FIRST PENS via WOODCRAFT class TODAy...

Nice looking first pens. Are you hooked yet? I am glad you finally got to use the lathe. Thank you for sharing.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

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

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.darrylmasterson.etsy.com

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 : )

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

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)

That’s it. You are done for. But hey, you are going to like your new addiction. Good job, and nice recovery.

Your pens look great, hope you try it at home soon.

-- Berta in NC

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

Nice job Napaman. These look great. (I’ve blown out my share of pen blanks)

-- Martin, Kansas

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...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

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

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

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...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...

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

The pens look great. I want to try it someday.

-- Bill from Lithia Springs, GA I love the smell of sawdust in the morning.

I love the Purple Heart. You might want to try Padauk. It has a wonderful color and is very nice to turn.

-- Festool4

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!

-- ...it's rennovation time!!!