Easy to turn wood for pen makers....

[Corey Hallagan]

Guys, Bernie's post got me thinking about wood blanks. What wood, would you consider a nice wood to turn and easy for a beginner, not chippy or splintery. I have read where Wenge is a very splintery wood and didn't know that Zebra wood was. What about Bocote, Cocobolo, Kingwood, Rosewood, etc., what are their properties for turning. Going to order some blanks tomorrow and wanted to avoid problem woods as I am a beginner.

Thank you,
Corey

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I've not had any problems to speak of with chipping on pen turning...so I'll tell you to play with some of the cheap kits or spare tubes using whatever scraps you have lying around the shop...then decide what you want to use when you 'go live'. Cocobolo turns nicely, as does the stablized box elder. Mesquite that's not too figured turns easiy. Basic pen turning isn't real hard...

KC

[Keith Burns]

Hey Cory go with what Kirk said. Stay away from soft wood. The zebrewood and wenge can be difficult.

[Bernie Weishapl]

As I was telling Corey the second pen I made was out of zebrawood. I noticed the if I took to big a cut and I don't mean real big but it wanted to splinter. Didn't want to steal Corey's thunder but I am very interested in the thread also.

[Dale Thompson]

Corey,
If you are using "sharp" tools, you should not have any problems with any of the woods that you listed. :)

The Enemy: While I have made a lot of pens out of Purpleheart, I am very careful with that wood. I swear that when a blank of Purpleheart sees me coming, it automatically "chips" out on me. Pens have not been a big problem but my 3" yo-yos ALWAYS end up at 2 1/2" or less! :mad:

I really like the pens that I have made from Cocobola. Kingwood is also a fine wood to work with. For the ladies, you will find that Tulipwood and Bloodwood are real hits. Rosewood may be another option.

In my opinion, Wenge, Zebra and Bocote are quite boring and I would not waste my time with them. :( If you want some "interesting" colors, you may wish to explore the "Dymondwood" or comparable products available to turners.

These are synthetic wood products and require VERY careful axial drilling techniques. I use water as a lubricant but a light oil can also be used. :)

WHATEVER you do, Corey, make sure that you drill the blanks slowly and with a 90 deg. jig. Make sure that your skew is "sharp" and crank up the lathe to minimize tool marks. :) Don't be embarrassed to use a little sand paper if necessary! :D If you don't need sand paper, please let me know what you did. :confused: I'd like to do the same thing!! ;) :) :D

Dale T.

[Keith Christopher]

Avoid Burls, and black palm and ebony which can be VERY splintery. I would recommend bubinga and yew. which turn VERY nice.

[David Fried]

In the pen turning class I took at Woodcraft last year our choice was Bubinga or Cocobolo. Both seemed to have good qualitities for a bunch of folks who had never seen a lathe before.

Dave Fried

[John Hart]

Personally, of the domestics, I like cherry because it is so well behaved and allows you to get a good feel of the tools, the speed, sanding, and finishing. It's also easy to drill....and it's pretty. Doesn't cost much either! :)

[Corey Hallagan]

Good info guys, thank you very much for the information! Some of the wood I see guys making pens out of is so spectacular! I would be afraid to use it!

Corey

[Joe Melton]

I taught a young man to turn pens yesterday. I chose a Goncalvo Alves blank, and he made a very nice pen from it. Easy to turn and striking colors.
Joe

[Andy Hoyt]

I don't do too many pens any more. Maybe a dozen or so each year, just to keep the procedures straight in my head.

But back when I did lots they were all gifts; and my gimmick was to have the spouse (or friend) of the intended recipient of the pen provide me with a chunk of wood that they knew had special meaning to the person. Chunk from the maple tree in the back yard; piece of timber from the "infamous remodel project"; piece from the cherished (but beyond repair) piece of furniture; and so on.

There were advantages to this for all.

I usually ended up with tons more wood than was needed for the pen in question.
My cost was reduced.
The provenance of the wood added to the meaningfulness of the gift and often brought a tear to the eye.
The referral rate was huge.Interestingly, I only knew what the species was about half of the time.

