Score!

[Titanium15]

I am new to turning in general, and pen turning is even newer to me. I tried to buy a lathe from Rockler, had so much trouble with the lathe and the customer service I returned the lathe and almost gave up.

I did buy another lathe, and am starting to learn. I have made two pencils, and one pen so far. The main reason I wanted a lathe was to make handles for the fishing rods I build. I wanted to make handles other than the ones I can buy from the suppliers. Pen turning is a wonderful addition to the fishing rod building.

With pen turning, one of the things I have been having trouble with is finding wood to make the pens. I see a deal on this site, when I am at work, and by the time I get home and see if I can purchase the blanks, they are sold. And, as this is an AMA project, As Money Allows, I do not have a ton of money to spend on blanks. What do you think, did I do OK or did I wast $6.00?
Stephen

On Friday I stopped at the Habitat for Humanity re-store in town. I found two pieces of mahogany, 3/4 square with a small notch in one corner. They were 10 feet 6 inches long. The cost for them was $0.25 per foot, or just under $6.00 total. I ended up with 47 blanks, when I cut them into 5 inch lengths. Not to bad, I hope.

 

[firewhatfire]

nice score

PM me your address. I will send you a box of blanks

 

[t001xa22]

Stephen, as is said so often here, welcome to the addiction that is pen turning. As you get accustomed to finding and acquiring materials for your turning, you will find out that in no time, you will have a large accumulation of blanks. The only trouble with this is that you may generate a large amount of blanks of each specific type of wood, for instance. I speak from experience when I say that because of this, I had to thin out my inventory occasionally. Storage space starts to become a problem. The reality of this tends to conflict with your desire to collect irresistible types. Lastly, then comes the realization that every great blank will need a matching pen kit to finish it out. Although this narrative may sound like discouragement, it is not. This is what makes pen making continue to be challenging and enjoyable. I will be looking forward to seeing your future work.

 

[tomtedesco]

Good job learning about making blanks from others throwaways. Do you have any photos of your fishing poles?

 

[79spitfire]

Those look great, should be some great pens in there.

 

[Skie_M]

Check out local carpentry shops (ones that actually MAKE furniture). They'll usually have a scrap bin full of bits that are way too small for them to make use of that they will gladly give you for free or a very small charge.

Also, check out local sawmills, look for off-cuts or broken, splintered, and twisted boards that they can't sell very well. Make them an offer ... keep in mind that you don't need to bother with finish sanded boards, you can make do with rough cut stock and turn it to your needs. The cost should be pennies on the dollar.

Moving companies and some businesses still use wooden hardwood pallets for moving large heavy loads around. Wooden pallets will break over time, and they'll fail. These companies just junk them and get another, because they're cheap, and they'll only be too happy to let you haul off their trash for whatever reason. These pallets are an excellent source of free turning materials.

Last, but not least, take a walk in the woods with a saw. When you find a downed hardwood tree in a public forest, it's generally permissible to cut branches and logs from it to carry out (generally for firewood - just make sure to check your local regulations). It's easy enough to split these with a hatchet if they aren't too long, and from there you split them into staves. Using this method will only net you straight grained wood, but it's free for the taking with a little sweat.

 

[magpens]

You did good !!!! .... Those will keep you busy for a while !

 

[Charlie69]

The main reason I wanted a lathe was to make handles for the fishing rods I build. I wanted to make handles other than the ones I can buy from the suppliers. Pen turning is a wonderful addition to the fishing rod building.

I originally got in to wood turning to make reel seat inserts and cork grips for fly rods I build. The experience I got from turning reel seats and such made my foray into turning pens much easier and a lot less expensive because I already had all the tools I needed. If you have a chuck, live center, roughing gouge, skew and drill chuck or drill press you have everything you need to star turning pens.

Lots of good sources for inexpensive wood already mentioned, I'll 2nd the recommendation to check out the cabinetry shops. When I 1st started turning I made frequent stops at a lumber wholesaler that supplied carpentry and flooring businesses and found a lot of high quality cut offs dirt cheap.

 

[scotian12]

Hi Stephen....I have been successful in getting short pieces of exotic woods from flooring suppliers for free. The wood is sometimes 3/4 " thick or 5/8 " for slimline. Normally it is finished but you will be turning the finish off anyway. I.m not sure but the wood in your picture sure looks like teak which would be great for your fishing rod handles. Regards Darrell

 

[Titanium15]

Blanks, Thank you!

Thank you all for your support and suggestions about how and where to obtain wood for blanks.
Darrell, do you really think it could be Teak? I thought so, but the people at the re-store insisted that it was Mahogany. I don't know, so I went with what they said.
I will contact some of the cabinet shops and see if I can beg or purchase their scrap. Same with the flooring store. That is a place I had never thought of.
I would love to walk in the woods and gather my own limbs and branches, but that is not possible for me. I have had about 2 dozen surgeries, most for my arthritis, and I cannot walk more than about 25 to 50 yards. And my wife just gets tired of me wanting her to drag my back side through the woods in my wheelchair. Go figure. The surgeries have left me with 15 pieces of titanium in my back and legs, so now you know where my user name comes from.
I did attach two photos of rods I have made. One is a 10 wt Fly rod, boxed to be delivered, and the other is one that I made for my younger daughter. She had Ataxic Cerebral Palsy and needs a larger handle in the front of the reel seat. This was the first thing I made using the lathe, and even though there are a lot of things wrong with it, she loves it. And she caught a 22 1/2 inch walleye last week when we went fishing.

