From Corian

I just got my new pen mandrel from Pen State Industries and it came with a free 7mm drill. Too bad I bought on last week. The bushing for the 7mm pens are larger than the fittings for the kits I got from Rockler, so I have to remember to grab the right set, or just use the micrometer more consistently. The guide bushings may actually fit the pens from Pen State, but I haven't bought any kits from them, yet. They do have a nice variety as well as some high quality sets. Anyway, the shot with the corian I picked up the other day shows the mandrel. The shaft length is adjustable on this mandrel, which is really nice.

I tried to show how I press the pen pieces together, but the picture is fuzzy. The point was that I turned two blocks for the lathe that allow me to use the lathe itself as the press. Makes it easier than buying another tool. These wear our so I get to keep turning these blocks and tossing the old ones. I considered using corian for the blocks, but I thought it might be too hard.


And of course, the final shot. This pen is laying on the back side of the piece of corian I turned.


A final shot is a green and yellow pen. The center band is black acrylic that is part of the pen. I also turned a black tip for the pen, which you will see when the pen is finished. I haven't decided about whether to put a clip on the pen, or just top it with a black turning. Come back later and see.

Enjoy and be careful of the splinters.

A Pink Pen

Here is another pen from and unknown wood, but the pink coloration should make it easy to find out. The first image shows the pen blank in 3 stages:

• Drilled and Mounted.
  
• Rough turned with no sanding
  
• Sanded to 600 grit
  

The rest of the pictures show the final pen, after coating it with CA and then polishing it to 12000 grit.


Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Another Pen

You might be getting tired of the pens, but I'm not. Here is a twist pen that was made from a wood block that was given to me as a present. I do not know what type of wood it is, but it is pretty and it took the finish I gave it well. I tried three different things with this pen:

• Get a closer cut at the tip of the pen, you know, the joint between the gold tip and the wood barrel. This one came out perfect.
  
  
• I sanded the barrel to 600 grit, then applied 20 coats of CA for the finish to give it a hard and more durable surface.
  
  
• I wet sanded the CA finish with micro-mesh sanding pads to 12000.
  

I did get the joint to fit real well this time. The finish came out remarkable smooth and shiny. I was really impressed, and I know how it was done. For the finishing steps I found a site called Timberbits from Australia that had some YouTube videos. I like this pen and it is one of the best jobs I've done for fit and finish.

I have two more pens ready to turn, so I'll be posting those soon too.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Dumpster Diving

I swung by a counter-top manufacturing/installation place and went dumpster diving and pulled out about 4 pieces of counter top to see if I could make turnings from them. I includes a shot that shows the color. I really wanted one that was very dark, so I may have to go back later and look again. These may be corian, but the one piece I drilled and turned was a type of plastic material, judging by the material I removed. The second pictures shows what happens if you don't clean the flutes of the drill out often enough.

The third is a finished pen, which came out real nice. It started as part of the long piece at the bottom in the first picture. I sanded this like the acrylic pens I did last week, to 1200 grit and then used a plastic polish. This pen would look good with a white center band and a tip of the same material. I may try that next week. While it is not wood, I like it, and so does my significant other, and she wants it.


Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.