pens

[Ed451]

I just finished watching "Turning Pens with Kip and Rex" for the second time. I'm extremely new to turning, so I thought this might be a good way to get my feet wet. Having seen some of the things involved, I also broke down and ordered the equipment necessary (mandrels, kits etc) to try it.

Wish me luck,

Ed

 

[trevtheturner]

Good luck, Ed. You'll enjoy it.

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[La Truciolara]

Good luck! :wink:
and show us your results

 

[treefella83]

i bought a pen mandrel to use up all the small bits and peices left over from bigger projects and i turn light pulls and even wooden beads .
great fun and simple .
every one needs a pen at sometime.
good luck

 

[Possumpoint]

ed451;

Run, don't start, it's an addiction. Before you know it, you'll be buying more kits, different kits and more tools. Then there's bowls and vases. After that you'll be looking for bigger and better lathes. Some have been known to go into complete freefall when exposed to this much fun. DAMHIKT.

Save yourself the trouble, wrap up everything and send it to me.

 

[Oldflyer2]

Ed451

You've done it now. Life will take on a whole new meaning .... but remember, the world always has been round, not flat .... that means we are right

I started doing some pens last Christmas for gifts. These are numbers 51 and 52 since then.

These were for my wife's birthday yesterday. They are made of Zebrawood cut at 90 degrees to the grain.

This is the first one of this method I did. It shows how the blank was glued up.

Tom

 

[Ed451]

Those are beautiful! At this point, I can only aspire to such creations. My order of a mandrel, kits and turner's polish should be here from Lee Valley this week, then I'll try a couple of easy ones to start with. I have a few offcuts of purpleheart and walnut and stuff to play around with. I'll post my progress.

Here's a question, though: What is the most popular glue for putting the tubes in the blanks; cyanoacrylate or polyuretuane?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Oldflyer2]

Hi Ed.

Good question. It depends if you are in a hurry or a patient person.

CA (medium or thick) seems to be the glue of choice by production types (almost instant cure with accellerant) and
polyurathane has to be left over night to cure.

Poly is supposed to be more flexible with weather changes ect but can be messy to use. It also fills the gap a bit if you have an uneven drilled blank.

Some use 5 minute epoxy as well.

So you can see it is very much "whatever floats your boat "

Tom

 

[Ed451]

Thanks, Tom. I guess I'll go with CA so I can "Get at it".

As an aside for us North Americans, I see that Jacques Coulombe Ltd. has some of their Berea Hardwoods pen kits on sale. I'm not affiliated, etc. (Hope this doesn't break the forum rules.)

Ed

 

[Oldflyer2]

Hi ED. Check your private message box. I sent you one.

Tom