Little things on a big lathe

[Jim Becker]

As some of you know, Dr. SWMBO and I are adopting two cute school-aged girls from Russia, hopefully complete by the end of the year. When we travel, in addition to the humanitarian aid/donations we will carry (ask about that privately if you want to know more), we also need to bring some gifts for the caretakers in the Internat (boarding school) that the girls live in, etc. So rather than just buy some things, I decided to dig into my "shop inventory" and see what I could come up with...and that happened to be be a bunch of pen kits I've had lying around for four years or so. I don't normally turn pens, but they are the perfect solution for this opportunity. So, I fired up the Stubby and got to work... :p

The first two (in picture one below) were from the "Wall Street" kits from Woodcraft. Tulipwood and cherry crotch went into these respectively. I actually like these pens...they are comfortable to hold and write with and the one-turning design is also attractive. You notice that they are made from wood much quicker...

I also had a bunch of Woodcraft's "taper" pen kits, so I started whanging them out on Sunday. Of course, reading the instructions first :o (since it had been so long since I turned them) would have mitigated wasting of two beautiful sets of blanks when I accidentally inverted the short and long sections...LOL! I also had a couple of blow-out issues 'cause of inadequate glue coverage, a problem I fixed real fast once I figured it out. These kits turned really quick...about 5-10 minutes from square to final sanding using my roughing gouge to take them down and then shear cutting with my Ellsworth grind gouges to final profile. I also power-sanded to 600 after smoothing with 100 grit by hand. Finish is shellac. The three pens shown in the second photo are tiger maple, bocote and lacewood and representative of the group. (I don't like the lacewood for this application...they look blotchy 'cause the pens are so small. But it's what I had) Cherry and walnut will also be in the batch when I get back to it after acquiring some more tubes to replace those lost to the turning devil...:mad:

At any rate, at least this project got me back on the lathe after a long hiatus for various reasons. I need to start getting into the shop at night, I think, to fix that problem for good...I can't depend upon the weekends for turning time with so much going on.

[Keith Burns]

Great looking pens Jim. I've turned 15 or 20 of the Wall Street pens from Woodcraft and they are my favorites. They are the most comfortable to me and also very classy looking. I'm sure they will all be appreciated.

[Jim Becker]

Keith, these are the Wall Streets with the Cross mechanism. One thing I did was turn them with the gentle curve, as opposed to the nearly straight profile they show on their site. That makes them even more comfortable to hold, at least in a larger hand. I honestly would turn these again. I can't say the same for the "Taper Pens" in the second picture...the mechs are very inconsistant...and I can't get parts to "make up" for things lost. Discontinued.

[Mark Cothren]

Very nice pens, Jim. I like the first ones very much!

Thanks for the pictures!

[Chris Daigh]

Jim, great looking pens. I too love your Wall Street ones. I am not that interested in turning pens but those are worth trying.

[Les Spencer]

Jim,


Really like the first 2 but the others are for the LOML types.

I've been wanting to give pens a try on my ShopSmith that hasn't been ran in 3 years but not sure what "kits" I need to get started.:confused: I picked up the SS for $200 with a burnt out motor. Came with jointer and band saw that still cosmoline on them. After I replaced the motor, I've never used it again.:o

Real nice job and I'm sure you will be proud when you present them especially when you're able to see your girls.:cool:

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Jim, those wall streets really look great! I also jumped back on the lathe this weekend, IT WAS FUN!

[Jim Ketron]

Nice pens Jim, and I'm sure they will love them!

[Jim Becker]

I've been wanting to give pens a try on my ShopSmith that hasn't been ran in 3 years but not sure what "kits" I need to get started. I picked up the SS for $200 with a burnt out motor. Came with jointer and band saw that still cosmoline on them. After I replaced the motor, I've never used it again

Les, you don't need a lot of expensive stuff for pen turning. In addition to basic turning tools (if you have none, there are inexpensive pen tool sets with a gouge, skew and parting tool available...mine is from PSI--"Benjamin's Best"), a grinder for sharpening, safety glasses, what is called a pen mandrel--which is a shaft that mounts to your lathe to hold your workpieces, usually via an MT#2 into the headstock (but it may be different for your ShopSmith), a set or sets of bushings appropriate for the pen kit(s), the appropriate sized drill bit(s) for your pen kit(s), said pen kits, sandpaper, CA glue, shellac or other wipe-on finish and some wood (can be scraps) to use for blanks. This is why pen turning is often the entry point for many folks into woodturning in general...all turning has "accessory costs", but pen turning is at the low end of cost range for those things.

Pen turning is almost an "instant gratification" thing...you can produce very fast, too. Long before I got "into" woodworking, I took a pen turning course from Mr. Grumbine at what was then the local Woodcraft. I still have that pen as it convinced me I "could do it"...
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Thanks for the positive comments folks. Much apprecated.

