biro


than you
Mark

Am I understanding this right, that both blocks of wood have a brass tube fitted indiviually? Yes they do in this type of pen. most people drill a bigger hole and glue in brass tube however at school the students need to be working on them strait away so smaller hole seems to work fine.

What are the spacers made of? they are steel and are brought for the type of pen you are making. i know people who make there own hoever i can afford the 3 bucks.

Is the stack mounted onto some sort of mandrel for turning? Yes No2 morse taper mandrel again an item that i brought to suit the pen inards. it also is the common size mandrel that most of these types of things use.

Regards
Mark

Originally Posted by Hagrid

Am I understanding this right, that both blocks of wood have a brass tube fitted indiviually? Yes they do in this type of pen. most people drill a bigger hole and glue in brass tube however at school the students need to be working on them strait away so smaller hole seems to work fine.

What are the spacers made of? they are steel and are brought for the type of pen you are making. i know people who make there own hoever i can afford the 3 bucks.

Is the stack mounted onto some sort of mandrel for turning? Yes No2 morse taper mandrel again an item that i brought to suit the pen inards. it also is the common size mandrel that most of these types of things use.

Regards
Mark

Thanks Mark,

I certainly gained from your explanation, and I'll add pens to my growing list of things to try.

Originally Posted by chrisb691

Thanks Mark,

I certainly gained from your explanation, and I'll add pens to my growing list of things to try.

Ditto (see my earlier reply to Cam's thread on clse end pens - the FIL is awy for a fortnight.....)
Greenie on the way Mark

G'day Mark, always good to see how others turn pens. I did a similar thread (WIP: Pen Turning #1) that you might like to flip through.

There's a couple of things I'd suggest:

1. After bandsawing the blanks but before cutting them in half, use a white texta, pencil or something visible to make a large X in the middle of one side. It makes it easier to grain match later. I reckon this is a good habit to get into with every pen blank, whether you intend to match the grain later or not.

2. I can see why you've gone for the brass tube slightly larger than the hole method, but it's really not the best for durability. Especially if the kids are using "wood from outside" which may be a tad green, damp, etc., etc. A slighly larger hole is much better... I prefer epoxying overnight, but you might want to look into using CA (Cyanoacrylate aka superglue) for "instant" results. As an extra bonus, any flaws, splits, etc. can be simply patched (also with CA) instead of having to start all over.

CA also makes a durable finish. All in one, eh? What a bargain!