thinking of turning some pens.

[Stephen Sebed]

I am taking my second year of wood shop in high school this year and my main project is a chest of drawers which I plan on completing by March. This gives me about 9 weeks of school left and I am thinking of making 2 sets of matching pen/eversharp. I want 2 sets because it would be perfect timing for my mother's birthday and then I could keep the other set.

I was thinking of making one set out of either cherry or walnut and the other out of osage orange. OK, for my first question. I have plenty of old osage orange fence posts which I could get a nice section to make a pen with, but has anyone tried using irregular pieces, like a fence post, to get decent stock? How should I go about doing this?

What are your opinions on using osage orange for one of these sets?

The school's lathes are made by Oliver and have a capacity of around 3 feet, can I still turn pens on these lathes or do I need a small pen lathe to make pens?

Thanks,
Stephen

[Richard Allen]

Hi Stephen

Turning pens on an Oliver should work fine. You need pen making "stuff" like a mandril and bushings for the pen kit you want to make and the proper sized drill bits.

As for wood. Most any dry wood will work. Heavly figured woods tend to look nicer as there is so little wood to show in a pen. A wood like cherry or walnut is going to look monochrome and display very little grain. Osage orange will fair slightly better because of the variation between early season and late season growth. Osage tends to brown with age and an old fence post can already be in that state.

I would sugest that you contact the local woodturning club and find someone who turns pens to help you out with the whole process (wood selection, tools...).

If you want a turning project for school you might consider a couple of candle sticks from one of those fence posts. The fence post could have a good sentemental value, a candle stick has enough wood to show off the grain and a candle stick doesn't need "special" equipment like a pen does.

Good Luck

Richard

[Stephen Sebed]

OK, so there is some special equipment that I would need. Besides the pen kit what do I need, and could you give me an estimate on the prices?

Where do you guys buy your pen kits from, and which style is your favorite?

Thanks,
Stephen

[Ken Salisbury]

OK, so there is some special equipment that I would need. Besides the pen kit what do I need, and could you give me an estimate on the prices?
Where do you guys buy your pen kits from, and which style is your favorite?
Thanks,
StephenI buy the majority of my pen supplies, etc from Berea Hardwoods (http://www.bereahardwoods.com). Visit their web site for more information. They have the best prices and are a very customer oriented business. I suggest you order a catalog.

You need a mandrel shaft (there are 2 different sizes) with an arbor to fit your lathe and bushing sets (unique to the kit(s) you are making) and of course the necessary finishing supplies.

Woodcraft (http://shop.woodcraft.com/Woodcraft/dept.asp?0=dept%2Easp%2Cdept%5Fid%3D10000%26Tree%3 D%2CDepartments&dept%5Fid=1056&mscssid=00524A585B3D9482BBD428594CBE3AD3&Gift=&GiftID=) and Pennstate Industries (http://www.pennstateind.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PSI&Category_Code=PSS)along with several other suppliers also sell the mandrels/arbors, etc

p.s. please read this post: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?threadid=4937

[Dave Arbuckle]

I made a pen once out of Osage Orange. Probably will never do it again ;), but I survived.

When fresh cut, it has that gorgeous yellow color, but it doesn't last. After a couple or three years, it is kind of a tannish orange. Not ugly, but nothing like it started.

All that to say, if it's that bright yellow you are after, I would going a different route. If there is interest, I could put up a picture of how the pen looks now.

Dave

[Scott Greaves]

Hey Stephen,

I think it's great that you want to make some pen and pencil sets! Good for you!

You have gotten some good advice so far. I like Berea as well. Very good kits and nice people.

The Oliver is a great lathe, and should do well for turning pens.

Besides turning tools, you will need a pen mandrel to fit the lathe. Ask your instructor, but I think that lathe uses a #2 Morse taper. You wil need a drill bit that is the right size for the kits you are turning. You need glue to glue the brass tubes into the pen blanks. You will need sandpaper up to at least 400 grit. And you need a finish. One of the best finishes, and easy to apply, is HUT Crystal Coat. To assemble the pen you will need some kind of "press". Many use a drill press for this - I personally use a clamp.

Contacting your local woodturning club is a good idea. You may find somebody who would be willing to teach you penturning, that would already have all the necessary equipment. Besides, there is nothing like learning from somebody who knows how!

