Pen Turning Equipment

[Allen Neighbors]

I have never turned a pen. I turn mostly bowls and hollowforms. What would I have to purchase to turn some pens? I don't want to get into it as a business, just to turn a few for gifts for family members.
I have a scroll saw, cheap bandsaw, a cheap chiwanese 17" drill press, and a couple of lathes, and sanders galore.
As far as I know, I don't have anything else that is necessary to turn decent pens ... but I do have some 25mm jaws for my SN2 chuck that will hold things down to 3/8" dia. Like Schultz, I know nus-sing!
Any ideas would be appreciated.

[RL Johnson]

A pen mandrel, pen mill, busings, glue, finish, and the pen kit of your choice and you ready to go. Most people have started with the 7mm slimline kit but I like the Sierra kit as being much simpler and easy to begin and looking a little more elegant.

[Allen Neighbors]

Thanks, Randy. Right after I posted this, I went to PSI and ordered the DVD that instructs how to turn pens. I know absolutely nothing about pen turning, or what steps are required. Don't know what a pen mill or bushings are for, either. But maybe the DVD will explain all that. I just received a pen from Alex's Pen for College business, and we're ordering another one, for my wife. It is an awesome pen I'll post a photo of it, later. But that made me want to try my hand at a few of them for my family. I don't think I'll get into it in a big way, because I love hollowing too much. :D

[john l graham]

If you don't have them already, some brad point drill bits would help out with the drilling of the blanks. A vise is nice for the drilling. I use a simple 4 inch one that I made wooden jigs for to keep my pen blank steady and straight. I use my drill press with some home made teflon plastic pieces to assemble the pens. Just be sure and keep things as straight as possible when pressing. Good luck and watch out, pens are addictive!!!!! john

[Dean Thomas]

He's very right. Addictive. Great presents for family and friends, the occasional source of a couple of bucks from co-workers (especially after giving one for your gift exchange item at the company party), and for me a great source of personal joy as I make them to ship to the troops through the Freedom Pen Project.

Randy got the big chunks, and John chimed in with the brad points. That's the basis, for sure. The tutorial from PSI is pretty good, but not as thorough as I'd like to see, if memory serves. I'll have to boot it up again next week when I get it back in my hands again.

I've done what some have called a pretty thorough tutorial. If you'd like a copy, drop me a PM here on SMC, or email me.

Biggest tips surround your mandrel and its use. Make sure that your machine is correctly and thoroughly aligned. SUPER-important. Because you're working with some pretty skinny tubes of wood when all is said and done, if you're out of line by even a bit, your tubes oval fast and you have a pen that feels funny at the business end. Your live center needs to have a 60-degree tip to keep the right end of the mandrel from flailing around and making your pen wonky. Big 60 from the small aluminum cone of a Oneway or the center pin of that same Oneway, both work well. Steel point is better as it doesn't wear so quickly. IMO, of course.

Make sure that your bushings are actually round coming out of the package. They're not all round, sadly. Wax your bushings before each use, on the ends and the surface.

Lots more wisdom collected from lots of sources in the paper tutorial.

[Paul Stroik]

Hi Allen, while you are waiting for your dvd. Check out youtube as well. A lot of good visual information there, which is what I needed to get started.

[robert hainstock]

Pen turning needs! Some ""METRIC brad point drills. and as someone already pointed out, some sort of clamp device to hold the blanks at 90degrees while drilling, a barrel trimmer, ca or a good epoxy glue, and a pen mandrel. You woll also need bushings for whatever pen you start with. This to let you know definetively where to STOP removing material.
A warning, do not over tighten th tailstock live center, or there is a danger of springing the mandrel. If this happens, you will have an oval pen. Interesting, but difficult to keep aligned with a twist mechanism.
All of the above are part of that pleasant slide ever deeper onto the vortex. (HEE HEE) Good luck! ;):eek::eek::)
Bob

[Steve Campbell]

Allan;
When I started turning pens I started with a starter kit from Rocklers. It had a 7MM drill bit a barrel trimmer a mandrel it had some medium CA glue. It had the bushings I needed for the slimline pens. It also had 3 slimline pen kits with wood pen blanks. I think when I bought mine it was around 50 dollars. Since then I have turned a few slimlines and now I am turning mostly Euro type pens.
Just about every different pen you turn will take a set of bushings.
Just another way to get started.

