BrianS

Here is a pic of the first pen that I made, and also one of Mike hard at work. If you will look closely, you will just see the corner of the heater behind him.. and not where I was at. Can't understand why he didn't want to give up the "hot seat".

Brian

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oldnewbie

Really nice work, Mike and Brian. Sorry I missed it. Didn't get your call until late, and had to work that day, anyway. Looks like you had a great time. Hopefully, in the near future, we can get together for another sawdust day. I'm still trying to gain skills on my router, and am afraid to try turning for fear it may make my routers feel lonely!! I'm in the process now of trying to mount that GMC router to my table with the fixed base. I have some plexiglass that I'm trying to make into a plate to fit where the OP plate is now. Having a hard time finding the time to do anything in that cold garage. My kerosene heater does alright, but I need to leave it running too long to get warm enough to heat the tools up so my arthritic fingers can enjoy it.

Neal

challagan

I think you guys will get a lot better cut if you get that lathe up about 6 inches. Your being forced to turn with the nose down and you can't ride the bevel of the gouge very well like that and that is probably why you blew up a couple blanks. Not to mention your neck and back will feel much better. Get a couple plastic saw horses and put a 2 x 12 or an old door or something like that on it and you will be cooking.

Corey

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harrysin

Corey has raised an interesting question regarding height,in MY very unskilled opinion, it looks like it would be difficult to have complete control of the chisel, but then again my turning experience does cover a little more than one week!

Brian, would you please explain the blanks you used, were they purchased or did you make them, if the latter, HOW? The pen looks fab.

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Harry

Mike

Corey: What you see is the quick solution allowing the lathe to be used. It is comfortable for me, but I am sure I will experiment with other set ups.

Harry, that is a cherry blank out of the bargin bin at Woodcraft... a 50 cent special. The interesting pattern you see is created by holding the edge of the small cut off portion not used for the tubes against the wood to actually create a friction burn.

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Mike
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BrianS

Harry, what Mike said. I'm a bit disappointed in that I didn't space them evenly when I was makikng the marks on the pen, but I'll get over it. I also, altho it doesn't show, "blew out" a chunk of the tip doing the marking process. If anyone else attempts this, be VERY careful at the tip due to the thinness of stock at that point.

Brian

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A married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!