First turning

[Chris Tedford]

Hi all. Name's Chris and I'm a theatrical carpenter by trade. I've been interested in turning for quite a while now, but today I took the plunge. For Christmas my wife enrolled me in today's pen turning class at the local Woodcraft. After shoveling a fresh 5" of snow I went to class. Two hours later I had a Slimline pen made from Sapele, two more pen blanks, Slimline kits, pen mandrel, end mill and a nice sharp set of pen turning tools (Pinnacle:1/4" Spindle Gouge, 1/4" Round Nose Scraper, Skew, 1/8" Parting tool, and 1/16" Spindle Gouge). The tools and pen blanks were included in with the class, all the other things I bought on the way out. The really nice part is that, at work, we have a Delta 47-700 lathe that collects dust. Come Tuesday it will start to collect shavings.:)

I'd played around with the lathe at work a few times, but the tools are dull and I didn't really know what I was doing. When I made my first cut with a nice, sharp spindle gouge this morning I heard a very distinct sucking sound. This turning thing has me all excited, kinda wish I didn't have tomorrow off. I want to turn things.:D Anyway, just thought I'd share a picture of the pen and ask a question. The band in the middle seems to be spinning freely, is that supposed to happen? I know it comes off but it just seems like it should be tighter. Also, we used the stick polish (one brown, the other white) is this the best or is there some other method for the finish?

Thanks for looking.

Chris

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Chris,

Welcome to the Creek!

Nice first pen! Those slim lines are fun to turn. Yes the bands will normally turn freely....at least the ones I've turned have. It really doesn't affect the operation of the pen.

Again....Welcome to the Vortex! Photograph any money you have...frame the photo and post it near your lathe. It'll remind you what it was like to have some in your wallet.:rolleyes:

[Steve Schlumpf]

Chris - Welcome to the Creek! Great looking pen! Haven't turned a pen yet - so you are way ahead of me when it comes to that style of turning! Looking forward to seeing more of your work real soon!

[Jim Kountz]

Welcome to the creek and nice job with the pen, lets some more when you get a turn on that Delta!!

[Jim Glock]

Chris...good job on that pen. I'm still amazed how thin that wood can get around the tube. What finish are you using? jim

[Chris Tedford]

Thanks all for the comments and warm welcome.

Jim- I don't remember what the finish is called. It's a wax compound, I think. The first stick was brown, rubbed that in. The second stick was white, rubbed that in. The instructor said that this finish would eventually wear off and be replaced by hand oils. Is that what I want? I saw on Marleyturned.com that he used CA glue. I didn't buy any finishes today so that I could get some more opinions.

Thanks,

Chris

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to Creek Chris. Great looking first pen.

[ROY DICK]

Chris,

Welcome to the best forum going.
Great pen you made. Yes the center band turns freely.
LQQKS like Dewey has some company. :D

Roy

[Dean Thomas]

You've asked a question that deserves answers, and if you have 40 penturners, you're going to have AT LEAST 50 answers. :D

I agree with your instructor, that the wax sticks will provide a temporary finish and that they will indeed be rubbed off and "replaced" by finger oils. However, with those oils come DIRT and CRUD. I think that's a great thing for lathe tool handles, but not a great thing for gorgeous wooden pens. IMO, remember.

For pens, I use two different finishes, almost exclusively. If I have time between finishing the pen and delivery of that pen, I'll often use Mylands Friction Polish. This is a high solids finish. I'm fairly sure that it is a shellac-based finish, although some vendors claim that it is a lacquer based finish. It is a really durable finish that polishes up really, really nicely with minimal fuss or muss. You can also use Mylands cellulose sanding sealer underneath the FP finish. That definitely is a lacquer-based finish. Different cure times, but you can do it all really quickly. The sanding sealer gets applied, frictioned and mostly sanded away to provide a pore-free finish. Maybe two coats for deep pores and pits. Two or three coats of the FP and voilà, purty finish! Add a couple of coats of a high carnauba content wax for a super velvety touch.

The other finish that I use regularly is the CA finish. Or rather "a" CA finish. There are at least 5 or 6 variations on the CA finish. It is a little tricky, but it provides a very hard, durable, pretty much finger print free finish. This is my finish for family and friend projects that I know I'm going to have to answer for, for as long as they own the piece and see me on occasion. I want that finish to be REALLY hard. The Mylands finish is "pretty" hard, but nothing like the CA finish. CA finish takes much longer. I end up with 5-7 coats. The last several coats have to be sanded and wet sanded. The last coat gets MicroMeshed to the end and then polished with Meguires #2 polish and finished with their #3 which is a wax not a polish, and then a coat or two of a high carnauba content wax.

There are LOTS of ways to skin that cat, but Mylands is a great place to start. Better than most off-the-shelf finishes, IMO.

Email me if you want more details. And believe me, I have more details. :D

[Chris Huybregts]

Hey Chris, The two sticks you applied in class are probably "Hut's PPP" sticks, or, Hut's Perfect Pen Polish, the first one gives it a "satin" finish, the second is a much harder wax for a glossy finish.

I'm new to the pen thing as well, and like Dean said, everyone has their opinions.

I personally use 2 coats of Hut's Crystal Coat it's a shellac based friction polish. You put it on, then hold some paper against it to "burn" it in. The first few times i used it, i didn't generate enough heat so the polish came off, but since realizing that, it's been working good.

The salesman at woodcraft was chatting with me and said he use to use more rugged finishes (ie, CA finish) but for 99% of the pens he turns, he now just uses the Crystal Coat. He only uses the CA finish on special pens, his reasoning was that he hated the feel of the CA finish, ie, it felt like plastic.

Chris