New turner - pen question

[scott schoenbaechler]

Got my 1st lathe today...Jet 1220. Reading these forums was very helpful in making my purchases. took peoples advice got the Jet, and got the harbour freight tools, till I get better and can sharpen them. But my Question (probably a dumb one) is what tools do you pen turners use? I have watched some videos, and I see people using different tools. Is one easier than another? Do you start with one and switch after your blank is round? Also what is a good finish? I used Mylands friction, did not come out as glossy as thought it would.

[Paul Heely]

Welcome to the creek and congratulations on your lathe.

For tools I use a skew chisel for 99% of my pen turning. For me I just like it better than using a spindle gouge. I think I get a better surface from the skew than a gouge. I also find I have an easier time cutting a nice curve with the skew over the gouge. But, some very nice pen makers will say just the opposite. Occasionally I'll still do a pen with spindle gouge just because. Try both, and any other method you hear about, and see what works better for you.

I use Enduro poly for my pen finish. I used to use CA/BLO but I'm sensitive to the fumes and usually do pens in batches and found that the CA was too irritating.

[Justin Bukoski]

Scott, I use a 1/2" PN supa gouge. I like the mass of the tool because it helps me cut smoother. I still have problems with straight lines with smaller tools.

[Jon Behnke]

Welcome to the vortex. I bought the same lathe a couple months ago, I'm really happy with it. I use a gouge to round the blank and a skew to finish shape. The skew takes some practice to get the hang of. I use friction polish on oily woods and straight CA on all other woods. I tried CA/BLO but found the straight CA worked better for me. There are as many finishing techniques as there are pen turners, you'll have to try a number of them until you find what works best for you. The IAP forums are a good resource.

[Tom Sherman]

Scott, welcome to the Creek and congrats on your new lathe.

[Alex Elias]

If you are new to turnig the 3/8" spindle gouge works wood and is not overly difficut ( i ground it to a fingenail) but grab the skew and pratice with it since it it a great tool to learn not only for pen making.
As far as finish CA/Blo works for me but ca finishes seems to have a steep learning curve (at least me) not only on the application but also some wood will take it better than others.
Enjoy the new addiction.

[Dean Thomas]

Welcome Scott!!

There's a wealth of info on penturning and finishes for pens.

Think about why you need a finish on pens--to keep body oils and acids from mucking up the wood, right? On pens or on pieces that are going to be handled a lot at a show, this is really critical. And so you need a finish that is going to stand up to chronic handling, IMO.

If the pen is actually going to be used, even if "used" only means switching shirt pockets every day and writing occasionally, you want a finish that will stand up to dings and the corrosive nature of some of the stuff that our fingers generate. When I was a young adult and regularly played brass instruments, I had to be very, very careful to wipe down any horn I touched after every use or the lacquer would get eaten away in days or weeks. My particular system is not so bad now, fortunately, but it still makes the point that you want something that's going to stand up to touching and be maintenance free. You do NOT want to have to be taking pens apart to refinish them. Your reputation and future sales will depend on how well your finishes stand up.

Most of the friction polishes are shellac based. Most, not all. Even the ones that say lacquer are suspect, IMO. Shellac based polishes (most of Mylands products for woodturners, as well as, again, most other friction polishes out there) with or without wax added are heat and moisture sensitive. Some are very sensitive, others are just sensitive. Some claim to be moisture resistant. Not good enough for pen finishes, IMO.

Lacquer finishes are better, but there is a curing time involved in lacquer. Most lacquers dry pretty quickly, but take up to 30 days to actually cure to their final hardness. Same with varnishes, actually. If you're making a pen to give or sell this weekend, lacquer won't be really ready or at its best for a month! Many folks don't know that and end up with finishes that mark easily, pick up patterns from cloth or fingerprints. When those patterns stay with the pen for 30 days, they cure into the lacquer! They're then really hard to eliminate without recoating the project.

If you're going to give or sell a pen to someone that you're going to see regularly or for your own hard use, I recommend the CA finish. I would not use BLO (boiled linseed oil, if you don't know the acronym); BLO takes time to cure also. That's beyond the drying time (and some folks have trouble getting blow to actually dry). Most oil finishes leave a nice, velvety feel, but many of them are renewable finishes, not permanent film-type finishes. For pens, I really want a film finish, and don't want to be able to feel any wood grain at all. I want to protect the heck out of it. A CA finish can be satiny or glossy or downright glassy, depending on the amount of work you put into it. Kind of like most finishes, actually.

I was really afraid of the CA finish. I went and visited a pen-making friend of mine who demystified it and took the terror out of the finish. It really is not a steep learning curve at all, again, IMO. It was pretty close to a "DOH" moment. If you're going to do CA finishes, though, I'd strongly recommend that you invest in the MicroMesh system for final finishing. Really finishes the pens nicely.

My friend showed me twice. I went home and did the finish on a hickory and cocobolo pen and showed it to him a couple of days later. He said I passed the test. :)

If you mess with CA at all, I hope that you have a bottle of debonding liquid to unstick you from things. I had a friend who regularly warned about making sure that your debonder was still liquid. He came to a meeting a few years back kind of red faced and shared that it does no good to keep your debonding liquid more than an arm's length from the lathe. He had spilled some CA and put his hand into the glue on the ways of the lathe and stuck himself there until his wife could come and find his bottle of debonder about 25 feet away. There is some wisdom in that episode, I do believe. ;)

One last thing. If you do decide to play with BLO as part of your finishing process, more than a few places and people recommend that you add either naptha or Japan drier. Naptha generally helps with the "dry to touch" or "dry to handle" time, but not really with cure time. Japan drier does seem to shorten the cure time by a few days. Japan drier is added 1 ounce to a quart of BLO, or approximately 3%. I don't remember the recommendations for thinning with naptha.

Hope some of this helps somebody along the line.

[scott schoenbaechler]

Thanks for all the info...