Turned my First Pen Today

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Thu May 31, 2012 3:02 pm

Culprit,

I'm interested in that old piece of equipment in the background. Is that a wood flywheel. The engine looks to be 100 years old

Culprit · Post by **Culprit** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:41 pm

fredsheldon wrote:Culprit,

I'm interested in that old piece of equipment in the background. Is that a wood flywheel. The engine looks to be 100 years old

You're close - it's 88 years old this year, made it 1924. It's a Fuller & Johnson Farm Pump Engine. It's been in my wife's family since 1929. I found it in the hay loft of my father-in-law's barn and got it running again. They flywheel is metal, and has a metal shroud around it, but the linkage between the flywheel and pump is wood.

Here are a couple of videos of it running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMnfwsP0NgM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzDyNL-P_KA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMlQZqgbgM0

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 10:53 am

Culprit, thanks for sharing the videos. I love old engines and how they operate. So, is that a pressure releif valve on top that acts as a speed controller or is it overhead valves?

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:33 am

To get back on subject, I just ordered my Universal Lathe Pen Mandrel Set, 5 Funline Slimline Econony Gold Pen Kits, Live Tailstock Center and am about to pick up some wood blanks from a friend here at work. I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I also plunge into pen turning.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:08 pm

fredsheldon wrote:Culprit, thanks for sharing the videos. I love old engines and how they operate. So, is that a pressure releif valve on top that acts as a speed controller or is it overhead valves?

The governor holds the exhaust valve open when speed is 'up'. As it slows down, the exhaust valve is 'allowed' to close(ride on it's cam[maybe if it has one]) so that the intake stroke will pull a vacuum through the intake valve bringing gas/air into the cylinder. . . .

cdmclain · Post by **cdmclain** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:40 pm

Culprit wrote:Otherwise I would have bought the PSI Shopsmith-specific mandrel.

Thanks again.

Culprit,

Nice first pen! Having already turned down the dark path of pen turning, I find it a great lathe project which people really appreciate as gifts. I started turning pens using the drill chuck to hold a pen mandrel. As I further got into turning pens, I ordered the Shopsmith pen mandrel from Penn State. For what it is worth, I found the pens I made improved. I have tried turning exotic woods and acrylics but find that people like to have pens made from local woods possibly from a fallen tree on their property. I cut, drill and glue up the Friday night before the weekend so I am ready to roll the next morning. Have fun!

Carry

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:54 pm

cdmclain wrote:Culprit,

but find that people like to have pens made from local woods possibly from a fallen tree on their property. Have fun!

Carry

Excellent point. I have a good friend in Virginia who immigrated to this country from Great Britain as a youth. While my wife and I were visiting his home he learned of my enjoying pen turning and offered a stump from a dead apple tree. When I mailed the first two completed pens from that Apple tree to my friend and his wife he wrote back they were displaying them in a china cabinet along side the fine British china and memorabilia of British royalty. This is but one story of how much people enjoy seeing a work of art that originated from their own yard. I love collecting fine woods from people I know and returning finished pens and pencils as a gift. The expression on their faces are truly priceless. Jim

rkh2 · Post by **rkh2** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:46 pm

Very nice job on first pen. Like what has already been said, it can be addicting!! I use the mandrels from Penn State and have been very satisfied with their products. I learned how to turn by taking classes at a Woodcraft Store in Franklin, TN, started out with spindle and bowls first then pens, lidded boxes, ornaments and really enjoy turning. I posted a link to a captive ring baby rattle that I learned on my own a couple of years ago, just to show you where you can go in the turning world. The prices mentioned for the pens are right in the ballpark. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... ing+rattle

Culprit · Post by **Culprit** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:06 am

fredsheldon wrote:Culprit, thanks for sharing the videos. I love old engines and how they operate. So, is that a pressure releif valve on top that acts as a speed controller or is it overhead valves?

JPG was right on. There are two overhead valves. The exhaust valve is operated by a pushrod on a cam. The intake valve has a spring but no pushrod. It is activated by the vacuum created by the piston going down.

It is a hit and miss governed engine. There is a spring governor on the back side of the flywheel. When there is no load on the engine and the flywheel is spinning too fast, the governor opens and does two things: disconnects the spark, and holds the exhaust valve open. Holding the exhaust valve open means there is no vacuum on the suck stroke and consequently no fuel drawn into the cylinder. That makes the flywheel freewheel for a couple rotations until it slows down and the spring closes the governor allowing the engine to suck fuel and fire again.

It's an early 1900's version of green fuel savings technology! :P)

A unique element of this brand of engine is that there are 2 exhaust mechanisms. There is the pushrod activated valve on the head, but there is also an exhaust port in the cylinder wall similar to a 2 stroke engine (but this is a 4 stroke). Since it is an air cooled engine, the exhaust port at the bottom of the piston's travel let's the engine get rid of heat faster - not all the heat gets pushed out the top exhaust valve as the piston comes up after the bang stroke. A lot of heat is removed from the system as soon as the power stroke is over when the piston gets to the bottom.

Culprit · Post by **Culprit** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:16 am

fjimp, that is exactly what I have planned. I brought back some pieces of apple wood from my brother's firewood pile on his property. I took a handsaw to the inside of my father in law's barn (when he wasn't looking) that the whole family has worked for generations. I salvaged most of the redbud tree at church that had to come down - it had shaded Pastor's parking spot for over 30 years.

Guess what people are getting for Christmas?!

I am trying to think of a way to get wood from the farm my father grew up on and that I visited my grandparents at as a kid, but it's no longer in the family and we're not planning a trip to Ohio anytime soon, but we'll see.