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Thread: Dull Pen Blank Trimmer...

  1. #1

    Dull Pen Blank Trimmer...

    Anyone here know how to sharpen a pen blank mill? Mine went dull and I hate to just junk it and pay for another.

  2. #2
    Have you got a disc sander?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Arita View Post
    Anyone here know how to sharpen a pen blank mill? Mine went dull and I hate to just junk it and pay for another.
    I sharpened mine with small diamond hones, these:

    hones.gif

    That was years ago (I seldom turn pens) and I can't remember without going to the shop to look whether I sharpened the bevels or the flats of the cutters. In general, it's best not to mess with bevels so I probably sharpened the flats if I could reach them OK with the hones. I've also used small diamond files to sharpen other cutters similar to those on the pen mill.

    JKJ

  4. #4
    Derek, it doesn't take much to resharpen them, and yes you sharpen the flats. A grinder is not the way to do it, because it's very hard to hold them perfectly flat against the grinder wheel. You could use what John has posted, they would do a descent job. But I found the best and easiest way to resharpen is, a flat diamond coated plate. Using that type is the easiest and best, because it is very easy to hold the head of the trimmer flat and removes the least amount of material to be sharp.
    Len

  5. #5
    Thanks. Ya, its to the point that the mill is burning the blank ends rather than cutting them. Of course, the duller it gets, the harder I press, the more it burns, etc. It's past due.

  6. #6
    Derek, when you sharpen it, make sure that the mill is held 90* to the sharpening object. If not, you will either ruin the mill or have to resharpen it all over again. In my previous posting, I said to hold the head flat. I should have said 90* to the diamond plate, not flat.
    Len
    Len

  7. #7
    I tossed mine just use my disc sander make sure it is 90 degree

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Rytter View Post
    I tossed mine just use my disc sander make sure it is 90 degree
    Since the Jet mini faceplate is pretty much useless, I turned it into a disc sander. Use plywood, turn a circle and use 5" PSA discs and you got a nice disc sander. Use "good" plywood. I guess you could use anything, just that plywood scrap was handy. Your tool rest helps a lot maintaining close to 90.

  9. #9
    Disc sanders don't work for squaring up pen blanks unless you have a jig that holds the pen by the tube. But otherwise, yeah, it works well, especially for squaring up the blank after applying finish. The darn mills can and will chip off CA finishes.

  10. #10
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    If you have a set of the Harbor Freight transfer punches, you can use a drill chuck in the tailstock to hold the correct size punch and slide the blank on it to square it off on a sanding disc in the headstock. I use 1.1/2" peal and stick discs on a homemade sander that I drilled and tapped to fit the threads.of my lathe.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Bouis View Post
    Disc sanders don't work for squaring up pen blanks unless you have a jig that holds the pen by the tube. But otherwise, yeah, it works well, especially for squaring up the blank after applying finish. The darn mills can and will chip off CA finishes.
    Hmm.. I've only made a few dozen pens over the years (usually when a teen wants to "make" one) but I've never squared after applying finish. I always drilled, glued, squared, turned, finished, then removed just any overrun glue gently with the trimmer without taking off any of the wood. Any extra CA on the ends just scrapped off with no chips.

    Is there an advantage to trimming after finishing?

    JKJ

  12. #12
    Generally you wouldn't remove any wood (or very little), but you always have to remove the glue from the ends or the parts won't fit together right.

    But, yeah, sometimes the ends get out of square somehow. Could be stress being relieved when you cut the blank down, could be distortion from being clamped on the mandrel, heat from sanding -- who knows. Or maybe just weren't squared perfectly to begin with, but since it's right before you fit the parts, after finishing is the best time to square everything up once and for all.

    The trimmers don't always chip CA glue off, but it happens consistently enough to ruin your (my) day. Maybe if I sharpened it? I find it inexplicable that even an expensive trimmer like the whiteside is made from carbon steel.

  13. #13
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  14. #14
    There is a gent that you can reach on the IAP in their market place section, Rick Herrell that makes an offset tool for the tailstock that holds transfer punches. Lets you use more of the sand paper instead of just the centre of the disk.

    I use a simple to make jig for my disc sander and transfer punches. If you don't have a mitre gauge you can just put the jig on a stick that fits the slot.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  15. #15
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    I square my blanks before I turn them, so I have never had an issue of chipping CA finish.
    As to being square, my disc sander is squared to the transfer punch by using a large Forstner bit in the drill chuck in the tailstock.

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