Thanks again, I will post a picture of my pens when I get something done where I make something other than mistakes.

Stephen

 

[scotian12]

Hi again Stephen....The flooring shops have sample boards that they lend out to clients and there is usually a variety of one foot length boards on them. They throw them away when they become shop worn or soiled. If the store has installers some times they will bring the cut offs back from the clients' house and they will be put in the dumpster. Go in and see the owners and tell him you make pens and ask him to save the cut offs. Give him a slimline or sierra pen as a measure of your goodwill for him providing you with wood. Regards Darrell PS... they may also sell counter top made out of corean and there are sample boards with that in 2 x 2 inch blocks.

 

[suefox51]

If you want/need more blanks, send me a pm - I think I've got too many!!!!

Sue

 

[Skie_M]

The Corian sample blocks are a bit too thin for my tastes .... may be ok for segmented stuff, but you'ld have to be dead center with your 7mm hole to have a chance at making a slimline with it. Either that, or you're gluing some pieces together to make a blank large enough.


Now, I have seen some Corian or some other brand of hard surface countertop material that they give out as samples at the big box stores that is nearly 5 inches square, and that's certainly long enough for a job, but again, the same thickness ... (roughly 9mm).

If I can contact some of those manufacturers and ask for cutoffs and off-cuts where they had a thicker section, like around the edging .... that might make for enough material for wider pens.

 

[Sabaharr]

Moving companies and some businesses still use wooden hardwood pallets for moving large heavy loads around. Wooden pallets will break over time, and they'll fail. These companies just junk them and get another, because they're cheap, and they'll only be too happy to let you haul off their trash for whatever reason. These pallets are an excellent source of free turning materials.

The very first pen I made was from a broken pallet of red oak with swirls from a crotch area or where a limb had grown out. With all the errors I made on it I have to say the figure is stunningly beautiful. I get most of my exotic blanks from Ebay right now and use a sniper program to bid for me so I don't have to watch the auction to the last second. I usually win the auctions that I absolutely want and a few that I can take or leave. The advantage to sniping is you can withdraw a bid right up to a few seconds before the end if you find something better or cheaper since the bid has never been submitted to the site. Lots of auctions end in the wee hours of the morning ?????? so I can't be up to watch them. This takes care of that for me and only cost 19 cents per auction won. If you don't win there is no cost. You might want to try that. PM me and I can hook you up with the site.

 

[Sabaharr]

The Corian sample blocks are a bit too thin for my tastes .... may be ok for segmented stuff, but you'ld have to be dead center with your 7mm hole to have a chance at making a slimline with it. Either that, or you're gluing some pieces together to make a blank large enough.


Now, I have seen some Corian or some other brand of hard surface countertop material that they give out as samples at the big box stores that is nearly 5 inches square, and that's certainly long enough for a job, but again, the same thickness ... (roughly 9mm).

If I can contact some of those manufacturers and ask for cutoffs and off-cuts where they had a thicker section, like around the edging .... that might make for enough material for wider pens.

Call a place that installs counter tops. First time I tried that he said I could have some scraps. I went in my truck and when I left the tires were almost rubbing in the fenders from the weight. One piece was 16 inches wide and 12 feet long so I had to break it in half (drove over it with a wedge under it) to get it to stay in the truck. Whole family got cutting boards for Christmas.

Also Corian can be CA glued together to make it thicker but I have made one piece slimlines drilling 1/2 inch thick corian almost 5 inches long with a table top drill press. had to keep raising the table to extend the stroke and use a looooooong bit.

 

[Skie_M]

Moving companies and some businesses still use wooden hardwood pallets for moving large heavy loads around. Wooden pallets will break over time, and they'll fail. These companies just junk them and get another, because they're cheap, and they'll only be too happy to let you haul off their trash for whatever reason. These pallets are an excellent source of free turning materials.

The very first pen I made was from a broken pallet of red oak with swirls from a crotch area or where a limb had grown out. With all the errors I made on it I have to say the figure is stunningly beautiful. I get most of my exotic blanks from Ebay right now and use a sniper program to bid for me so I don't have to watch the auction to the last second. I usually win the auctions that I absolutely want and a few that I can take or leave. The advantage to sniping is you can withdraw a bid right up to a few seconds before the end if you find something better or cheaper since the bid has never been submitted to the site. Lots of auctions end in the wee hours of the morning ?????? so I can't be up to watch them. This takes care of that for me and only cost 19 cents per auction won. If you don't win there is no cost. You might want to try that. PM me and I can hook you up with the site.

Not a fan of sniping .... I consider it bad form.

 

[t001xa22]

Stephen, your rod work with the woods really looks good. If I had a rod like that, I don't think I could bring myself to take it to the lake, unless I was going to show it off to the other anglers. Really nice.

 

[campzeke]

I.m not sure but the wood in your picture sure looks like teak which would be great for your fishing rod handles. Regards Darrell

I was thinking the same thing Scotian12. If not teak, maybe Sepele or something like that. It's hard to tell from the photo but I am not sure it's Mahogany. Either way it's still a good SCORE!