[Michael Stafford]

I still turn a lot of pens, Corey. I have found that almost any wood is liable to chip if you are not careful about how you turn. If you start a cut near a mandrel bushing and cut out into the body of the blank you increase the likelihood that the chip will occur. On the other hand if you start your cut in the middle of the blank and cut toward the bushing you are less likely to chip out. I also found that when I switched to polyurethane glue I had far fewer chip out problems. And as several others have said, sharp tools make your life a lot easier. I turn at high RPM, over 2000 for pens and use a 1/2" forged Continental gouge for roughing and a skew for finishing. On those pens with center bands a sharp parting tool is essential. I have turned pens from more than 150 different woods for my son. Lots of the good folks on here contributed woods to our endeavors.

[Ken Paciulan]

Corey,

Great to hear that you want to turn pens! Follow the suggestions of the folks here and you can't go wrong. The woods mentioned so far can all be made into pens you can be proud of.

Cocobolo would be my recommendation to start with. It is fairly easy to work with and will produce a beautiful pen. Just be sure to wear dust protection, since some people are allergic to it.

I also love zebrawood for pens. But not the store-bought blanks that usually have the grain running pretty much parallel to the blank. I cut my own blanks at an angle so that the contrasty grain forms elliptical curves on the pen. Would wait until you have done a few pens though. It can be splintery to work with. Sharp tools and a light touch will definitely help with it.

Looking forward to seeing how you do.

Good luck and have fun!

[Terry Quiram]

Corey

These are made from Peach. Peach and Apricot are wonderful for pens and the bonus is they can have some very dramatic grain.

Terry

[Kurt Forbes]

The best wood is free wood. I really liked giveing friends pens made out of wood from their yard or at least from their local area.

[Dennis Peacock]

Maple, Cherry, Apple, Mahogany, and Birch turn nicely and make good pens. I'm teach my next to the youngest son to turn bowls on Yellow Poplar and Maple as it's a little more forgiving than Oak, Osage Orange or Hickory.

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks guys for the additional info, I appreciate it!

Corey

[Gary DeWitt]

I'm wondering why none of the regular pen turners here mentioned stabilized blanks. I haven't turned one, so I don't know if they tear out as easily as say oak or ash. Anyone care to comment?

The very easiest and most forgiving wood to turn, in my experience anyway, is maple or cherry. Neither one is very spectacular, but they would be great for practice or prototypes, to see how you like the grip.

[Bob Yarbrough]

When I started I bought a bag of 30 blanks at Woodcraft. They had two different assortments, with 15 pair of blanks (30 total) in each bag at a cost of about $1 each. Was a lot of fun turning the diferent woods.

I bought 5 palm blanks last week, destroyed 2 of them, scored two pens, and have one blank just waiting for me to attack it.

[Dale Thompson]

Corey,
At some point in your pen turning career you may wish to try turning deer antler pens. :) Put a rifle clip on the pen and you will make a die-hard friend out of your worst enemy if he/she is a hunter(I am NOT a hunter!). ;)

The blanks are difficult to make because of the shape of the antler and the SMELL is enough to, "gag a maggot on a gut wagon". :eek: The result, however, is incredible! Most people don't believe that it is antler. They think that it is ceramic - no kidding! :D

I made a pen/pencil set for my cousin a few years ago and he would not even SHOW it to his son who is also a hunter. ;) He didn't want it "stolen". ;) Anyway, I ended up making a set for his son also. It was a wedding present! :)

If the smell is THAT bad, take a dust mask and sprinkle a bit of after shave on it. That is a trick that I got from my Doctor who is also the County Coroner who does his share of autopsies! :eek:

Dale T.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I'm wondering why none of the regular pen turners here mentioned stabilized blanks. I haven't turned one, so I don't know if they tear out as easily as say oak or ash. Anyone care to comment?

The very easiest and most forgiving wood to turn, in my experience anyway, is maple or cherry. Neither one is very spectacular, but they would be great for practice or prototypes, to see how you like the grip.

