Started on my first pen

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:07 pm

Still a few pen turning questions

The old thread for this is at:

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=9490

I am now at the point of starting my first pen. I want to again thank everyone who help me with my questions and those that posted additional help along the way.

Based on what I think I learned, and understand I'm going to give this a try. I may not have done it "your" way this time so don't feel you were ignored, that wasn't the case. I simply picked a piece here and there and went with the things I had available or could make do with or in some cases could order cheaply.

I am documenting by adventure so I know what I did and how I did it. I may or may not do it this way again depending on what I find out as I work on to the finished product.

I marked the pen blank (olive wood) using tape.

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Then things started getting foggy again. Since as I understand it the center portion of the pen should have matching grain. This means a single cut some where in the center is needed. The instructions say you need to have the wood about a 1/4" longer the the brass (tubes inserted in the middle of the wood). The "extra" material would then have to be trimmed off the ends. There will be about 1/8" sanded away from each of the blanks to get to the brass tubes, so the grain is somewhere from 1/4" plus a saw kerf away from matching but then there it is the center band on the pen that would cause some spacing for your eyes to "blend" any differences.... OK maybe I'm over thinking this. Decision was keep it simple and wait and see.
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I used my miter sled to cut the blank into the segments.

[ATTACH]15988[/ATTACH]

Drilled the blanks.

[ATTACH]15989[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]15990[/ATTACH]

Ruffed up the brass with 220 grit paper.

[ATTACH]15991[/ATTACH]

Glued and now drying until tomorrow or another day when it is warm enough to work again.

[ATTACH]15992[/ATTACH]

Ed

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:12 pm

Looking good there Ed!

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:42 pm

Ed,

Great job, Keep up the good work. When I assemble my brass tubes and wood blanks, I attempt to get the brass tube even with the center ends of both blanks. My process is to draw a line along the center portion of one side of wood prior to cutting into two blank sections. Then I draw a line across 1/2 of ends of the centers. This way I can line up the blanks to keep the grain together. I seldom cut either blank more than 1/8" longer than the brass tubes. Once all glue is dried I take a marker and mark the insides of the brass tubes adjacent to the end marks on blanks. I find that the end marks on the wood generally disappears in finishing process. Jim

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:34 pm

Hi Jim,

As of now I have tape on the parts so there is no way I can confuse them. I plan to keep it that way until I am ready to turn, then I'll mark them and remove the tape.

I was wondering about why the wood needed to be a 1/4" longer but since I'm new at this I went with the instructions. I'll mark the paper in pencil to read 1/8" for take two.

I can see that it would be nice to do a bunch at a time, but until I do one I don't want to take a chance on misunderstanding things and wrecking things. If things go well I will do up the other two kits at the same time.

Wish I could go out and do the sizing and start turning right now but I'm on some meds and can't do that for 8-10 hours. Boy I hope it warm enough to work in the shop again tomorrow.

I'll feel better once I have one done, and of course that is if it all works out fine enough.

Ed

fjimp wrote:Ed,

Great job, Keep up the good work. When I assemble my brass tubes and wood blanks, I attempt to get the brass tube even with the center ends of both blanks. My process is to draw a line along the center portion of one side of wood prior to cutting into two blank sections. Then I draw a line across 1/2 of ends of the centers. This way I can line up the blanks to keep the grain together. I seldom cut either blank more than 1/8" longer than the brass tubes. Once all glue is dried I take a marker and mark the insides of the brass tubes adjacent to the end marks on blanks. I find that the end marks on the wood generally disappears in finishing process. Jim

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:15 am

Hmmmmmmm. Wonder what Ed is covering up this time!?:rolleyes: Adjustable stop collar for the carriage?:D

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:17 am

JPG40504 wrote:Hmmmmmmm. Wonder what Ed is covering up this time!?:rolleyes: Adjustable stop collar for the carriage?:D

I too was wondering about that...

I would have probably just laid a shop rag over it.

.

joedw00 · Post by **joedw00** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:24 am

Looks like you are off to a good start.

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:51 am

JPG40504 wrote:Hmmmmmmm. Wonder what Ed is covering up this time!?:rolleyes: Adjustable stop collar for the carriage?:D

Naw, in January in Chicagoland, it would be an icicle, right?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:40 am

robinson46176 wrote:I too was wondering about that...

I would have probably just laid a shop rag over it.

.

Would have been far less conspicuous!;)

Me thinks it was 'overlooked' at 'camera' time!:D Again!:eek:

fiatben · Post by **fiatben** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:51 am

I haven't turned a pen in a long time, but memory says that I drilled my blanks before splitting them in half. That way the grain is more closely aligned (which can show on something so small) and I only had to drill the wood for a given pen one time.
And, yeah, if you find you like this, you'll want to jig up and prep a whole stack of blanks at once. I still have probably around 100 blanks in various stages of finishing. (Sad, I know) And hundreds of blanks that aren't even drilled yet. (Yeah, it's addicting)

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Started on my first pen

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