Thread: New to Pen Turning

Ticky,
Welcome to the addiction of pen turning ! The number of unexpected design opportunities decrease rapidly as we improve - but never drop to zero ! Lol.
regards,
Cam

Ticky ! Just an observation but if the picture you posted is how you set your tool rest, then that can cause problems, you need the rest as close as practical to the workpiece to support the cutting tool ,even if you have to move it a few times during turning . That said practice will see you progress quickly, you can get some cheap dowels from the hardware stores ,drill a 1/4" hole through and no need to glue a tube in for a practice piece . Enjoy the journey it can have many twists and turns hehe, cheers ~ John

Welcome to our world Ticky. If you need some help on getting started you could have a look at these videos.
They step you through nice and gently.

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

Ticky ! Just an observation but if the picture you posted is how you set your tool rest, then that can cause problems, you need the rest as close as practical to the workpiece to support the cutting tool ,even if you have to move it a few times during turning . That said practice will see you progress quickly, you can get some cheap dowels from the hardware stores ,drill a 1/4" hole through and no need to glue a tube in for a practice piece . Enjoy the journey it can have many twists and turns hehe, cheers ~ John

John,

Thanks for the advice, I shall be asking you blokes for plenty of that.

I can't say I had the tool rest in the correct position, but I had it a lot closer than the picture shows. I must have moved it before I took the pic.

Treecycle,

Thanks for the video link, I'll have a look at that later.


Steve.

After I destroyed my first pen, I grabbed a bit of 10mm dowel & machined it to make a couple of bushes.
Penjig 1.jpg Penjig 2.jpg

These ensure my jig will sit in the same place every time.

Penjig 3.jpg I attached a stop block Penjig 4.jpg Penjig 5.jpg



And now I can cut my blanks about 1mm or so longer than my brass. Penjig 6.jpg

Its quick & easy & I managed to turn something without buggering it up.... Success at last.


I still had a bit of time to play so I made a couple of blanks up with no tubes... just for practice & to try out my jig.

Penjig 7.jpg I turned them from a bit of Jarrah & I grabed a couple of old sanding disks from the bin & made them smooth. Then just for the hell of it I rubbed a bit of Mahogony stain into them & had a go at a CA finish I had watched on You Tube.Penjig 8.jpg I'm not sure I did it right, they didn't come out as well as the You Tube. Maybe it was my $2 for 6 tubes of super glue, or maybe it was my technique. Any way, that was my first day, afternoon, of turning. a disasterous start, but a successfull end.


Steve

Nice jig for the blanks. You might want to make it adjustable so that when you venture on to different pens you can adjust it too suit other lengths. Only needs to be able to accomodate blanks of maybe about 10 to 15mm longer.
Good to see you marking the blanks where you cut them to keep the grain alignment right. I mark the inside of my tubes as well with a texta, because the marks on the outside get turned off, and some grains are hard to work out where the match up was.
Have fun.

Marking the tubes is also a good idea.

When the bloke showed me how to turn pens a while ago, I seem to remember he had some sort of tool to work the ends of the blank back to the tube length, but I really cant remember what it was.

It might be in the video link you sent me earlier, but I still havent had a chance to look at that yet.

thanks for the tips


Steve

Hi Steve, looks like you are off to a good start. Don't be too worried about a few stuff-ups while you are starting off, we all make them, even when we become more experienced there are still some "OOPS" moments .

I know a lot of people use CA to glue in their tubes, but in my experience 2-part epoxy is much better, I like the 15 minute stuff, both Timberbits, and GPW sell it in convenient sized bottles.

This is possibly the item you saw for trimming the blanks back to the tube. Or one of these.
They are both readily available from pen kit suppliers.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

This is possibly the item you saw for trimming the blanks back to the tube.

Yeah thanks mate ... Thats the one. another order from Carrolls I think.


Steve

Aside from the tool rest, the tube showing in the picture doesn't appear to have any glue on it. If that's the case, be sure that when you glue in a tube that it's completely covered in glue. Any small catch where the blank isn't secured to the tube is likely to result in a blowout. Glue is about the least expensive ingredient in a finished pen, but many of us don't use enough when gluing in tubes.

Originally Posted by Ticky

Yesterday, I cut a couple of blanks & drilled them & glued in the brass. As it turned out, I didn't do a great job of this .....

BSea,
Yeah mate, you are absolutly correct. I believe that was my biggest problem, but I managed to salvage the brass so I can have another go.

The bloke teaching me showed me a box full of pen bits & pieces from his failures, but he is an old bloke who dosent have the internet & is largly self taught.

The way I see it, there are 2 ways to look at this...

1. I have destroyed EVERY pen I have attemted to make,
OR
2. Of all the pens I have tried to make, I have only destroyed ONE.

I may not be a good Turner, But I am a pretty fair Spinner.


Anyway BOB, I did notice this mistake, but I may not notice the next one, so I really appreciate your comment.


Thanks
Steve

Originally Posted by Ticky

....

1. I have destroyed EVERY pen I have attemted to make,
OR
2. Of all the pens I have tried to make, I have only destroyed ONE.

....

I only just caught up with this thread and I like the second option.

me to