So I turned a zircote blank today that wood is beyond brittle I had quite a few knicks and chunks fly off but it wound up going okay.  But I'm not sure if it was a wise move on sacraficing one of my center bands that I don't have many of to use as a size gap comparrison so I could better turn down the body of the pen barrels to a better diameter.  It seemed to work out for the most part but I'm wondering if I didn't realize this was not a new thing and I'm just making newbie mistakes anyways here is the video for it.

 

Slimline pens come with 3 bushing (arrow)

 

The third bushing should be placed between the two wooden pen pieces for the entire turning process. DO NOT use the pen center ring here. It will get scratched from the turning process and covered with finish. The bushings are sized for the correct diameter of the wooden pieces where they fit into the pen parts.

 

Each type of pen kit (slimline, cigar, twist, etc.) has its own unique set of 3 bushings. They are usually not interchangeable with other pen kits and sometimes not even between manufacturers.

Edited August 14, 20205 yr by lew

Well these were slim line twist parts I started ordering parts from a company down in Arizona for those.  But I wanted to get a rough size for the body so I didn't mess up with having too much of a gap with out having the center band there. 

Edited August 14, 20205 yr by AndrewB

1 minute ago, AndrewB said:

Well these were slim line twist parts I started ordering parts from a company down in Arizona for those.  But I wanted to get a rough size for the body so I didn't mess up with having too much of a gap with out having the center band there. 

You may need to check their specs for the exact bushing diameters for their parts.

Woodcraft published this chart for WOODCRAFT pen kit. Maybe you can use it-

Master_Pen_Pencil_ Small_Turning_Kit_July2020.pdf

I'll have to take a look at that thanks...