Another question for pen makers

[Ron Borowicz]

I'm starting a new thread because I did not want to hijack Tom Albrecht's recent post.

I turn bowls and hollow forms... have never tried pens.

My grandson saw a magazine from PSI and has expressed an interest in turning pens. He is 13. My questions are... can I do this on my Nova 16" lathe or do I need to invest in a mini or midi lathe? I see Tom Albrecht saying an assembly press is a good idea. What other jigs/items/chisels do I need to successfully get me and my grandson turning pens? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lamar Wright]

Hi Ron, answer to your first question is "Yes". You can turn pens with just about any lathe, size does not matter.

Second question...........PSI has just about all the necessary tools, pen kits, that you'll need. I would suggest that you and your grandson look at you tube for good instruction on how to turn pen blanks and how to assemble the pen kits. There are tons of good instruction on how to turn pens on you tube.

Pen turning is fun and it is a fantastic way to introduce your Grandson to woodturning! Have fun.

 

[Dan Stromberg]

This is probably obvious, but... if you have a larger capacity lathe, you can always turn smaller stuff.

An assembly press is a good idea. Not strictly required if you have a workbench vise with enough capacity, but helpful.

You'll need a good way of drilling the holes in the blanks. Given the relatively small size of most pen blanks, drilling through the exact center is important. The two most common methods of doing this are with a drill press or with the lathe. For the drill press method, PSI and others have a centering jig that will help you line up the blank, but even that is not strictly necessary (I have gotten by with clamping the blank to my fence.) For the lathe method, most chuck manufacturers make pen drilling jaws, which in my opinion is the easiest and quickest way of drilling the blank. It's self-centering and easy to control the speed and feed rate.

Last "basic" thing you'll need is a mandrel. These are fairly standard, although there are a few different varieties. The main thing to be cautious of is over-tightening the mandrel nut, with can cause the mandrel to bow and the turning to no longer be concentric.

And, of course, each pen kit type will generally have it's own bushings, that will guide the final diameter of the blank.

Good luck!

Dan

 

[Bill Boehme]

You can turn pens on any size lathe, but you might need to make something for your grandson to stand on so that the spindle height isn't too high. The tools that I most frequently use are the skew and spindle gouge. You might consider getting carbide tool to shorten the learning time. If you have never turned a pen it would be good to get up to speed by turning one or two before teaching your grandson.

Besides the pen kit and pen blanks, you will need a mandrel and live center designed for use with the mandrel. Also, the appropriate size drill for the pen style that you are making and bushings for your pen kit which are sold separately. Lastly, you need a barrel cleaner/end mill, sometimes just called a pen mill. It has a single flute drill for cleaning glue out of the brass barrel and the end mill squares up the end of the blank which is very important. I have a press for assembling the pens, but I actually prefer using my bench vise because it works better on controlling position. A drill press also works for pressing the parts together.

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome to penturning. If you have a Woodcraft store close, look into a class. I took one and got my grandson a class for Christmas two years ago. Well worth the $$$$. Also, go to www.penturners.org for some information. Might be some close by to give lessons; great bunch of folks.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I took my 15 year old son to a pen turning clinic offered by our club this weekend...your questions in order...

Your lathe is fine...we turned on a Rikon 70-220 because thats what the club had...
For a press anything that will clamp...quickgrips, bench vise, arbor press, pipe clamp...
Best bet is a pen mandrel with a mandrel saver...PSI has one (and it looks a whole lot like a Hurricane pen mandrel/mandrel saver) and also like the one we used...
You will need bushings for the set you want to turn...please avoid a slimline...this is not a beginners pen...cigar, Sierra, Zen, or something along those lines...
You will also need a pen blank, pen kit, and epoxy...you can finish with a friction finish to start but those probably won't hold up to much use...CA is the typical finish but thats a whole nother chapter...
I used a 3/4" roughing gouge to turn my whole pen...so use what you want...the goal is to turn it down to the bushings...

