teamtexas
Member
Well today was my 1st time to attempt to make a pen/pencil. It was quite a learning experience. When I was picking up some supplies for a table project I decide to pick up a kit to give pen turning a try.
The 1st thing I noticed as I was cutting the blank to length was that my saws seem to be too big to cut the 5" blank down. I will need to make a better sled for my table saw or a zero clearance fence for my miter saw.
I drilled the blanks with a new 7mm brad point bit. The 1st one went a bit of center (need to make a better jig to hold it). I moved to a different machine for the next one but it was running at a slower rpm and blew out the bottom half of the blank. So I grabbed some scrap Brazailian Cherry and cut another blank. That one also split at the bottom while drilling. I tried one more time with small bites and managed to get it done.
Moved over the the mandrel and set the pieces up to find that the brand new mandrel is not running true in the middle. Note to self....get some bushings to turn between centers and loose the mandrel.
Got it turned down and left it too fat (I don't like the way it looks with the thin band in the middle).
I attempted to finish the wood with some thin CA. I will be rewatching those videos! I had the wood smooth and looking ok as I sanded down to 1000 grit. But then I applied about 4 coats of CA, which looked like crap. I resanded it and then worked my way up to 12000 grit micro mesh.
The acrylic turned out better, I wet sanded it to 12000 grit also. I applied some Hut wax on the wood to try and make it look a little better.
Maybe the next one will be better!
Dan
Ps I also took a crappy phone picture of it.
The 1st thing I noticed as I was cutting the blank to length was that my saws seem to be too big to cut the 5" blank down. I will need to make a better sled for my table saw or a zero clearance fence for my miter saw.
I drilled the blanks with a new 7mm brad point bit. The 1st one went a bit of center (need to make a better jig to hold it). I moved to a different machine for the next one but it was running at a slower rpm and blew out the bottom half of the blank. So I grabbed some scrap Brazailian Cherry and cut another blank. That one also split at the bottom while drilling. I tried one more time with small bites and managed to get it done.
Moved over the the mandrel and set the pieces up to find that the brand new mandrel is not running true in the middle. Note to self....get some bushings to turn between centers and loose the mandrel.
Got it turned down and left it too fat (I don't like the way it looks with the thin band in the middle).
I attempted to finish the wood with some thin CA. I will be rewatching those videos! I had the wood smooth and looking ok as I sanded down to 1000 grit. But then I applied about 4 coats of CA, which looked like crap. I resanded it and then worked my way up to 12000 grit micro mesh.
The acrylic turned out better, I wet sanded it to 12000 grit also. I applied some Hut wax on the wood to try and make it look a little better.
Maybe the next one will be better!
Dan
Ps I also took a crappy phone picture of it.
