Pen Turning Chisels

[Fred Conte]

Are pen turning chisels necessary or can I use my regular chisels. If it's better or easier with smaller chisels what would you recommend?

Thanks for your advice...:)

Fred

[Keith Christopher]

get a set of turning tools.

Parting tool
roughing gouge
skew chisel


pretty much all you need for pens. get the midi set tho, the others are a bit much. Some would say a scraper, but on pens I use an 80 or 100 grit scraper.

[Paul Heely]

All I use for my pens is an 1/8" parting tool and a 3/4" skew chisel. I use the skew for everything from roughing to finish cuts. Only time I don't use the skew is for cutting tenons on euro and Americana type pens. My tools are all full size and I don't think they cause any problems.

[Mike A. Smith]

I agree with Paul, skew and parting tool is about it, although I do use a spindle gouge when doing a long curve. You can do this with a skew as well, but I'm not quite there yet.

[Rich Souchek]

Little chisels/tools are a waste of $.
Only need a parting tool or two, decent skew, and spindle gouge.
Rich S.

[Bob Hallowell]

Fred, I don't have pen chisel's and I have made alot of pens. Until recently I used mostly the 3/4 roughing, round nose scraper, and a 1/4 spindle gouge all from my Hf chisels. Now I mostly use the skew. So as you can see you can use any chisel you feel comfortable with. you needn't not worry about what others use just what works for you. I know a guy who makes very nice pens and the only tool he used is a scraper.

Bob

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Fred.....I have a small pinnacle set. The only thing I've used it for is turning extremely tight corners on some knobs I made for a guy. For pens...3/4" skew is it.

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

fred--

i turn my pens with a 3/4" roughing gouge to about 95% complete, then the final shaping is done with a 3/4" spindle master.

sandpaper brings them to a final smooth contour.

i use a parting tool for tenons.

i think the larger, heavier tools are easier to control and keep steady than the smaller tools. but, that just might be personal preference.