Well I finally got the pen blank in the mail today. The should be there in 3-4 days. I'm kink of slow but I didn't want to make a special trip to town just to mail the blanks. You may be a little shocked when you see the postage cost. Don't worry about it, I 'm use to it. This is my gift to you, just send me a pen when you get time.

Good Morning Joshua,

I have never tried to turn a pen or pencil set before as my lathe is a JET 12/36 style and the drive chuck is rather large for pen blanks. What would I have to do to use this lathe for turning pens? It seems to me that it would dwarf the pen blanks and be too cumberson to use.

Ralph

Ralph, my lathe is a Jet 12/36 and I turn pens on it all the time. The first thing you need to do pens is a pen mandrel.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2001608/10989/Professinal-Pen-Turning-Mandrel-2-MT.aspx

After that it is just picking of pen kits.

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Good Morning Joshua,
I have never tried to turn a pen or pencil set before as my lathe is a JET 12/36 style and the drive chuck is rather large for pen blanks. What would I have to do to use this lathe for turning pens? It seems to me that it would dwarf the pen blanks and be too cumberson to use.

Ralph

Joshua, give me a few days to make up my mind on which style of pen I would like. You have so many beautiful pens it's hard to make up my mind.

Hey John and Joshua,

I have an item to return to the store for it was not the right thing I needed and since the price was over $50 I may just take the balance out in trade rather than a refund.

John, I jotted down the item number for the mandrel and I'll still have some money left to put toward the tree tools for turning the pens. Thanks fellows for the information.

Ralph

Good deal Ralph, just let us know if we can help.

Thanks

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Hey John and Joshua,
I have an item to return to the store for it was not the right thing I needed and since the price was over $50 I may just take the balance out in trade rather than a refund.

John, I jotted down the item number for the mandrel and I'll still have some money left to put toward the tree tools for turning the pens. Thanks fellows for the information.

Ralph

Hey John and Joshua,

Just ask if we can help," HELP" Besides the mandrel. What other item will i need to buy to get me started in pen and pencil making. From what I can see there seems to be quite a lot of things besides the mandrel for my JET 12/36 lathe.

I usually make various things for Christams Gifts and these would be a great way for me to give for the occasion.

Lay it on me fellows and give me a good wish list with everything I will need except the wood blanks for I have plenty of those except the exotic ones. I am anxious to make the Celtic ring.

Ralph

John Moody said:

Good deal Ralph, just let us know if we can help.

Thanks



Ralph Allen Jones said:

Do you have a chuck with a set of pen faces. I do all of my drilling of the blanks on the lathe. I used to do it on the drill press and had to get a pen blank vise to keep it straight. After doing them on the lathe I get a straighter hole in the middle all the way through.

You don't have to get a pen press, but they are nice in pressing the parts on after the pen is turned. You can use a clamp to press them together. Same thing with the vise, you can use a clamp to hold the blank if you want to drill on the drill press. You will need a drill bit to match the kit you are purchasing. Some of them will use a 7 mm and some of them use a little larger bit and since I am in the house right now I don't remember the size for the Wall Street II pens.

I usually sand mine to 2000 grit. I get the higher grit paper at the auto parts store. I finish them with BLO and CA glue. Put a few drops of blo on a paper towel and put it on the pen while it is still on the lathe. Follow that with a few drops of CA glue. You want it to turn fast and move the paper towel back and forth pretty quick. The heat sets the CA glue. I usually repeat that process about 6 times. It takes about 15 minutes to finish a pen.

After that I buff them with the Beal buffing system. I put the three wheels on the lathe and work through the different finishes.

If you order the kits from Woodcraft, you can go on their web site and download the instructions.

I guess that is about it. Maybe someone will fill in whatever I left out.