New wood lathe no more metal lathe

[William Menard]

went through 2 metal lathes in less than a year, so Im hanging it up and bought myself a Jet VS. Can you guys give me a do and don't list so I don't go crazy trying to figure out the right way of pen making, I will get a set of carbide tools and a 4 jaw self centering chuck because I would like to drill the blanks on my lathe as well, I know I need to pen mandrel, what else? Proper placement of the chisel to the blank is just below the half way line of the blank? I would like not to kill 50 acrylic blanks before figuring out whats the norm. Again, thanks to all that have coached up newbies.

 

[WriteON]

I started in August and it's going well. My best teacher is....I watched a lot of YouTube videos & read some books. Safety first. Protect your face, eyes, ears, nose(lungs). Study chisel placement and remember to move the tool bar "in" accordingly as it is getting turned. Watch that space between the tool bar and blank. Use sharp chisels. A dull one is your worst enemy. Concentrate and be careful. Have fun.

 

[randyrls]

William and Frank; Take a look at the IAP Wiki. Click on the link at the top of the page to get there. There are several articles on pen turning, tools needed and information on all aspects of pen turning.

This article in the Wiki has information on pen blank preparation.

This post shows differences between carbide tools. With acrylics you should get long ribbons of material coming off the blank. If you are getting grit, change your technique until you get long ribbons of material.

AS with most activities, practice, practice, practice! If you want to master the CA finish, Turn a blank until it is just round (not finished size) Sand and apply CA finish. Critique the finish. Now turn off the finish, sand and finish again.

 

[awood6971]

I am relatively new to turning pens as well but I have found that turning between centers works best for me. I threw the pen mandrel in a drawer and don't even use it. Get a live (tail end) and dead (head end) center for your machine. You may find it much easier.

Allan

 

[kovalcik]

If I can make a suggestion, start with a roughing gouge and skew instead of carbide. Carbide has its place, but the HSS tools are much more versatile and can be used for other types of turning. You only need a little practice to do a planing cut with the skew, and nothing gives a better finish. If you start with PSI's Bens Best line you can get in pretty economically (~$35 total for both), and the roughing gouge and skew are easy to sharpen. You can always add carbide tools later if you want.