I mentioned the stabilized box elder in the first response. Other stabilized blanks I've turned were fine as well. I think you can probably turn most anything if you're careful when you start getting close to the bushings...

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice pens Terry, I like the look of that wood and the bands look great!

Corey

[Corey Hallagan]

Dale, that is defenitely on my list, in fact my son has already asked me about that, he wants a letter opener and a pen and pencil set. Lots of Christmas gift ideas for next year! Thanks Dale!

Corey

[Gary DeWitt]

Kirk,
thanks, I missed it. Agreed, you can turn anything that's not harder than your tools if you're careful, including antler, bone, even stone as in soapstone or alabaster, or crumbled stone as in inlays.
Of course, in teaching it's allways best to try and give a new student something they can succeed with, and then move up to the harder stuff.:)

[Michael Cody]

Stabilized material is fun to turn and looks awesome, but it costs a lot more. I've made a lot of pens out of cherry, walnut, oak, mahagony, etc.. just from scraps from other projects. I also get scraps from the local school shop. You can turn a nice pen for under 5$ even with a better than average kit when your blanks are free. Not to mention cherry, apple, walnut, mahagony, etc.. make nice looking pens too.

[Keith Christopher]

I'm wondering why none of the regular pen turners here mentioned stabilized blanks. I haven't turned one, so I don't know if they tear out as easily as say oak or ash. Anyone care to comment?

The very easiest and most forgiving wood to turn, in my experience anyway, is maple or cherry. Neither one is very spectacular, but they would be great for practice or prototypes, to see how you like the grip.


Gary,

I've turned a few and they turn ok, but I can't stand the acrylic smell. I hate it. they look beautiful though. I like the rosewoods and cocobolo for drilling it just glides through the wood. I also think a good beginner wood is Satine (bloodwood) this looks awesome and is easy to turn. I've turned about 30 species of wood thus far and I have to say my favorite is pink ivory.


Keith

[Ron Ainge]

Pens can be made of many materials and your imagination is your limit. I have made pens out or many different types of wood and they all have there problems and benifits. I have also made pens out of copper wire and I now make most of my pens out of dried corn cobs. As you can imagine corn cob pens are quite a hit when you give them to someone who has no idea what the material you used was.

[Dale Thompson]

Corey,
As you have seen from the above posts(pics), finishing is a real key to a beautiful "custom-made" pen/pencil. :)

I'm sure that there are as many finishing opinions as there are turners. However, here's mine: The highest grit that I use for sanding is 400. Some folks go to 1200 or so but I'm not sure why. I then turn off the lathe and use the 400 along the axis of the pen to get rid of the "radial" marks. If I want a smoother finish, I grab a handful of the turning chips and, more or less, "burnish" the surface of the pen with the lathe spinning.

I then apply a coat of EEE-Ultra Shine. I REALLY like the way that it brings out the grain. Others may not like that effect.

My typical finish is one that I stole from some forum before I found my SMC Home. If I knew the author, I would be more than happy to give him/her full credit. I sincerely apologize. :) The "Witch's Brew" is 1/3 Boiled Linseed Oil, 1/3 Denatured Alcohol and 1/3 Clear shellac. As the pen is turning, keep the suface wet until the application cloth is pretty much dry and then keep refolding the rag to get a dry surface. It will not take long until the shine "pops". It is then pretty much dry.

If I have deviant hopes of getting a date with one of the pretty nurses in the geriatric ward where I spend a lot of time, I will finish things off with a bit of wax - primarily because of its odiferous characteristics. :cool: ;) :)

Contrary to some ads, NO finish will last if a pen is actually USED! :eek: :) That's GOOD!! The natural skin oils, combined with the depleted finish and wood surface, will give you a warm patina that cannot be matched by ANY man-made finish! :cool: :D

The alternative to all this work is that you can get 17 jillion pens for a buck two ninety-seven at any Dollar World, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, etc. :)

Dale T.