jtate
Member
Pen Mills? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pen Mills!
By: Julia Tate, Esquire
Turning pens ain’t exactly hunting for gold in the Sierra Madres but there are a few similarities. Penturners and prospectors (as well as bandits) seek something pretty and shiney and we’re all trying to get by with what we got. Some things have just got to be done, whether you have the proper tools or not. We just gotta make do. Just like bandits stealing from prospectors don’t need a badge, you don’t need a pen mill.
So pack your saddlebags and let’s square up that pen blank! Yeehaw!
Gear: Pen mandrel and arbor
Sandpaper (about 150 grit)
Handheld single Hole Punch
Double-sided tape
Measure the outside diameter of the arbor where the mandrel sticks out. Cut yerself a whole bunch of squares of sandpaper that are about a gnat’s butt bigger than that there diameter.
Add a piece of double-sided tape to the back side of each square and use your hole punch to punch holes in the center of each square. Don’t you fret over the measuring. This ain’t the internal combustion engine, people.
Now, yer gonna want to whip out yer pocket knife and wipe it off. You don’t want last night’s beans on yer sandpaper. Trim off the extra tape so it can’t fold over and get on the business side of the sandpaper.
I’m assuming that you’ve done drilled your blanks, glued in your tubes and rough turned the pen parts to where they’re cylindrical. Sandpaper ain’t expensive but it ain’t cheap neither. You don’t want to waste it on sanding away all that wood that you coulda done cut away on the lathe.
WITH THE LATHE OFF slide a square of sandpaper down the mandrel and press the sticky-side of it against the arbor. This ain’t a permanent adhesion. It’s gonna get peeled off, like you peel a saddle blanket off’n yer horse when you get to camp.
I betcha this is gettin’ purty durned obvious to you ‘bout this time.
WITH THE LATHE OFF, slide a pen part on the mandrel. Getcha a good grip on that pen part with one hand. You ain’t gotta choke down on it like a saddle horn at the rodeo but you do gotta be firm with it.
Turn the lathe on. The pen part ain’t turning but the sandpaper is so when you slide the pen part down to the sandpaper, it can smooth away the wood at the end.
Now, just like you don’t want to slosh your pan around too much when yer looking for that shine, you also don’t want to grind away at your pen part with a heavy hand. Turn off the lathe and look at the end of tyour pen part pretty often. You wanna sand till you just kiss the shine on the tube. No more.
Some of y’all are just pure-dee contrary and have to start on pens with tubes bigger than 7mm. My suggestion for all y’all is that you take ya some hard material, like some of that high-falutin bar-top stuff, that Corian stuff, and drill a ¼ inch hole in it. Turn it on your lathe so’s you can slide it down into yer tube and getcha a snug fit. You want this internal sleeve to be about a horse’s tail hair’s width shorter than yer tubes. You want it to support your tube all the way down but not be quite as long as your tubes. Remember, the whole point of this is to sand away WOOD on your pen part not the sleeve material.
Now, I also know some of y’all are from Texas and y’all think everything’s bigger there. Some of y’all are gonna want to make pens with ends that are bigger around that the end of yer arbor is. Despite whatever personal inadequacies such a desire may reveal, you’re still gonna do it. Well, alls I can tell you is that this here method can be modified as needed. I’d suggest a great big ol’ washer stuck to the arbor before you slide on the sandpaper.
And that’s it, saddle buddies!
Happy Trails!
Julia
P. S. I've submitted this for the Library, with diagramtic illustrations, but without a vocabulary translation.
By: Julia Tate, Esquire
Turning pens ain’t exactly hunting for gold in the Sierra Madres but there are a few similarities. Penturners and prospectors (as well as bandits) seek something pretty and shiney and we’re all trying to get by with what we got. Some things have just got to be done, whether you have the proper tools or not. We just gotta make do. Just like bandits stealing from prospectors don’t need a badge, you don’t need a pen mill.
So pack your saddlebags and let’s square up that pen blank! Yeehaw!
Gear: Pen mandrel and arbor
Sandpaper (about 150 grit)
Handheld single Hole Punch
Double-sided tape
Measure the outside diameter of the arbor where the mandrel sticks out. Cut yerself a whole bunch of squares of sandpaper that are about a gnat’s butt bigger than that there diameter.
Add a piece of double-sided tape to the back side of each square and use your hole punch to punch holes in the center of each square. Don’t you fret over the measuring. This ain’t the internal combustion engine, people.
Now, yer gonna want to whip out yer pocket knife and wipe it off. You don’t want last night’s beans on yer sandpaper. Trim off the extra tape so it can’t fold over and get on the business side of the sandpaper.
I’m assuming that you’ve done drilled your blanks, glued in your tubes and rough turned the pen parts to where they’re cylindrical. Sandpaper ain’t expensive but it ain’t cheap neither. You don’t want to waste it on sanding away all that wood that you coulda done cut away on the lathe.
WITH THE LATHE OFF slide a square of sandpaper down the mandrel and press the sticky-side of it against the arbor. This ain’t a permanent adhesion. It’s gonna get peeled off, like you peel a saddle blanket off’n yer horse when you get to camp.
I betcha this is gettin’ purty durned obvious to you ‘bout this time.
WITH THE LATHE OFF, slide a pen part on the mandrel. Getcha a good grip on that pen part with one hand. You ain’t gotta choke down on it like a saddle horn at the rodeo but you do gotta be firm with it.
Turn the lathe on. The pen part ain’t turning but the sandpaper is so when you slide the pen part down to the sandpaper, it can smooth away the wood at the end.
Now, just like you don’t want to slosh your pan around too much when yer looking for that shine, you also don’t want to grind away at your pen part with a heavy hand. Turn off the lathe and look at the end of tyour pen part pretty often. You wanna sand till you just kiss the shine on the tube. No more.
Some of y’all are just pure-dee contrary and have to start on pens with tubes bigger than 7mm. My suggestion for all y’all is that you take ya some hard material, like some of that high-falutin bar-top stuff, that Corian stuff, and drill a ¼ inch hole in it. Turn it on your lathe so’s you can slide it down into yer tube and getcha a snug fit. You want this internal sleeve to be about a horse’s tail hair’s width shorter than yer tubes. You want it to support your tube all the way down but not be quite as long as your tubes. Remember, the whole point of this is to sand away WOOD on your pen part not the sleeve material.
Now, I also know some of y’all are from Texas and y’all think everything’s bigger there. Some of y’all are gonna want to make pens with ends that are bigger around that the end of yer arbor is. Despite whatever personal inadequacies such a desire may reveal, you’re still gonna do it. Well, alls I can tell you is that this here method can be modified as needed. I’d suggest a great big ol’ washer stuck to the arbor before you slide on the sandpaper.
And that’s it, saddle buddies!
Happy Trails!
Julia
P. S. I've submitted this for the Library, with diagramtic illustrations, but without a vocabulary translation.
] Don't change a word for the library. Another great idea and so well written.