Steve

[David Walser]

When I started turning pens I bought a "beginner's kit" very similar to this one from Craft Supplies USA: http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Pen_Making___Starter_Sets___Pen_Turning_Essentials _Kit___pen_essentials_kit?Args=

The kit contains the following items:


Pro Pen Mandrel
1oz. Insta-Bond Glue
Set of Bushings
4oz. Friction Pen Polish
7mm Drill Bit
5 Slimline Pen Kits
Barrel Trimmer Kit
5 Wood Blanks
Instructions

Of these, you most likely don't want the friction polish (it produces a quick, good looking finish that quickly wears off with use) and you most likely already have CA glue. Still, a beginner's kit is an easy way to gather all the essentials. It's also a good list of what is truly essential.

Don't bother getting a set of "pen turning tools". These are nothing more than small versions of the tools you already have. For virtually anything you do in pen making, your full size tools will work just fine. I recently posted pictures of some Sierra pens I made as Christmas gifts. For some of these, the only tool I used was a 1" skew. On others, I used nothing but a 3/4" spindle roughing gouge. My point is NOT that these are the tools you should use, nor is my point that you may never want a set of pen turning tools; my point is that large size is not a problem and you don't need special tools to turn a pen. I have a set of pen turning tools. I never use them.

For learning resources (in addition to the PSI DVD you've ordered), I highly recommend the following:


Turning Pens and Pencils Book by Rex Burningham & Kip Christensen.This book is a tad out of date, but it has lots of good information, good pictures of lots of different kinds of custom pens, and very clear instructions. http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Books___Pen_Making___Turning_Pens_and_Pencils_Book ___rb_tpapb?Args=
Volumes I & II of Rex & Kip's pen turning videos. http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Videos___Pen_Making?Args=

Between the book and two videos, Rex & Kip do a very good job of teaching the basics and the "trade secrets" that allow you to customize your pens.

Good luck and HTH!

[John Staerk]

I found these 11 free videos on U Tube extremely helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnrob281
john

[marty purselley]

I have never turned a pen. I turn mostly bowls and hollowforms. What would I have to purchase to turn some pens? I don't want to get into it as a business, just to turn a few for gifts for family members.
I have a scroll saw, cheap bandsaw, a cheap chiwanese 17" drill press, and a couple of lathes, and sanders galore.
As far as I know, I don't have anything else that is necessary to turn decent pens ... but I do have some 25mm jaws for my SN2 chuck that will hold things down to 3/8" dia. Like Schultz, I know nus-sing!
Any ideas would be appreciated.
I am a new turner so take my experience with that in mind. The fist pen is the most expensive to turn. I purchased a lot of slimline pens-I would advise against it. Sure they are cheap, easy to turn and don't use much wood, but they look like it too. My favorite to turn are the Sierra series. They have 1 tube and use half a blank and they look great. Most people are steering you towards a pen mandrel and if you are used to turning hollow forms, you could skip this set and turn between centers. You probably already have a 60 degree live and dead center so all you would need would be the bushings. Go over to the IAP and look for someone selling bushings that you can use between centers-you won't have to worry about runout again.

[Allen Neighbors]

Man alive! I love this forum! I really do appreciate all the posters to this thread. I've gotten so much good information my head's spinning. I've got two tutorials, and watched 14 videos! Now I'm an expert, and I still don't have the equipment yet. (Big Grin, here)
I've got some things on order now, and I'll post a pic if I ever get one turned. :)
Thanks again, everybody, for taking the time to help a nooby.
Blessings to you all.