I went to Franklin Tenn. Sunday and took a class on turning a cigar pen. Man, did I enjoy that class and had loads of fun. I recommend anyone interested in pen turning finding one of these classes and taking it. There is a lot more to making pens than I would have ever thought about and now know that I need this and that and something else and one or two of those and a gillion of that....LOL
But I now have a very nice pen that I made. The cost was reasonable and the family got to go on an overnight excursion, which they enjoyed as well.
Well, I checked out my lathe and found it to be a very cheap one. It will not take a #1 or even a #2 taper as it is a solid shaft with threads only. Of course I knew it was cheap when I bought it many many years ago. Now what I ask myself? Is my new found talent gonna break my bank? Will I invest fortunes to get all I need to turn pens? Well, not right away I says to me. I just cannot justify $500plus right now for a one item setup. Meaning that with as much as I have used my present lathe, I have barely recooped my investment in it and that was less than $150. I got nothing but time, more time than money. I will continue to look at my options and home cooked ideas to full fill my pen obsession, such as it is.
But all is not lost, this all inspired me to chuck up a chunk of firewood and turn my wife a lamp base to replace the glass one I broke. But my greeness to turning green wood has cost me as the nice turning I made now has cracked pretty bad. I knew it would crack but I never expected it to crack so much or so fast. Bummer! It maybe salvagable, time will tell. It would be a real waste of hickory. Nice coloring and a quarter sized knott in just the right place to make it interesting. I have not bored the hole all the way from end to end yet, but not sure that would help any now. Any advice is readily accepted as I surely don't know what to do now. Other than start over with dry stock. The piece I used was 16" long and close to 8" across at the base and only 4" across at the top. A pretty good sized piece of unbalanced mass spinning in front of me for a long time.
Nuff rabbit chasing.....Thanks for the pointer to the group!!
Take a look at Penn State Industries . They have pen mandrels for 3/4x16 and 1x8 threads as well as one for a drill chuck--look on page 21 of the online catalog.
Welcome. My sympathies. Yes, pen turning and all other types of turning can be addictive. Yes, you CAN break the bank with new stuff to turn pens, but you don't have to.
My suggestion is to buy your self a Jet or Delta Mini Lathe, although you can go for a Oneway 1018 or 1224 if you are determined to break your bank account. Actually, the Jet Mini is my choice for quality and value. Don't bother with the variable speed model........not worth the cost in my opinion. You can add tools and other accessories as your skills develop.
In the end, you will have a great pen turning setup. But you will also have a great paperweight/box/ornament/small bowl turning setup for a very reasonable cost. Don't buy mini chisels. Buy standard size tools. They are easier to sharpen and use. And when you do trade up to a larger lathe, you don't have to buy all new tools.
Barry
PS You might want to consider joining Tennessee Association of Woodturners. We meet 1st Tuesday of every month. I understand our meetings have just moved to the Tennessee Baptist Children's Homes Campus in Brentwood, TN. Email me if you want more details.
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