Coupla more pens...

[Mike Minto]

Here's my latest attempt at pen turning. The black one is a Gaboon Ebony 'Premium Cigar, Platinum', and the other is an Australian Burl 'American Classic Ballpoint'. The former works like a dream; the latter is very stiff, I must have done something wrong - you almost have to be Arnold to turn the thing (anyone know a fix for that? Repititous turning does not seem to be helping :rolleyes:). Anyway, critiques/comments welcome. This pen turning is fun! Mike

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking pens out of some nice woods. Well done.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Both pens look really nice Mike! The burl really stands out! Glad to hear you are having fun!

[Dave Halter]

Mike,
I just finished making a couple of the Amercian Classic ballpoints for gifts, As usual I was down to the wire on getting them done and I forgot to take pics. Anyways, I also had one that was very stiff to operate. I had to file the inside of the upper brass tube quite a bit. I also had to go back and file down the wood around the top part of the lower tubr where it goes under the center band. The tolerance there is very close and it can drag easily. In making these pens I found out my mandrel is not true as it leaves the wood thicker on one side. I had to hand sand quite a bit to get one portion on the blank down to the bushing. On that pen that was stiff I hadn't sanded enough.

Dave

[Billy Tallant]

Mike, very nice looking pens.

[Brian McInturff]

Nice looking pens. Excellent actually. On the pen with the problem, take it a part and measure each piece with a set of calipers. Inside versus outside. It should be pretty easy to see where it's binding up at. I've got a bunch of the American Classic kits, I'll take a look when I get home to see what the measurements should be if that'll help you.
David, are you sure it's the mandrel? Did you check your morse taper and make sure it's thoroughly clean. Check the lathe and make sure it's good and level? A slight twist will cause that to happen also.When I do pens I've tried to go Mandrelless on everything I can. Check the IAP or shoot me a pm if you're not sure what I mean.

[Brian George]

I started out making pens a few years ago and have moved into different things, but still enjoy the beauty of a wondeerful pen like these. Beautiful job...

[Tim Cleveland]

Very nice pens Mike. Not sure if you are planning on trying to sell pens at some point, but if you do, I have found that probably 90% of my sales have been cigars and the rest europeans, virtually no slimlines. It might be different where you live, but it's something you might want to keep in mind. Once again, beautiful work.

Tim

[Dave Halter]

Nice looking pens. Excellent actually. On the pen with the problem, take it a part and measure each piece with a set of calipers. Inside versus outside. It should be pretty easy to see where it's binding up at. I've got a bunch of the American Classic kits, I'll take a look when I get home to see what the measurements should be if that'll help you.
David, are you sure it's the mandrel? Did you check your morse taper and make sure it's thoroughly clean. Check the lathe and make sure it's good and level? A slight twist will cause that to happen also.When I do pens I've tried to go Mandrelless on everything I can. Check the IAP or shoot me a pm if you're not sure what I mean.


Brian,
I will check my lathe again, but I believe it's set up good. I read up on the Mandrelless pen turning and will give that a go. Looks to be a good process.

Dave