What's your next level of pen turning?

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Herb G

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Nov 13, 2015
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1,461
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Southern Maryland
Some of you masters pretty much have pen turning down to an art.
So, what's next for the masters, and the newbies?

Me? Actually getting my shop cleaned up enough to use it. :biggrin:


Oh yeah, the masters know who they are. :wink:
 
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Oct 4, 2016
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157
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Maryland
Can't speak for any one else but for me i'm branching my damascus line to include mokume. then for the pens i'm going from kits to modified kits. IE. swapping some parts for better ones. Then the end game...If I dare...Kitless
 

jttheclockman

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Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
19,083
Location
NJ, USA.
Well I just got back into my shop after 3 years of not be able to so I at first will be catching up on some pens I owe some people. I will then be casting some new items and trying to take the watch part pen design to a new level. I have a ton of segmenting ideas I want to try and if i can pull some of these off it will gets some attention here for sure. I have a few pens that I have saved from years gone by that were done by some talented people here that I want to try and make my version to honor these pens and artisans. I think these pens need a second look because they never lose their craftsmanship and WOW factor.

Little ambitious but I am feeling better and feel I can do some shop work and take it from there. Right now though I am getting ready to partake in some of the Bash contests so I am planning for those. Have started one of those projects Monday. Hope I can pull it off. :)
 

Bikerdad

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Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
237
Location
Utah Valley
Getting better with the skew and gouge so I can turn a pen quicker than currently. Parallel with that, I'm going to be making some jigs/sleds for both simple crosscutting and also for getting into doing some segmenting. Plus I want to do some stacked leather pens as well and I have some ideas for specific decal pens I want to do.

After that, I want to get a low key way of selling some of the pens I'm making. Not really to make money, but rather so the pens can find a new home and finance the next pen, which then finds a new home and finances the next pen, rinse, repeat.

p.s. My immediate goal though is to turn a few cigar pens, a form that I've never done before. Have had a specific request for one. The blanks were cut and tubes epoxied Monday, will turn one or two tonite. I expect I'll be making the REAL one Saturday or Sunday.
 
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RobS

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Joined
Jun 20, 2016
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1,037
Location
Carlsbad, CA
All great replies so far. Keep it up. No goal means no progress.

Kitless and sectioning are next. Stabilizing was well worth learning and I'm good there. One day casting but not likely running out of room.
 

mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
Joined
Mar 9, 2009
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5,954
Location
Columbus, OH
I'v done a little bit of simple segmenting in the past. I want to concentrate on getting better at that. Some of the stuff I have seen posted here lately is really awesome. I finished a segmenting sled last week. I'm hoping to have something segmented for the Pre-Bash Pith.
 

RegisG

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Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
110
Location
Mount Juliet, Tn
I'm another new turner (9 pens). My goals are to improve sharpening and skew use. Additionally I need to slim down my pens as I seem to make them tooo fat and really shows when assembled.

Regis
 

mecompco

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Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
1,607
Location
Fairfield, Maine
Well, after having rather decent Holiday sales on Etsy, my first goal for the year is to build my inventory back up. I'd like to have at least 200 pens on hand by the fall. Next goal, not pen related, is to try turning other items like pepper mill and bowls--really want to put the new chuck I got for Christmas to work.
 

Skie_M

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Aug 7, 2015
Messages
2,737
Location
Lawton, Ok
My next step? Dipping my toes a bit deeper into casting ...

I have a nice lil pile of crushed abalone shell from Jo-Anne's Fabrics, and a friend wants more mirrored compacts made with this shell... So I'll be making some alumilite with abalone embedded in it in wide thin molds. I'll also be mixing some colors into the alumilite to enhance appearance, but I'm pretty sure I want to make the back/bottom of these pieces either white or black to cancel out the golden color of the compact base.

Once that's done ... waiting and saving up money for my shed, which will be my woodworking shop! :)
 

mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
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12,720
Location
Medina, Ohio
I'd like to get more consistent with segmenting. Every blank is a "production" and needs individual tweaking. It would be nice to have a process to make 5-10 blanks at a time with consistent results. Sigh!
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
1,460
Location
Surprise, Arizona
I too want to get better with my tools so I can decrease the turning time. I'm down to half the time it once took, but it still takes too long. As for the next level: segmenting! I love segmented work, and have some cool ideas that are above my ability, but failure provides great experience! I also want to take my casting to the next level. I have some more cool ideas that fortunately aren't above my ability, I just lack the time.
 

AWLogue

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Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Messages
72
Location
Hollidaysburg, PA
One year into pen turning, and boy have I come a long way... From poorly finished and fit 7mm kits to the bespoke pens I'm making now. I even turn some aluminum on my wood lathe.

What's next? Finding my signature look or feature, for one.
Getting a metal lathe and becoming competent with single to quad start threading and other operations.
Working on clip integration and making my own clips.
Making a name for myself in the market.
 

Sprung

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Joined
Jul 1, 2014
Messages
773
Location
NE WI
At this point my next step will probably be casting, specifically tube-in casting.

Later this year I also plan to make the step into kitless, but I need to upgrade my lathe and acquire some tooling first.
 

ALA

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Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
343
Location
Bassett, Va.
I'm another that hasn't turned in a few years. I was to the point that I made some pretty nice pens. I enjoyed making the bullet style best with the real casing and bullet most of all. I turned a bottle stopper today and wasn't real pleased with it but that's another story. I'm going to get some new CA and a few other supplies and go from there.
 

lhowell

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Joined
Jun 24, 2015
Messages
335
Location
Apex, NC
I'd like to expand the custom logo and abalone blank making I've been doing and build on that. Maybe a few feather cast blanks as well?? I'd also like to try making a few segmented pens.

The ultimate goal is to go kitless! But being a lefty I think I will focus the first few on rollerball types versus fountain pens.

The sky seems
 

WriteON

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Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,269
Location
S. Florida
For the first year and half I was very productive. Really slowed down in the past 6 months. Currently have a lot finished stuff sitting around and about 20 something kits.
I'm going to concentrate on segmenting.
 

eharri446

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Joined
Mar 17, 2016
Messages
1,035
Location
Marietta, GA
I want to get started into casting. I have a pressure pot (HF) and some Alumilite and dyes, as well as some automotive paint pearls and superfine metal flake. Also, I want to learn how to use my new 40W laser. Our local manager at Woodcraft showed me an amazing box he made for his daughter and I want to see if I can do something like that as well. First though, I have to finish a pen for a customer which I hope to do this weekend.
 
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