Just in time for the World Series

[JasonC]

Saw this in Don's book "Turning Modified Slimline Pens: Beyond the Basics" and, with the World Series coming up, thought now was a good time.

Pretty basic, just a set of slim tubes, transmission, Cross refill, and the nib.

I deviated from Don's technique by placing both pieces on the mandrel at the same time. With the mandrel shortened just enough to allow the meaty end of the bat to bottom out not on the mandrel but against the joint between the two pieces, I snugged it up with the live center. A long slim bushing was used to give me room to work on the handle profile.

Used Birdseye Maple with Mylands finish.

This is an insanely simple pen to make - hardest part is getting a good bat profile while working with the limitations of the pen tube diameter.

 

[SDB777]

I was thinking baseball bat from the title.....and I wasn't disappointed!


Hard to keep the 'birds eye' in such a small piece, but the Maple is awesome!







Scott (tiny thin seam too) B

 

[OLDMAN5050]

You nailed that one, great work..

 

[Band Saw Box]

Wow that's a fantastic pen, a home run with the bases loaded.

 

[JasonC]

Thanks, guys.

I was thinking baseball bat from the title.....and I wasn't disappointed!


Hard to keep the 'birds eye' in such a small piece, but the Maple is awesome!


Scott (tiny thin seam too) B

Thanks, Scott. For that shot in the original post I had to try to take a picture of the bat without the eyes.

Here's a shot that shows just how many eyes are in this thing.

 

[mikespenturningz]

Sweet. Very nice job on this pen. Love it.

 

[Trey]

GO ROYALS!

 

[mrtrenier]

I can never get the two sides to line up--they are always slightly off when I rotate the mechanism. What am I doing wrong?

 

[JasonC]

I can never get the two sides to line up--they are always slightly off when I rotate the mechanism. What am I doing wrong?

Use a band saw or scroll saw with a thin blade to cut the blank into two pieces. Thin kerf is your friend here.

Drill one blank completely through. This will be the handle end. Drill the other blank deep enough to fit the other tube inside.

Glue the tubes inside the blanks. Keep the tube on the handle end as close to the center if the bat as possible. The less material you remove when trimming, the better the grain will match.

On the business end blank, glue the tube in close to the center seam. You should just barely need to sand these center joints. Cutting square in the band saw really helps.

Install a slim bushing on the mandrel, then the handle end if your blank. Then slide the business end blank onto the mandrel. If the mandrel bottoms out inside the blank, loosen the collet on your blank and shorten the mandrel length or (if you can't shorten your mandrel) add more spacers on the handle end. You want the center seam if your blanks (your kerf cut) to butt together flush before the hole you bored in the business end blank bottoms out on the mandrel. I have an adjustable length mandrel so I make sure the two blanks butt together just before the mandrel butts against the bored hole in the business end blank.

Once the two blanks butt smoothly, (sand them if they don't) use a live center to snug up the two pieces. With both pieces on the lathe, and both of them riding on the mandrel, they will turn concentric.

If you think your bat might be slightly out of round, loosen the live center, rotate the pieces, tighten the live center, power up and sand. Repeat if needed.

Turning both pieces at the same time simplifies things for me. Don's instructions said to turn the handle then put the meaty end on and turn that...then turn the bat as a whole.

I just skipped a few steps by turning both blanks as a whole.