[John Miliunas]

Great job on those pens, Jim! Never thought you dealt in such small stuff! You did it justice.:) Still, when I think about you turning pens on a Stubby, this vision of using a 5lb. maul to drive a finishing nail, seems to haunt me!:eek: :D And with that. I'll have to see if I can pull off the same thing with the Vega! Hmmm...Not even sure I can get the centers that close! But really, nice pens, Jim!:) :cool:

[Travis Stinson]

Yes, very nice pens Jim, especially the Wall Streets. But, I'd like to see you get back in the swing and give that Stubby a workout! ;)

[Jim Becker]

...when I think about you turning pens on a Stubby, this vision of using a 5lb. maul to drive a finishing nail, seems to haunt me!

John, a very good friend of mine has often said, "You can turn small things on a big machine, but you can't make big things on a small machine." Very true...and the reason I upgraded from the "little" OneWay 1018 to the Stubby 750. That said, there is no reason anyone "needs" to turn large things other than desire and many, many folks turn out (!) incredible work on small machines. Bonnie Klein and Bob Rosand, for example.
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Travis, I'm trying...I really have to learn to hit the shop during the week in the evening when I'm not traveling and do some turning. Those woodchips in my hair will help with my sleep, too... :eek::D

[John Miliunas]

John, a very good friend of mine has often said, "You can turn small things on a big machine, but you can't make big things on a small machine." Very true...and the reason I upgraded from the "little" OneWay 1018 to the Stubby 750. That said, there is no reason anyone "needs" to turn large things other than desire and many, many folks turn out (!) incredible work on small machines. Bonnie Klein and Bob Rosand, for example.
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Yeah, yeahhhhh... I know. BUT, it's still kind of a comical vision!:D :)

[Earl Eyre]

Great pens, but even more, being a recent member of this group--didn't know about the adoption. So a huge Congrats on that. We have two adopted kids and and while everybody says "It was so great that you adoped your children", they don't understand that the priviledge and rewards are all ours. Our kids may have gained from the adoption, but my wife and I gained a great deal more. I hope you can post occasional notes from Russia and keep us informed when you make the trip.

Earl

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

A couple Woodcraft Wall Street were the first pens I've turned in years. I like the feel, also. I used to buy a Penn State Comfort Grip from a fellow mesquite vendor every year, but bought some of those kits a little while back. I really like the clip on that model. I think a cheap/chintzy looking clip can ruin an otherwise perfectly nice pen.

KC

[Jim Becker]

Great pens, but even more, being a recent member of this group--didn't know about the adoption. So a huge Congrats on that. We have two adopted kids and and while everybody says "It was so great that you adoped your children", they don't understand that the priviledge and rewards are all ours. Our kids may have gained from the adoption, but my wife and I gained a great deal more. I hope you can post occasional notes from Russia and keep us informed when you make the trip.l

Thank you, Earl. You can follow along in our BLOG (http://a-j-adopt.blogspot.com/). You might start back in Mid-June and work your way forward...BLOGs are, unfortunately for folks joining in later, last-in, first-out. And you are correct...it's a wonderful priviledge to become a parent this way. (Scary, too... ;) )

[John Hart]

Wow..I like those Wall Street Pens Jim. I'll have to look around and see if they're available from some place other than Woodcraft since I'm trying to avoid that place. Beautiful work sir!

[Mark Singer]

Jim,

Very nice!!!!

[David LaRue]

Jim,

Very nice pens. I turned a Wall Street with an arylic pen blank earlier this year. Since the inserts are so large, and I didn't taper it like yours, you can see though the plastic :mad: . So, this weekend I bought some new kits (on sale at Woodcraft this weekend) I will try the taper. It looks sharp! :)

Dave

[Jim Becker]

Thanks, folks. Like I said in the beginning, I don't normally do pens, but I'd turn those Wall Street jobbies again, for sure!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Wow, the caretakers should be very surprised and honored I'd think. Those are very nice Jim.

Ernie

[John Mayfield]

JIm,
My wife and I also adpoted a little boy from Russia a couple of years age. And like you I turned a bunch of pens for gifts. They seem to go over very well. One peice of advice. When you get your cash to use on your trip, get your bank to get the money from the Federal Reserve Bank. The Russias do not like any US money that is marked on or worn. So get nice new bills.
Good Luck
John

[Jim Becker]

John, we already ordered "new cash". Fortunately, we do not need to carry a lot of it as our program doesn't require us to pay for anything in-country other than incidentals for things like passport photos for the girls, food, etc. I'm glad to hear the pens you took went over well, too. There are a few folks, like the director of the Internat (boarding school) and our in-country coordinator that we want to give "special" gifts and these will be part of that.