lathe speed for pen turning

Congratulations on having chosen a well-respected lathe for your first one!

As I write this, you haven't had any other responses, but are sure to get several. The gang here, when not engaged in sibling warfare, are a pretty amiable and skilled lot.

From your tone it sounds as if you are new to turning anything at all on a lathe.

So, let's start at the beginning.

Start with the fastest speed you feel comfortable with ... likely the slowest speed on the lathe. Even that may, and probably should, scare the gee-whillikers out of you. Using only a gouge (the one with the curved lip) and sandpaper, turn a couple pens at this speed.

Place the gouge ON THE TOOL REST before touching the wood with the curved back of the gouge away from the cutting edge. Then, maintaining contact with the tool rest, slide the gouge handle toward the floor until the lip of the gouge JUST begins to cut. This is called 'riding the bevel' and is the only safe way that I know of for a beginner to enter the wood. The only difference between your first piece and what I do now, after a couple years, is that I now start with the cutting edge closer to its final point so that I no longer make such an exaggerated motion of finding the bevel to ride on it.

Do not press the edge into the wood. Let the edge do the cutting (slicing, actually). Your job is simply to guide it.

When that starts going pretty smoothly (and your knuckles return to their normal color), crank the speed up a bit and repeat the learning process. I run mine full-tilt-boogie from rough turning of the blank until I am ready to begin applying finish to it ... then crank it down to dead slow again to apply oils and CA ... then crank it all the way back up to sand and polish & wax.

The amount of material spinning around isn't a particular problem, your tool presentation is your biggest concern at the moment. Learn how to enter the wood with the cutting edge at a slower speed so the price of getting it wrong won't be higher than you can live to tell.

Once you are certain you know how to cut wood on the lathe, let 'er rip.

I'd also like to recommend an inexpensive source of pen kits. I don't get anything from this referral, but the guy has always treated me fairly and his prices are about the best out there. He's a turner himself and can also do laser engraving of the finished product.

Contact Ryan Polokoff at

for inexpensive pen kits. My unsolicited advice is to start with the $2.00 kits and branch out into more expensive kits. Do not forget to buy a mandrel and the necessary bushings to go with each TYPE of kit you buy. Harbor Freight has an arbor press for assembly for not much money: And micro-mesh is just the ticket for polishing stuff up Welcome to the slippery slope. ;-) Bill

at the risk of being contrarian, it is actually scarier to go too slow with a pen blank - i use 3,000 RPM on my Nova Comet (it's like the Jet Mini) but

1500 would be OK - just take it easy and take small cuts - in fact, you could practice with 3/4 square stock to get the feel for turning if you haven't made pens before - then when you get the feel, mount up your pen blanks.

bill n

I tend to agree with Bill Noble. I turn my pens at about 2000rpm+. However, if you go to

they have a good tutorial at the bottom of the "pen making kits" page. They also have a CD available, I believe, for free. I got mine years ago and it was free then.

Good luck.

Mike

I tend to agree with Bill Noble. I turn my pens at about 2000rpm+. However, if you go to

they have a good tutorial at the bottom of the "pen making kits" page. They also have a CD available, I believe, for free. I got mine years ago and it was free then.

Good luck.

Mike

I agree ... as I mentioned, I use mine at full tilt boogie for the turning. But until the OP has spent at least a few minutes making cuts, it would be good if his first catch or two had only minor repercussions.

Once he's seen a few of those, the fear factor goes way down, the respect factor gets dialed in and bolted down and the enjoyment factor goes way up. That, at least, was my personal experience.

To the OP: Gouge, chisel, skew and parting tool ... once you get comfortable with the skew, IMHO, it's a whole new ball game. That said, practice using and sharpening all of the tools because they each exist for time-honored reasons.

Bill

Thanks for all the great information. I used a lathe in high school, but that was 25 years ago; so I'm pretty rusty. I purchased all the pen making stuff I need from Woodcraft and woodturnerscatalog.com. I'll check out woodturningz.com before I order more parts.

--Scott

Bill > > I just got a Jet mini lathe and want to start turning pens. What lathe

if you are worried about that "first catch", leave the nut that tightens the blanks onto the arbor a bit loose - otherwise, a catch with a pen blank is pretty non-threatening.

Now, a catch with a 90 pound bowl blank that launches it into the ceiling and shatters your fluorescent lights and bounces all over the place.... now that is threatening (don't ask me how I learned that fact) .... interesting that I haven't had a serious catch in years now - I think there is something about experience that comes into play......

Yup, every catch I've ever had taught the exact same lesson:

"Don't Do that!"

My most recent catch was near the end of a thin-walled bowl. It shattered into 3 large, jagged pieces. One of 'em caught my ear as it went by.

Not too bad, but that was enough of the lathe for a couple of days.

Bill