Pen-Turning woes (& first "customer" :)

[Bob Janka]

Folks,

As some of you all may know, our company is having an Arts & Crafts sale later this month during national "Turn Off TV Week" (21-27 April). I turned my first pen about a week after they announced the sale. I am in the midst of turning out enough "good" pens that I can make a decent showing.

Last night, I had 4(!) "oops" and 1 "good". I had previously built a band-saw sled to make cutting the blanks to length easier. That worked wonderfully last night as I prepped 8 blanks for Flat-Top Double Twist pens, 15 blanks for 7mm twist pens, and 5 blanks for key rings (half of each for fob and toothpick holder styles). I now have a selection of stop-blocks to guide my blank cutting.

On to the "boring" part (pun intended ;-). I finished up a gate jig I saw in "Turning Pens and Pencils" by Kip Christensen and Rex Burningham. (GREAT book, I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in pen-turning!) I need to bore through the bottom at the "V" intersection to allow for chips to fall through. I learned this by blowing out not one, but TWO blanks. This probably occurred because I was not clearing the chips often enough.

So, I switched back to my previous technique of mounting the half-blank in a scroll chuck on the headstock and the drill bit in a drill chuck on the tailstock. I'm using a Jet mini. I just push the tail stock towards the head stock until I bore out the hole.

Now for the other two "oops". One blank was fighting me, started spinning the drill chuck, and popped it out of the tailstock! If you have never seen a drill chuck flying through the air, DON'T! :o

No injuries, just very startled. A little while later, it happened again! (I will admit that I was trying rushing through these steps. Note to self: Patience, Bob!). The second time made me a not so proud owner of a BENT "J" letter drill bit. (Thankfully, Berea Hardwoods is open today and they are sending a replacement in the mail).

Although it occurred first, I saved the "good" for last. My wife works in the ceramics studio while I work in the woodshop. She had received something from one of the other potters and wanted to give her something in return. She asked me if I had any key rings. I didn't, so I let her friend pick one of the two 7mm pens I had with me. Her friend is my first "customer"!

I'll take some pictures and post them sometime. It may be a while as I am busy trying to turn out enough "good" pens for the sale. :)

Cheers,
Bob Janka
pen-turner who is remembering patience

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

National 'turn off TV' week?! That will surely be the week the networks decide to dump all the new crap and put the REAL shows back on where they belong.

I'll happily admit to watching too much TV...at least when I'm not napping. I'll have to give sumpin' else up instead. :D

KC

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Bob,

Drilling the holes is probably the part that destroys more pen blanks for me than any other.

I use a version of that gate jig. Mine is open on the bottom, and I rest it on a nice piece of scrap lumber, because I find I blow out fewer blanks when I'm drilling into a solid surface. If I had a real valuable blank, I would cut it longer, then stop drilling before I come out the other end, and trim it off at the saw later.

Did I ever tell you about that Beginning Penturning video? If not, let me know and I will get you the information on it. It has TONS of good information!

Have a good weekend!

Scott.

[Bob Janka]

Scott,

"Beginning Pen-Turning" video? There's a video for neophytes like me?! :)

Yes, please DO tell me more! I might be able to figure out if what I'm doing is close or just way off base.

Cheers,
Bob
- there's hope for me as pen-turner after all! :cool:

[Bob Janka]

Scott,
I'm using some of the parabolic bits from Berea Hardwoods. They all come with a label advising 1100-1300 RPM. The drill press is set at 500 RPM and the student attendant at the Craft Center said they don't usually change the speed. Perhaps running the bit too SLOW might have contributed to the blow-outs. I did manage to get 2 other blanks bored out on the drill press.

On the mini-lathe, I can and do change the speed as necessary. This may be why I have such success on the lathe(only 2 blowouts from 15 blanks so far and those were from rushing). I run at 1280 RPM for boring and at 2860(?) RPM for turning, sanding, and finishing.

I found that I will need to adjust my cutting stop-blocks as I had to re-cut the ends of the my Flat-Top pen blanks to get closer to the end of the brass tube. I found that cutting off 1/8" made my manual barrel trimming a LOT quicker.

Cheers,
Bob

[Scott Greaves]

About that video, if you were to E-Mail Bill at (aszil@mindspring.com) he might tell you about it. I don't know how far I can go without this seeming to be an ad of some kind. I have no connection other than as a satisfied customer! (But it's well worth the $20!)

Yes, you were probably drilling too slow. I use some of those parabolic bits and I find them to be a bit "grabby", so that could have added to the blow-outs. All-in-all, I think the bullet bits by Black & Decker (pilot bits by DeWalt) are about the best for drilling blanks. Of course they're hard to finds in the right sizes, so most of my bits are just good old twist bits. I drill at between 1500 and 1800. Drilling on the lathe is usually pretty good. I turn at a higher speed like you do.

Don't get discouraged - there is a learning curve in anything! I just hope you don't mind me jumping in on your questions all the time. Take care!

Scott.

[Dale Thompson]

Bob,
Drilling out the blanks is probably the most challenging part of pen making. The only answer is PATIENCE! Regardless of the jig you use, if you build up enough heat, you are going to "blow" the blank.

I went so far as to talk my Doctor into giving me a prescription for hypodermic needles so that I can "inject" water into the bore. I generally only use them when I am doing "Diamondwood" or, much more importantly, "deer antlers". There is nothing more frustrating than "Blowing Out" an antler blank which you have begged for and spent an hour or so bandsawing the "points" into a useable blank.

The bottom line is: Drill the blank to an inch or so--give it a chance to cool and then repeat the process. You may find, as I have, that a twist drill works better for boring than the brad points which are commonly sold for that purpose. Why? I don't know. I just can guess that the twist drill is less agressive and, thereby, generates less heat. Just a thought.

Does anyone know where I can get some deer or elk antlers for less than $100 a pound or some such outlandish price? :eek:

Dale T.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Dale, you can find Deer Antlers on Ebay at times, but I am not sure about the prices. I have a few Deer Antlers that I found on our property where I hunt Whitetail Deer. I have a few single sheds that I found, and I have had the good fortune to find several sets of matched Sheds too. I will post a picture tomorrow of what I have that I would be willing to part with. Maybe you can put them to use. I wasn't aware that Antler was able to be used for Pens........learn something new everyday. I am not sure if you have any use for the Antlers that I have, but I will post a photo Sunday, and you can be the judge. $100.00 a pound for Antlers sounds a little steep to me also.