Pen Forum

michaeltoc · Post by **michaeltoc** » Mon May 23, 2011 6:52 am

Mountain Mahogony: an exotic hardwood made in the USA! Check this out:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/mountain_mahogany.htm

spc · Post by **spc** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:54 am

Google is your pest friend. Any info information that you need you will be able to find on google. Just keep on searching and use different keywords and you will be sure to find want you are looking for.

cupolas and weathervanes

baysidebob · Post by **baysidebob** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:23 pm

I have a 520 and 3 older machines that I have picked up over the last 3 months. Have not done anything with the 3 newer additions as yet, but we all need projects.
I have been leaning and looking at purchase of a Mini that I could take with me on the road in my 5th wheel trailer. Haven't purchased one yet but mayd soon. I am hitting the road for the month of August. No definate destination in mind, jut time to travel a bit.
I think it would be good theropy to have a small lathe with me so I could make a few small items. Realize I would have to leave any site cleaner than when I arrived but feels this is doable also.
Who knows maybe a pen made in Washington, or Idaho would have a nicer feel than one made in California........
I also like all my SS equipment, and also own quite a bit of Powermatic equipment. I like it all, and use it all.....Hard to believe someone would be unhappy with SS for whatever reason......

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:32 pm

baysidebob wrote:I have a 520 and 3 older machines that I have picked up over the last 3 months. Have not done anything with the 3 newer additions as yet, but we all need projects.
I have been leaning and looking at purchase of a Mini that I could take with me on the road in my 5th wheel trailer. Haven't purchased one yet but mayd soon. I am hitting the road for the month of August. No definate destination in mind, jut time to travel a bit.
I think it would be good theropy to have a small lathe with me so I could make a few small items. Realize I would have to leave any site cleaner than when I arrived but feels this is doable also.
Who knows maybe a pen made in Washington, or Idaho would have a nicer feel than one made in California........
I also like all my SS equipment, and also own quite a bit of Powermatic equipment. I like it all, and use it all.....Hard to believe someone would be unhappy with SS for whatever reason......

Get a set of used way tubes, cut them to 25 5/8 / 26 3/8 each and convert one of those 3 to a mini(do not cut bench tubes). Ya could replace the original full length tubes when you return. Or cut one you have and replace with full length tubes later.

Only 'issue' may be the bench tubes if an older goldie or greenie, but the longer cut way tube piece will work with shimming only if needed.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:20 pm

If you cut the tubes to 25 5/8" and 26 3/8", I don't think you'll have sufficient space for a carriage and therefore can't use it as a lathe for turning pens. About a month ago, I trimmed 16" off of each tube on a Greenie and ended up with a lathe capacity of 18-19" and it still can perform all of the functions of a full-size Shopsmith. In hindsight, I should have only cut 14 or 15" off of the tubes so as to have more flexibility as a sanding station.

wlhayesmfs · Post by **wlhayesmfs** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:57 pm

Art is right I just made a mini and if you use those dimensions you cannot put the carriage on the machine it is only good for a power station or sanding station. You would have to go to the longer station.

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:06 pm

Here's one of the 'gimmick' materials from Penn State Industries, the coffee-bean blank

. Actually it smelled great while turning! Unfortunately my "go-to" finish, Shellawax, totally obscured the natural smell for a long time. Just lately my wife says it's starting to smell like coffee again.
[ATTACH]13821[/ATTACH]

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:33 pm

OK! How much lathe bed length is required to turn pens? Apparently 9" is not enough!(34-25)

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:50 am

Chris, the Coffee Bean pen looks great. I've seen that blank in their catalog for some time. How bad was it to turn?

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:44 am

tom_k/mo wrote:Chris, the Coffee Bean pen looks great. I've seen that blank in their catalog for some time. How bad was it to turn?

Thanks! It's been a few months back, so I'm just going by memory now. I know I had a couple of the coffee-beans chip-out during the turning. So I super-glued some of the dark dust into those voids. I think my overall impression was that making one of these coffee-pens was enough for me. (As opposed to a nice hardwood pen, which I'll do again and again.)

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