Vaughn McMillan
05-29-2006, 4:24 PM
I know pen-making is old hat to most of you folks, but I thought I'd show my first three attempts at making pens on my little Wilton mini lathe. I bought a variety of kits from Berea, PSI and Rockler, so I'm working my way through them.
I made the cherry slimline first, then a bloodwood version of the same pen, then a purpleheart Mont Blanc style in Berea's black titanium. All three were sanded to 1200 then finished with several coats of Minwax wipe-on poly (since it was handy) and a couple coats of wax.
Here's a group shot (with less than ideal focus):
39691
My very first pen :o. Made from some scrap cherry I had laying around. I wasn't paying good attention when sanding the finer grits, so I got a little darkening of the wood as the result of carrying metal sanding dust from the bushings into the wood grain. Also, the wood barrel thickness is a little shy of the hardware. Got a little carried away with the 220 grit flexi-skew:
39692
A bloodwood version of the same, with a somewhat better (but still imperfect) fit:
39693
And the purpleheart Mont Blanc knockoff. I need to get better at sizing the tenon for the center band. (I have no idea if I'm using the parting tool correctly when making the tenon.) The tenon fit perfectly before sanding, but was a bit loose by the time I was ready to assemble the pen. Thank goodness for epoxy:
39694
I still need to get better at judging how much material will be lost to the sanding process. The fit between the wood diameter and the hardware diameter is getting better, but it's still not perfect.
I've got a few fancy blanks that I bought at Rockler, plus some pretty nice scraps from my own woodpile that I plan to use for the next pens. Even though my technique still isn't spot on, I think I'm ready to try using some nice wood. I'm still waiting on the Wolverine sharpening jig knockoff I ordered from PSI to arrive. I've been touching up my HF chisels with diamond sharpening paddles, but I think they need to be properly sharpened before I get too deep into any burly or curly wood.
Comments, critique and suggestions are welcome as always.
- Vaughn
I made the cherry slimline first, then a bloodwood version of the same pen, then a purpleheart Mont Blanc style in Berea's black titanium. All three were sanded to 1200 then finished with several coats of Minwax wipe-on poly (since it was handy) and a couple coats of wax.
Here's a group shot (with less than ideal focus):
39691
My very first pen :o. Made from some scrap cherry I had laying around. I wasn't paying good attention when sanding the finer grits, so I got a little darkening of the wood as the result of carrying metal sanding dust from the bushings into the wood grain. Also, the wood barrel thickness is a little shy of the hardware. Got a little carried away with the 220 grit flexi-skew:
39692
A bloodwood version of the same, with a somewhat better (but still imperfect) fit:
39693
And the purpleheart Mont Blanc knockoff. I need to get better at sizing the tenon for the center band. (I have no idea if I'm using the parting tool correctly when making the tenon.) The tenon fit perfectly before sanding, but was a bit loose by the time I was ready to assemble the pen. Thank goodness for epoxy:
39694
I still need to get better at judging how much material will be lost to the sanding process. The fit between the wood diameter and the hardware diameter is getting better, but it's still not perfect.
I've got a few fancy blanks that I bought at Rockler, plus some pretty nice scraps from my own woodpile that I plan to use for the next pens. Even though my technique still isn't spot on, I think I'm ready to try using some nice wood. I'm still waiting on the Wolverine sharpening jig knockoff I ordered from PSI to arrive. I've been touching up my HF chisels with diamond sharpening paddles, but I think they need to be properly sharpened before I get too deep into any burly or curly wood.
Comments, critique and suggestions are welcome as always.
- Vaughn