The other day I posted that I was looking for a supplier for a Dead Center for turning pen blanks between centers. WWW.penturnersproducts.com was recommended so I ordered the dead center and as a bonus they had a 3" SS tool rest for my Jet 1014 lathe so I ordered it as well. I ordered them on the 2nd of May and I recieved the tools on the 4th. Thats fast service and the tools are of the highest quality of any tools I've seen in a long time. As a bonus John Goodin included a PVC pen blank in the box. For those that heven't heard of the use of a dead center for pen turning it is basicly the use of bushings and the pen blank captured between 60 degree live center in the tail stock and a 60 degree dead center in the head stock. You don't use a pen mandril. As long as your run out on your head & tail stock and bushings are minimul and your centers are concentric you will have a concetric barrel when your done turning. My hats off to John Goodin and Penturners Products for great products and customer service. For new and experienced pen turners don't waste money on a pen mandrill and practicly elliminate out of round pen barrels. Also check out the videos on their website. 

I got to check that out. That was fast service and those look like great tools.

Don't forget the bushings.  I have been turning between centers for some time.  I was still having problems with out of round.  I checked my lathe using John's tips and found everything OK until I placed bushing on it.  Some were much worse than others, and some I could get close by repositioning them.  I only have a set of Sierra bushings (steel and derlin) so far but there are super nice. 

I tried to make a set of my own TBC bushings by drilling a spare set with a 60 degree bit.  I failed miserably.  Sometimes I have found it is better to spend money on a quality product than to try to muddle through with junk.

Greg I find myself trying to make something and it just doesn't come out the way I thought and in some cases it costs more than if I'd just bought it to begin with. But in some cases it's also driven me to purchase the tools or tooling that would allow me to make the item in the future which is why I have so many tools according to my wife.