What Do I Do Now

[Jim Robinson]

I recently purchased a JET pen lathe and three pen kits. However, neither the lathe nor the kits came with any instructions about making pens. Is there a "beginning pen makers" forum? I'm usually too cheap to purchase books when I can get information from the internet. :(

[David Hayes]

Jim,
You can download instructions for making most styles of pens from sites such as Woodcraft or Penn State Industries.
Dave

[Tom Mullane]

Come join us at www.penturners.org and meet a great group of people who will help you in any way you need....

Unfortunately, I can not say I like the choice of lathe you purchased.. the Jet pen lathe does not have a good reputation and finding accessories that fit it will be hard... you would have been much better off purchasing one of the minilathes that Jet makes or one similar to a Jet Mini...
I can almost guarantee that sometime in the future you will want to start turning things other than pens and the pen lathe will not be up to the task...

[John Carr]

Penn State Industries (http://www.pennstateind.com/) is offering a free Pen Making DVD.

[Ken Salisbury]

Jim,
Your signature line contains a political statement which violates the Sawmill Creek Terms of Service (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/terms.php). Please edit your profile and remove it.

Thanks in advance.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I recently purchased a JET pen lathe and three pen kits. However, neither the lathe nor the kits came with any instructions about making pens. Is there a "beginning pen makers" forum? I'm usually too cheap to purchase books when I can get information from the internet. :(

When I first started out, I didn't want to ruin all of my kits, so I drilled blanks with a 1/4" hole (This is the size of the ID of the brass tube). Then I mounted the blanks directly on the mandrel, without the tubes. Practice your shaping ability on these blanks, that way if you mess up, like I did, you won't be ruining kits :)