Pennin' aint easy

[Chris Burgess]

Ok so I picked up a mandrel and some slimline kits a couple of weeks ago. I just got my Mandrel saver in from PSI, worked great by the way, so I had to try it out. 1st pen is straight. Made from some Black willow burl. Looks real dirty because I did not clean the live center or mandreal. Tried to rub BLO on it and that stired up a mess of muck. Added a couple of coates of CA called it quits. This will my my truck pen.

Number 2 is another piece of the same burl. This one came out great in my opinion. Only issue was I pressed the tranny to far and the tip would not retract all the way......Well got the bright idea that I could pull it out....I was wrong. Long story short destroyed the tranny and had to drill it out. Wallowed the hole so I had to CA the new Tranny in. Cant warranty this one so I allowed my wife to claim it. None the less I enjoyed and have a few more blanks to ruin and a lot to learn yet.


C&C & Tips always welcome!!

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[Cory Norgart]

Looks very nice Chris. I havent done any pens yet myself, but our club is looking into getting some kits for everyone, so hopefully I will soon.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Pen looks pretty good. They will get easier the more you do.

[Mark Hix]

Great start. You know, it's like a vortex in a vortex.

Everyone has put the tranny in too far at least once. The easy way to get it out is to use a transfer punch. Harbor Freight sells a set for about $10 that will cover all your needs.

Use the largest size that will fit w/o getting stuck. Insert one all the way thru the tranny and knock the end out of the pen. Flip the barrel around, use a punch that just fits into the tube and knock the tranny all the way out. Reisnsert the end of the pen and then the tranny. Test fit as you go. The trick is to sneak up on the right depth. If you have a bunch of the same kit, you can make a simple block cut to the length between the end of the tranny and the end of the pen to keep you from pushing them in all the way. Not all kits are the same so if you buy from different sources or even different batches, there will be some differences in the length. Bernie is right, they do get easier as you go....your designs just get harder!

[Donny Lawson]

Chris, nice looking pens. I have put the tranny in a little to far before. If you want to take them out without messing them up try putting them in your drill press chuck and slowly pulling them downward a little. It has worked for me.

[David E Keller]

They're nicer than my first pens! Although a lot of folks start with slimlines, I think the single barrel kits and cigars are easier to make... Plus, I like the heft of a beefier pen. Nice work!

[Jim Burr]

Welcome to the club Chris!! I won't comment or show my first dozen!! Any questions...just ask away!!! For your tranny, press short...Always!!! Since you can pull apart Slimlines, they don't suffer the wear that a threaded pen can. Using a vise...increase your depth by a 64th at a time. There is a block you can use to press to the correct depth too. Remember that on Slimlines, you can dump the center band and make your own ending up with a wider pen without the "Opposing Lightbulb" look. Well done and thanks for posting!

[Billy Tallant]

Pen looks good. It will definately get easier. I'm working on my 3rd year of turning pens. Sometimes my eyeball method of checking depth gets away from me & that transmission slides a little too deep. It happens to all of us. Good job for your 1st effort on pens.

[Matt Ranum]

Welcome to the pen addiction area of turner's anonymous. :p

I'll second getting the punch set from HF, ideal pen dis assembly kit. The single biggest issue I had when starting out was blowouts. Thats where I didn't have a good glue contact around the tube. Another thing is to make sure the pieces aren't fitting too tight when being pressed together. I split a few acrylics because the clearance between the mating surfaces was too tight. If you can't push it part way together by hand then in my experience its too tight and needs to be touched with some sandpaper. Doesn't take much.

[Jim Underwood]

Anyone who has turned pens has at some point pushed the transmission in too far.
When the local HF finally opened, one of the first things I bought was a set of those transfer punches. They come in handy for repairs on old pens and other screw-ups too, so it's well worth the $10 if you're into pen turning.

Here's what I do now to prevent pushing the transmission in too far. I install the nib in the lower pen barrel. Then I install the refill into the tranny, and turn the tranny until the refill is in the fully retracted position. Next, holding the tranny/refill assembly beside the lower pen barrel, and with the ballpoint at the "just inside the nib" point, I mark the tranny at the opposite end of the barrel. Remove the refill, and press the tranny into the barrel up to that mark.

Keep at it, it gets better. I turned about 25 pens recently, and I think I invented a few new ways to mess up pens... as well as learning how to apply CA glue finish... correctly this time.
I have a fairly humorous story written up over on IAP about an old "user" pen that I tried to repair... If you want a laugh at my expense, PM me and I'll send you a link.