Pen turning questions

[Scott Hackler]

Ok, the recent slicing up of my free sliver maple logs (that had spalting streaks), made me think that a few pens might need to be made so this wood isnt wasted. So, i am about to order a pen mandrel and all the extra junk (along with 5 pen kits) to try my hand at pen turning.

My question is regarding drying pen blanks. Will the Dna method work? Or should I rough cut 1" square blanks and let them shelf dry? Whats the best method for green wood?

Thanks in advance....

Scott

[Philip Duffy]

Scott, Pretty high risk, using green wood for pens. Suggest you dry them in the oven a long time at low temp. Weigh them accurately before and after you think they are dry, then dry them some more until the weight change is zero. They need to be very stable and even the most careful drying may not be enough, depending on the wood and the style/model of kit. Good luck! Philip

[David Walser]

Scott,

If you have the time, air drying should work. The point is you want the blanks dry before you try to turn the wood into pens. If it were me, I'd slice the wood into 3/4" - 1" thick planks (thickness depending on the types of pens you'd like to make) and work around any checking, warping, and twisting that might occur after the planks dry. You're just after some blanks that are about 5/8" (or whatever) square by about 5" long. It doesn't have to be perfectly square nor does it have to be free from any twist or warp. That allows you to cut blanks from just about any dry board -- no matter how twisted or cracked it may be.

Since you're new to pen turning, take a look at this tutorial: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=113201

Then, don't do anything the tutorial suggests! You're too new to pen turning to try any of the sophisticated techniques demonstrated in the tutorial. (It's more of an aspirational thing.)

Good luck!

[Phil St.Germain]

Scott,

I just finished 20 Walnut pens for a customer that provided the log. I processed the log into 7/8ish blanks and DNA soaked them for a couple days then air dried for a little less than a month. Your mileage may vary.

I have found Maple very easy so dry.

Good luck

[Scott Hackler]

Sounds good. I ordered the ingredients for the pen turning process, but likely will not be tuning one (or some) for a while. I just want the option of being able to turn a pen if I want.

Of course I will be eye-balling small chunks of wood in a different light now.

I already "planked" up the maple scraps but I will look at them to see how thick they really are and reduce them to 1".

Thanks

[Chris Hayes]

Scott --

I'm doing something almost identical. My neighbor had a maple die on him last year and he's just getting it to cutting it down.
When I saw some of the marbling on the end grain I knew that it was going to be really cool on the inside. So I've cut a bunch into pen board sizes and dunked them into the DNA bucket (which I've just set up this weekend for a piece I'm still finishing).

What I have learned, from some spalted Birch that I've got-- the books and tutorials say run the rpm around 1500 and cut there. With the air dried stuff I've found that it stays together better when its run closer to 2200 rpm and I take VERY light cuts. (of course that could be the nature of this birch too...) To keep everything together, I've been doing a super-glue finish helps stabilize everything too when you're done (not only a finish but a garantee!).

I'll be curious to see what you get when things get done for you. I'll be posting pens when I've got mine done..

Chris

[Scott Hackler]

Chris,


When I sliced up my pen board blanks I noticed that the spalting wasnt in "all" of the boards so I will likely cut up the boards in a way that only saves the spalted parts and do the Dna route.

I will be looking for some darker wood to make a few pens out of as well. I ordered the stuff to make European twist style and 5 kits so we will see what happens!

Scott

[Chris Hayes]

I'll gladly post what I find in my boards as well...I've got a myriad of pen types to make out of this stuff.