Osage Orange should work fine for you. I have heard that the portion of old fence posts that was below the ground often takes on rich, interesting color. I would start there. Using a bandsaw, cut off the end of the fencepost until you get to sound wood. Then cut off a piece about six inches long. Then use the bandsaw to slice this chunk into slices about an inch thick, and again slice those slices into pieces that end up 1" x 1" x 6". From here you would follow the directions that comes with the pen kit.

I hope you do go through with your plan to make these pen and pencil kits. Woodturning is a wonderful activity that can keep you interested the rest of your life. Good Luck!

Scott.

[Stephen Sebed]

Alright, thanks for all the replies so far.
I am still planning on making these sets so I will probably come up with a few more questions eventually, so I hope you guys don't get tired of me.

Dave Arbuckle would you please post a pic of your osage orange pen?
What type of wood would you recommend that would have some figure? I would like to cut the would myself but I will buy some if it will work better. What about mulberry or maybe a hackberry burl, if I can find one?

I looked at Berea and found a kit that looks good. here is what was listed in the kit:

Introductory Kit
5 Pens Regular Gold
5 Pencils Regular Gold
Mandrel and Bushings

$30.00 PPD

So items that I need besides what's in the kit:
Glue- will Titebond or Gorilla glue work?
drill bit- is this a special size or just longer than an ordinary twist bit?
finish-will Deft laquer work OK, I will have some left over from my other project and this would save me $10

Is there anything that I'm missing

Thanks,
Stephen

[Dave Arbuckle]

Unfortunately, this takes two pictures to tell the tale. The first picture shows the woods off pretty well, but the colors aren't very true because of the flash. The second picture is quite good on the color, if you can keep your eyes from watering from the fuzziness...

http://users2.ev1.net/~arbuckle/pens/s1010017.jpg

http://users2.ev1.net/~arbuckle/pens/s1010020.jpg

The Osage Orange one is in the middle. To its left is Walnut, to its right is Redheart. The far right is Cocobolo.

The far left is my favorite pen ever. It is Boxelder burl. I think most figured woods just don't come off well on such a small piece as a pen, but burls can really do well. If you can find a burl that has tons of small figuring, that's the ideal pen piece for my taste.

For glue, I've used both CA (Superglue) and epoxy. I doubt Titebond would work, and don't know at all about Gorilla glue.

Berea should list the exact size the drill bit needs to be. There are a lot of different sizes used, some of which are rather unusual. These pens took a letter size "O" bit, which I don't believe matches any common fractional. Frankly, I find boring the blanks to be the hardest part of pen turning. ;)

Dave

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Stephen,

I think that is the same introductory kit I started with. It should do fine for you. Burls have lots of figure in them, and make great pens. Don't use Titebond glue for your pens - the Gorilla glue is a polyurethane glue, and is what I use most of the time. Rough up the brass tubes with some sandpaper a bit before gluing so the glue sticks better. The parabolic bits sold by Berea are nice, but I like bullet bits better - Craft Supplies (The Woodturners Catalog) sells one of those. But in reality, just about any 7mm bit will work just fine. Where you're using Gorilla glue, you could even drill your hole a bit oversized because the glue will expand to fill in the extra space. I have friends that use Deft as a pen finish. I understand it can be tricky. If you feel comfortable using it, then that is great! Try it out on a test piece first. A friction polish, such as the HUT Crystal Coat, Mylands or Shellawax is easy and a very nice finish.

Please feel free to ask questions. We never get tired of helping young turners! A book might help - I like the one by Kip Christensen and Rex Burningham. Good Luck!

Scott.

[Stephen Sebed]

where do you recommend buying the drill bit from?

How would you apply Deft to a pin?

Thanks,
Stephen

[Scott Greaves]

where do you recommend buying the drill bit from?

How would you apply Deft to a pin?

Hi again Stephen,

If you're buying the kits and mandrel from Berea, get the drill bit from them too! Why make it harder than it needs to be?

Many who use Deft on pens use an airbrush to spray it on. An inexpensive airbrush can be had from Harbor Freight for under $10. I'm thinking of getting one of these myself.

Good Luck!

Scott.

[Dave Arbuckle]

I agree with Scott, use the same vendor. It not only is easier to order, but if there's any problem at all with fit, it is easy to figure out who to call. ;)

Dave

[Aaron Koehl]

Alright, thanks for all the replies so far.
I am still planning on making these sets so I will probably come up with a few more questions eventually, so I hope you guys don't get tired of me.


Bah! And don't forget to tell all of your Woodshop buddies (and teacher) about SawmillCreek! (And of course, tell them to use real names)

_Aaron_