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Barrel Trimmer/ Pen Mill

I have heard some say that barrel trimmers/pen mills get dull rather quickly. I have been using a disc sander to square up the end, but by looking at the pictures in the catalogs (craft supplies, psi) it seems like a pen mill or barrel trimmer would do a nice/better job.

My dilemma is this:

  1. I hear they need sharpening often
  2. They are rather expensive - I want more than just 7mm. I would like 'O', maybe others.

If #1 is true, then #2 is even worse because I'd be buying an expensive tool that needs sharpening too often - i might as well stick with the sander.

Can someone with experience with these and/or disc sanders give me their opinion?

And with regard to disc sanders, what technique do you use? I use a block of wood with a hole in it. I place a drill bit in the hole(snug) and the pan blank with tube over the exposed drill bit, then hit the sander with it. I

*have* taken off some of the tube by accident, but not much and it doesn't seem to affect the pen's operation at all.
Reply to
Matt
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I' don't make a lot of pens, perhaps a few hundred but I've never sharpened the barrell mill I bought with my first lathe-it cuts fine. don't let it spin and burn the wood - maybe that's how the others go bad?

Reply to
william_b_noble

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I use a disc sander to square the blanks. A jig ,purchased from PSI, is clamped to the miter gauge. It is necessary to square the rod to the sanding jig rod.

I prefer this to the pen mill because it give flat surfaces that can be turned down without using the center bushing.

A sanding jig can be made using a 1/4" rod and a piece of hardwood. The only requirement is that it can be squared to the sanding disc.

Larry Hand Turned Pens at

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Reply to
Larry Gottlieb

hmmmmm...... i must have missed the boat here! when i bought my pen mill i assumed it needed a handle and was to be turned by hand. i made a handle for it and have been using it this way for over a year. it seems to do a great job but is a slow proccess on very hard woods. anyone care to enlighten me? lol;

skeez

Reply to
skeezics

Which is fine if you don't want to use a center band. If you use that band, however, you need the bushing to tell you how thick to cut your ends, so they are flush with the surface of the band. Also, I don't know about your pen mandrel, but mine is somewhat smaller than 7mm, so the pen blanks >need< the middle bushing, just to keep them from flopping around, since the brass slides easily over the mandrel rod.

If it weren't smaller than 7mm, then the bushings couldn't slide inside of the brass, since the brass would be tight to the rod.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

Reply to
Chuck

Using a disc sander has been somewhat successful for me, but I was wondering if it was worth the money to get a barrel trimmer.

It seems that either of these methods, if done correctly, will yeild suitable results.

I will stick to my sander for now. Thanks for all the responses.

Matt

Reply to
Matt

They are easily sharpened with a popsicle stick-style diamond hone. I just give each cutter a few rubs with the diamond stick and all is well again. Takes only a few seconds.

-Jim Gott- San Jose, CA

Reply to
Jim Gott

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