| Project by Napaman | posted 90 days ago | 214 views | 0 times favorited | 17 comments |  |
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Did i mention it was summertime? Well…I finally made my first two pens—-and used a LATHE for the FIRST TIME…which I have been dying to do fo a long time. Last January when WayneC, Tony, Obi and I met I told Wayne about my desire to make pens…He showed me a bunch of stuff (we met at Woodcraft in Dublin, CA) to buy and I bought some…but I never moved forward after that because I had not used my lathe that came with my shopsmith…
So…I dedicate these first two pens to WayneC…
I took a class at the Santa Rosa, CA Woodcraft and had a great time…the Instructor (Neal R.) was great and there were two other nice people along with me taking the class so it made the whole experience enjoyable and I will definitely take more classes in the future…
The first pen I made turned out to be nicer. Neal showed us how to create the blanks and we turned them which gave us enough time to complete two. The first one is the striped tan wood (I am EMBARRASSED I CANT REMEMBER THE WOOD)...the second one started out as all walnut…but as the 3rd photo shows I went too far and blew out the edge which shows the tube showing through…
So Neal offered to let me make a whole new pen but I thought it would be neat so make the other end out of another wood so he suggested purple heart…and I really like the contrast…
One thing I am noticing since I got home is that I may not have put on enough of the wax or finish on the pens…becuasre the (especially the purple heart) wood seems to have soaked it up a bit…
All in all it was great—-and be ready——I bought a lot of blanks!!! I was a little nervous to use the lathe…and now I need to try my Shopsmith Lathe at home…so that is the next step!
-- Matt, Napa, CA...142 days to sanity...
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17 comments so far
trifern
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4051 posts in 252 days
posted 90 days ago
Nice looking first pens. Are you hooked yet? I am glad you finally got to use the lathe. Thank you for sharing.
-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.
lew
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1258 posts in 240 days
posted 90 days ago
Matt,
Looks like you are really enjoying your summer!!!!!!!
Really great looking pens! Be careful- you have started down the slippery slope of turning. It is very addictive!!
Lew
darryl
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855 posts in 811 days
posted 89 days ago
that purpleheart looks fantastic, love the color there!
nice looking couple of pens. you should hang on to these so you can look back on them in 6 months to a year so you can see how far you’ve come along.
good luck with this habit…
-- ~ www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.woodworkingdungeon.blogspot.com ~
Dusty56
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1166 posts in 173 days
posted 89 days ago
hey Buddy , congratulations ! You are two pens ahead of me at this point ! LOL…..I have the JET mini lathe but haven’t even come close to turning a pen yet….maybe tomorrow…yeah right LOL great job : )
-- Dusty56@comcast.net
Tony
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570 posts in 515 days
posted 89 days ago
Very nice looking pens – I have never made any pens, but they do not look the easiest thing to make for a 1st attempt at turning – well done, you should be proud of your efforts.
If you waxed the woods, I would suggest using a shellac sanding sealer first, before applying the wax – this will stop the wax from soaking into the wood – now you will have to let the wax harden and apply another very light coat óf wax every few days by hand to built up the base, then polish them out on a wheel.
-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)
rikkor
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7632 posts in 359 days
posted 89 days ago
That’s it. You are done for. But hey, you are going to like your new addiction. Good job, and nice recovery.
-- Maplewood, MN
Steelmum
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146 posts in 447 days
posted 89 days ago
Your pens look great, hope you try it at home soon.
-- Berta in NC
Dick, & Barb Cain
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5066 posts in 784 days
posted 89 days ago
Very nice Matt!
And I’m proud of you for not being afraid to show off your mistake.
-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1
Woodhacker
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508 posts in 208 days
posted 89 days ago
Nice job Napaman. These look great. (I’ve blown out my share of pen blanks)
-- Martin, Kansas
Napaman
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1787 posts in 562 days
posted 89 days ago
Thanks everyone!!! My sister already has her eye on the purple heart…but I bought a bunch of blanks…and last night i ordered the mandrel for my shopsmith lathe so I can do them at home…
If you have never done them they are pretty easy…but fun…its the kind of thing where I can see myself prepping a bunch of blanks then turning them a few at a time in the evenings after work…
Well…definitely more coming…LOL…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...142 days to sanity...
Shopsmithtom
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250 posts in 680 days
posted 89 days ago
Way to go! Pen turning can become a bit addicting, so prepare yourself to have a lot of pens in the house, or you can do as I do, give them away. I give them as rewards to my business associates when they hit certain goals.
I look forward to seeing the results from the Shopsmith lathe. -SST
-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you
bfd
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253 posts in 292 days
posted 89 days ago
Nice Pens Matt! I have never attempted pens before but it looks like alot of fun. Very Apropos being a teacher too! Did you get different species of blanks?
-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com
Napaman
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1787 posts in 562 days
posted 89 days ago
BFD…yep…I got lots of different blanks…but many were in a “grab bag area” “ten for $8” area so I dont know the species on all of them…I should have asked…
I also got a 10 pack of zebra wood…and I bought a bunch of others in January…when I first got interested in this and today I was looking for them and cant find them!!!
-- Matt, Napa, CA...142 days to sanity...
pinkfish
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39 posts in 156 days
posted 88 days ago
The striped wood looks like zebrawood?
An interesting thing you can do with pens, those looks like the standard 7mm kit? You can remove the metal band in the middle altogether. So long as you keep the dimensions the same, the width of the band, well + or minus a bit, you can make a pen without the band. This also frees you to make different shaped pens from that original kit. The 7mm kit is the most versatile of all the kits I have used.
There are a bunch of other interesting things you can do with pens here:
http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Projects/pens.html
Bill Akins
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105 posts in 183 days
posted 88 days ago
The pens look great. I want to try it someday.
-- Bill from Lithia Springs, GA I love the smell of sawdust in the morning.
Festool4
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54 posts in 263 days
posted 88 days ago
I love the Purple Heart. You might want to try Padauk. It has a wonderful color and is very nice to turn.
-- Festool4
Mark Shymanski
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514 posts in 197 days
posted 87 days ago
Very cool! Good luck getting the ShopSmith up and latheing. Everytime I read one of the posts about lathe work I want to try it…I just have to convince Jenn that I really NEED a lathe. Don’t spend the entire rest of the summer inside with the lathe!
-- ....next big purchase is wood for the next project, Mark