Numero Uno!!

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siric

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
108
Location
Barbados
Late last year, I bought a PSI lathe along with some other tools and unfortunately (for me!!) it sat in the box until about 6 weeks ago. I purchased it with the thought of making pens, but having spent most of my woodworking life making bigger things (stools, tables, etc.), I neglected the PSI. :frown:

Well, 6 weeks ago, out it came and I started trying some turnings and fell in love..being able to start with a raw piece of tree and end up with a yo-yo, captive ring or spindle in an hour or 2 seemed like (almost) instant gratification!!

Living in Barbados means that I have to import everything, so it took about 3 weeks before I got my order of pen bits, proper lathe tools, etc. Anyway to make a long story short (a bit late for that!!), I got some Corian-like scraps from a manufacturer here, expoxyed them over the weekend and turned my first Trimline this evening!!

Made some mistakes; cut the blanks a bit too long, so had to square off quite a bit; made the blank too fat, so it too a loonng time to get it down to correct size; and during assembly with my son, we misread the identification mark on the twist mechanism and pushed it in too far - managed to disassemble and refit properly.. So here it is..not perfect, but not too bad for a first try I think.

This is going to be a great journey...and thanks to you guys for all of the invaluable information in this forum.

Steve
 

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Janster

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Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Messages
1,645
Location
Nevada
Welcome and a very nice start! It's great that your son was helping too! Be well......Jan
 
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turncrazy43

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
1,104
Location
Marietta, GA
Nice first effort Steve. With practice you will get better and better.
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Everyday I'm vertical is a great day
 

OOPS

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
674
Location
Spokane, WA
From the list of "mistakes" you said you made, I was afraid to look at the photo! Then I saw it--that is a terrific first effort. Incidentally, it was far superior to my first effort.

Remember- every one of us on this site has made the same errors, so we know exactly what you went through to produce it. Welcome to the group.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Some people just seem to have that special touch for things like making pens, for first attempt that is far beyond ahead of many pens I see made from people that had done hundreds of them so, with such natural ability, you may be able to jump a few "loops" and get into the "fancy" stuff...!

Great shape, fit and finish, the glue-ups seem well done so, you are on the right path to make exceptional pens...!

Cheers
George
 

ALexG

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2010
Messages
192
Location
Stittsville, ON
when I read your story I was surprised how similar to mine, only difference is that I live in Ottawa and may lathe was in the box for 4 weeks, but when I opened the Pandora box never closed back again, and very happy that it didn't, I like your first pen, keep going
 
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