Picture of the very first pen I turned which just so happened to be this weekend...it really is easy and if you have ever turned anything before you are overthinking it...it really is that simple...

 

[Don Jarvie]

Woodcraft has starter pen kits that have everything to make the pen but the wood and mandrel. If you order online you can get the mandrel also. For wood all you need is a 6 inch by 1 inch blank. CA glue for the finish.

As mentioned above drilling the hole straight is most important. If your drill press is dead on you can use that. I like to do it on the lathe since I know the hole will be straight.

One thing to keep in mind is there are different size bores, 7mm, letter size O, 10mm. So if you buy a kit you would need to buy the same size pen again, ex Size O, or buy a drill bit and bushings.

Once you get all of the supplies, drill bits, bushings, etc buying the pens themselves is fairly cheap. Penn State has tons of pens to buy.

I use a roughing gauge to get the blank round and a 1/2 scraper to finish it.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Another fun pen project that needs no special tools or kits is a 1-piece wood pen utilizing a proper sized long drill bit to hollow the wood pen and insert a cheap bic pen ink insert. I can purchase a package of these pens at the dollar store and the only special tool needed is a couple of drill bits to hollow the pen for the plastic ink tube and one for the pen end that presses into the pen body and holds it in the body.

 

[Lamar Wright]

Ron, this photo shows that other material can be used other than wood for pen making. A couple of these pens I used a material called Tru-Stone that can be purchased at Woodcraft. It turns very easy and it sands with just ordinary sand paper grit. Depending on how far you and your Grandson get into pen making, you can even make your own pen blanks out of resin using a mix of colors and special molds. The nice thing about pen making is that you can create any kind of pen that you like. Happy turning!

 

[Gary Beasley]

You are right about making pens out of just about anything. I heard a story about one penturner made a pen out of alpaca dung. And thats not the most unusual thing ever. Corn cobs, pinecone cores, alligator jaws, warthog tusks, you name it.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I'm a little late to this party but I turn pens on my 16" x 46" lathe all the time. I use a pen mandrel with a mandrel saver so you don't have to deal with tightening the nut too much.

 

[Ron Borowicz]

Thanks to you all. I really appreciate your input. Now I need to order some supplies/jigs and make a stand for my grandson to stand on.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Perhaps it might be fun to have your grandson help with the selection of supplies and building the platform. Get the party started early, so to speak.

 

[RichColvin]

I'm a little late to this party but I turn pens on my 16" x 46" lathe all the time. I use a pen mandrel with a mandrel saver so you don't have to deal with tightening the nut too much.

Bobby,

I just listened to “One More Life” on your YouTube channel. If a songwriter can be remembered as a one-hit wonder, they should hope for something that great.

Your wife must have been a wonderful woman. That’s a beautiful song you wrote about her.

With deepest sympathy for your loss,
Rich

 

[Bobby Smith]

Bobby,

I just listened to “One More Life” on your YouTube channel. If a songwriter can be remembered as a one-hit wonder, they should hope for something that great.

Your wife must have been a wonderful woman. That’s a beautiful song you wrote about her.

With deepest sympathy for your loss,
Rich

Thank you Rich! I appreciate you listening my friend!

 

[Lamar Wright]

Hello Bobby, I really enjoyed "One More Life". A very meaningful song, well done indeed.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Hello Bobby, I really enjoyed "One More Life". A very meaningful song, well done indeed.

Thank you Lamar! I appreciate it!

 

[Tom Albrecht]

Be Careful! My High School students had so much fun and success with pens, now they want to make all kinds of stuff--- rings, game calls, bracelets, ...

Grandkids are awesome. Now I have time to do all the stuff with them, that I was too busy to show their dad--- wish I had taken the time.

 

[John Torchick]

Sign- Grandkids are the reward for not killing our kids! Fortunately, I was able to spend time with kids and now the grandkids.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

My local granddaughters, age 5 & 8, spend a lot of time at our house, some of it down in my shop playing with scraps, or on the lathe with me. Just today the 8 year old left this note for me on my lap top (spelled phnoetically).