My very first pen!

[Scott Hackler]

Boy I was so excited that the Woodcraft box showed up early! My spalted maple blanks are still drying and I was chomping at the bit to try out the pen making gear... so... I grabed a piece of 1/4 sawn oak I had been saving for a future need and decided that a pen was going to get made TONIGHT! It was made with a European style twist kit that I got from Woodcraft. The hardest part was the "tenon" for the brass bushing on the middle. I actually turned the tenon a little too long, by a 32nd or so and had to re-mill the end so it would be flush. Either way it was real fun and I dont think it turned out too bad.

FYI took me about 1 1/2 hours total to complete. Mostly delayed from the massive super glue spill down my hand that glued my wedding ring to my finger! lol

Sanded to 600, BLO, 2 coats of CA and a little wax polish.

So I present my very first turned pen. Critics and advise are welcome! (be gentle):)

Scott

http://members.cox.net/cabletech/firstpen.jpg

[David Christopher]

Beautiful pen Scott, cant wait to see the others that will be coming

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty. They will get easier. Don't ya hate it when ya glue your ring to your finger.:mad:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very nice first pen! They will get easier and.

[Billy Tallant]

That is a nice looking pen! The hobby gets addicting...You will be looking at different pen kits now trying to decide which ones you want to try next...:)

[Phil Labowski]

Looks great! Also, if you never take your ring off anyway why does it matter if you glue it to your finger? lol

[Scott Hackler]

I dont take my ring off but its still pretty unconfortable to have it super glued to the finger! In a panic (and because the acetone wasnt close by) I dunked my hand in the Dna bucket and I think it helped remove some of the glue and let me know about a cut on my finger I didnt realize I had! lol

Thanks for all the kind words, guys. It was really fun to make and cant wait to use up the other 4 kits I bought. I will be keeping this pen for myself but can already imagine a few Christmas presents in the near future.

[Chris Rae]

Pens are fun and that one looks good! My first one didn't look that good, nice job!

[Phil Labowski]

How does it write? My dad was given one that he gave to me "until you make your own", but he also didn't like how it wrote.(it doesn't write at all for me so I don't know if I like or not)

Be glad your shop accident with your ring involved glueing it to your finger. I'm one of those guys that knows a guy missing a finger.

[Chris Stolicky]

Good job on your first pen. Warning, you are going to be hooked!

Hey, you are way ahead of the game already - It took me a year and a half making pens before I glued my wedding ring to my finger!

[Brian Brown]

Good looking pen. I like Euros. As for the glue problem, get yourself some "official" super glue solvent. It is about $7 for a bottle at Woodcraft, and it works better than acetone. Acetone is not the best CA solvent, and it is hard on your skin. The solvent is an alcohol of some kind and works faster than acetone.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice pen Scott! Sounds like it was quite the experience!

[Robert Snowden]

Very nice looking pen.

[Gary Max]

Looks great----now you start working on Christmas Gifts---pens make great gifts

[Mark Hix]

Great looking pen! My first would make you confiscate my lathe. Keep it for comparison to your 5th, 50th, 500th! The learning curve is very fast even though it does not look like you have far to go.

As for the CA....you ONLY glued your ring to your finger? LOL. It gets much more interesting as you go along but that would be a whole new thread.

[Rick Flink]

Scott,

My first attempts ended up as wood for my smoker. Took me about four trys before I figured out which end of the gouge to use. I've been turning for a year and half and I've made a lot of pens, but that darn tenon on the European pen still intimidates me.

Very nice effort on your first one, and a nice job overall.

Rick

[Jeff Nicol]

Scott, First off how did you like turning the Oak? I see a number of members just hate the stuff, but it is one of my favorites! The epn turned out nice and hope you and you wedding ring can someday be separated!

Thanks a keep at it and the sky is the limit,

Jeff

[Scott Hackler]

The oak wasnt an issue at all, but it wasnt the same as a big ole bowl.. thats for sure. I had the lathe set at something around 2100 rpm and it worked out great. In fact, becuase the wife has been eyeing my first one... I went out last night and made her one with the same oak. No problem there either except for the idiot who pushed the mechanism in too far. Boy that was difficult to back out. And I learned the importance of getting the diameter perfect for the center bushing. Her pen has a tiny lip where the wood is a little too small butted up to the collar.

Lessons learned.

PS the wedding ring was detached from the fingure immediately and all is well! :)

[David Drickhamer]

Great job on your first pen. Sounds to me like your hooked. Pretty soon you'll have pens all over the house. But there never seems to be one around when you need one. :eek:
Dave

[Mauricio Ulloa]

Really nice! You did a great job!

[Mark Hix]

The easy way to get the transmissions (and other parts) out when you need to dis-assemble a pen is to use a transfer punch set. Harbor Freight sells one for under $10 that has not failed me yet.

The center band on the euro seems to bother alot of people. There are several ways to turn it. I turn the tenon first with a parting tool and ease up on the right diameter. When the bushing just slips on, I leave it on and so it does not slide back and forth, I use a another larger bushing to hold it in place while I finishe the top. It is better to have it slightly under size for length than oversized. I usually put a small taper on the top end of the lower barrel to be sure it fits inside the centerband.

Keep turning 'em and posting pictures.