Grand Kids Turning Modified Slimlines

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W.Y.

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Grandkids are visiting and asked them if they wanted to turn a pen of their own and they both said sure..
I showed them a box of different acrylic blanks and let them choose the pattern and color they wanted.
Parker is nine years old and he chose green. Karli is thirteen and chose the red lava one.
I took them through the various steps showing them the parts of the kits and what they were for and then how to drill the blanks and glue in the tubes with CA and sand the ends of the tubes flush with the blanks on the disk sander. . Had fun trying to get them to say cyanoacrylate glue. . lol

Here are their parts laid out with their names on paper towel

KP1.jpg


Let them both drill out their own blanks

KP3.jpg


KP2.jpg


Then some turning . I purposely recommended acrylic for a first try and let them try a little skew turning but they were more comfortable with scrapers .

KP4.jpg


KP5.jpg


Here is Karli pressing in hardware on the drill press.

KP6.jpg


And here they are proudly showing their finished pens after going through the various stages of sandpaper , then 0000 steel wool , then plastic polish and then polishing on the Beal buffer.

KP7.jpg


KP8.jpg
 
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wood-of-1kind

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Guess that the "talent" is extended to all the "young" family. They did well and have a great "teacher".:)

One thing however, make sure that they wear faceshields or safety glasses when working on the lathe.
 

W.Y.

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Guess that the "talent" is extended to all the "young" family. They did well and have a great "teacher".:)

One thing however, make sure that they wear faceshields or safety glasses when working on the lathe.

Yes , I knew somebody would bring up the safety features issue and that's fine . .
I did go through the process of explaining that and showed them my helmet and face shield and goggles that I use for bigger turnings but seeing as we were working on acrylic there was not much danger involved on something as small as a pen . It made it better for photos without their face being covered up.
 
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ldb2000

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Time well spent with the grandkids and something they will remember in the years to come .
About safety , NEVER underestimate the danger of turning something as small as a pen !!! Just because they are small doesn't mean you can't get seriously injured , especially when working with acrylics . I have had more then one acrylic blank catastrophically explode on the lathe with pieces flying in all directions . Several of these would have required a trip to the ER and very well could have cost me my eyesight .
Always wear a FULL face shield when turning pens . None of us want to hear about the "one that got away" and caused someone to loose their ability to SEE their grandkids grow up . Please turn safely !!! and teach the correct safety procedures !!!!!
 

W.Y.

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Time well spent with the grandkids and something they will remember in the years to come .
About safety , NEVER underestimate the danger of turning something as small as a pen !!! Just because they are small doesn't mean you can't get seriously injured , especially when working with acrylics . I have had more then one acrylic blank catastrophically explode on the lathe with pieces flying in all directions . Several of these would have required a trip to the ER and very well could have cost me my eyesight .
Always wear a FULL face shield when turning pens . None of us want to hear about the "one that got away" and caused someone to loose their ability to SEE their grandkids grow up . Please turn safely !!! and teach the correct safety procedures !!!!!

I understand what you are saying and I purposely used round blanks for them to start with so there would be no need to use a roughing gouge or any pieces flying off . Just nice curly ribbons coming off like it does on pre-rounded acrylics and the DC pipe right behind it sucking it all in . .

I don't know how many people actually use helmets and such for pens but in well over 300 pens I never have. However, I do wear it when turning anything much larger than pens and especially with any kind of wood for bowls etc . . etc.
 

ldb2000

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I have made well over 1000 pens since I started and have only had a few let go but those that did hit my face shield with shrapnel hard enough to make me jump .
All the the blanks that have catastrophically failed on me were already round and in most cases were almost finished when they let go . It's not the ones you have done with no problems that you have to worry about , it's the accident waiting to happen that you should be worrying about but if your eyesight is something you are willing to GAMBLE with the please just don't let us know if it ever happens . I'm not trying to give you a hard time , just trying to advise you that pens are NOT safe just because they are small .
 

W.Y.

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I have made well over 1000 pens since I started and have only had a few let go but those that did hit my face shield with shrapnel hard enough to make me jump .
All the the blanks that have catastrophically failed on me were already round and in most cases were almost finished when they let go . It's not the ones you have done with no problems that you have to worry about , it's the accident waiting to happen that you should be worrying about but if your eyesight is something you are willing to GAMBLE with the please just don't let us know if it ever happens . I'm not trying to give you a hard time , just trying to advise you that pens are NOT safe just because they are small .

OK , I am not going to go on and on about this but carry on if you want to.
It's easy to skip over repetetive messages that everyone has heard a million times in the past. .

WOW . . well over a thousand pens. Must be nice to have a market for so many . My market here has all but dried up due to a saturation point in my area and everyone and his uncle turning pens and giving them away.

This is me when turning anything that poses more danger to me than simple little pens.

348652637.jpg
 

ldb2000

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I wish I had a market for all them but quite a number of them were given away as gifts or incentives and donations to worthy causes . Good luck with your SIMPLE pens .
 

Dudley Young

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I have made well over 1000 pens since I started and have only had a few let go but those that did hit my face shield with shrapnel hard enough to make me jump .
All the the blanks that have catastrophically failed on me were already round and in most cases were almost finished when they let go . It's not the ones you have done with no problems that you have to worry about , it's the accident waiting to happen that you should be worrying about but if your eyesight is something you are willing to GAMBLE with the please just don't let us know if it ever happens . I'm not trying to give you a hard time , just trying to advise you that pens are NOT safe just because they are small .

OK , I am not going to go on and on about this but carry on if you want to.
It's easy to skip over repetetive messages that everyone has heard a million times in the past. .

WOW . . well over a thousand pens. Must be nice to have a market for so many . My market here has all but dried up due to a saturation point in my area and everyone and his uncle turning pens and giving them away.

This is me when turning anything that poses more danger to me than simple little pens.

348652637.jpg
Darn Bill, you could go into space in that outfit. :wink: Workin with the Gkids, PRICELESS.:biggrin:
 

W.Y.

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Hi Dudley.
I got that outfit from one of my cousins in Mars don't cha know :biggrin:

Grand kids are fun.
With four sons we have grandkids scattered all over the country from Ontario to way out in western British Columbia. . Too bad most of them are so far away that we don't see them as often as we would like to . These two are from Alberta and only about a 6.5 hour (each way) drive from here. They grow up so fast.

Nice when you can spoil them rotten and let their parents figure out what happened to them when they get home. :) :) :wink:
 

ToddMR

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To get back on topic of the thread, (grabs steering wheel), nice looking pens! William you did good teaching them. I personally think acrylic would be a bit harder as a first turning but they did great! My daughter will be 13 in Sept, I am not sure if she would be ok to turn or not. She is a bit of a clumsy person and not real good on paying attention. Amazes me how well some kids can just knock out a pen when they have good instructions. I like both pens a lot.

And before I get trashed, I am not saying protection is not important, I ALWAYS wear my face shield no matter what I am turning.
 

Rfturner

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Good looking pens and it is great to see grandparents involved. Your grand kids did a good job.

I know that it has been said but, always train them for safety. I have made somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-500 pens and I have occasionally had blanks violently become destructive. I have even had pieces of a blank fly across my two car garage and EMBED themselves into a mattress on the opposite side. We usually get hurt when we get careless or disreguard safety rules.
 
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