What Is Your Turning History?

[bmachin]

By that I mean, "How did you get to turning pens?" and as a corollary question, if pen turning is where you started, have you gone on to anything beyond, for example, bowls, egg cups, (thanks keithbyrd), boxes, closed forms, etc.

I was originally a furniture builder but got the turning bug fairly early on.

In my case, I started by taking a course with Russ Zimmermann in Putney, Vermont in 1983. Shortly after that I purchased a Myford ML-8 lathe and fooled around with small bowls and random spindle turnings. Probably made a few slimlines at some point when those were the only kits available and Dick Sing was writing books.

Bought a Woodfast 20x36 lathe around 2001 and started turning some reasonably large bowls with the biggest being 18x7 redwood. I don't know if Woodfast still exists, but it was an Australian brand very similar to Vicmarc.

Better pen kits started coming along so I went crazy and spent a lot of money and turned 50 or 100 kits, kept a few, gave a bunch away, but found that there wasn't a whole lot of satisfaction for me in drilling holes, gluing tubes, and turning to diameter.

I found Richard Kleinhenz's "The Pen Turner's Bible", bought a 7x14 metal lathe and learned to turn kitless pens. I addition I took up alumilite casting.

In the process of learning to use the metal lathe I started watching This Old Tony and Tom Liption and Joe Pieczynski wand decided that I "needed" a milling machine and a bigger lathe.The mill has been in the shop for a couple of years; the 12x36 lathe will be delivered in a couple of days.

Metal working is fun!!

Do I still make pens? Yes, but not like I did in the past. I even made a dozen and a half Mistral kits last Christmas to make use of some heirloom wood from a tree where my siblings and I grew up. No way was I going to make 18 kitless wood pens.

I'm really trying to get my other skills back though. I tried a bowl recently that turned into a lampshade. Kind of like Keith's eggcup:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/i-have-turned-too-many-pens-too-long-158892/

Sorry to have run so long.

Anyway, what's your story?

Bill

 

[JimB]

I started 11 years ago. I have zero wood working background but saw something about a Woodturning class at Woodcraft. I couldn't make it but found a class at Rockler 45 minutes away. It was an I to to Turning class by Kurt Hertzog. I didn't know who he was but eventually learned he is a well know Turner, pen turner and would become President of the AAW.

After the class I bought my first lathe, a Jet 1014VS and started with pens. I've bought and sold a couple other lathes since then but still have my 1014 and bought my Powermatic 3520B about 18 months ago. I don't turn pens much any more but I do turn everything else including bowls, platters, boxes, hollow forms, candle holders and a variety of other items. I do have some specialty tools for some of the turnings I do. I also volunteer a lot with my local club. I am the club Treasurer and I volunteer my time to teach Woodturning at 3 different locations plus at my own shop.

I still don't do any other type of woodworking so all my tools are for turning. My shop is small, 17' x 10', but I have it set up to use the space well so I have a fair amount of tools including BS, drill press, the two lathes, 2 sharpening systems, vacuum system for the PM3520B, dust collector and some other stuff.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I started turning about 18 or 20 years ago... the wife and I were in an art gallery in Fredeericksburg, Texas... I admired a turned bowl and told my wife it would be nice to learn how to do something like that... really just complimenting the turning.... LOML called my son and told him I wanted a lathe for Christmas... he bought a spindle lathe from Home Depot... slowest speed on it was 750 rpm, so not much good for anything but pens or spindles... I started turning pens on Christmas day and did them for about 5 years in Houston before I retired to Tennessee.
After I got up here I progressed to bowls, pepper mills, wood stemmed wine glasses, wooden kerosene lamps, hollow forms, urns and anything I think I can do. I bought a JET 1442 lathe in 2006 so I could turn all of the above... an out of balance blank would cause the Home depot lathe to want to go home... it would start walking to the door....

 

[Master Geppetto]

Started when I was 11 (5 years ago). I originally made small jigsaw puzzles as well as tower, box, and disc puzzles (all made from wood). I "accidentally" started making money through my puzzles, so the business grew to where my oldest brother cut peoples' names out of wood, my 2nd oldest brother made miniature violins and cellos, and I did the puzzles.
Pen turning started when a relative introduced it to our shop. From there, it has grown into a sizable business (woodnotch.com), thanks to my parents.

 

[mark james]

I was given a wood Cross pen for HS graduation (1978). I loved that pen but it wandered and It was too expensive to replace back-in-the-day. In 1989 I saw an advertisement for a drill press pen turning kit (HUT). I bought it, hacked out 2-3 slims, and put it in a drawer. 20 years later (2009), 3 household moves, I found the box, and explored what had changed - since the internet had been born.

Finally in 2011 I discovered a local Woodcraft store with classes. Bob Jackson, Jeff and Glenn McCullough jump-started a session at the Woodcraft store and the initial Ohio IAP Chapter was born. I may be wrong, but I think that Argo13, MagicBob and I were at that class.

And they have been trying to get rid of me ever since.

 

[arnsworth1026]

Well, I bought a house in 2006 and started doing carpentry for general repairs.

When I started staying home with the kids in 2013, I upgraded my tools and started doing more refined work such as cutting boards, floating shelves, boxes, etc.

Got a lathe in November of 2018 so I could utilized all the really small scrap pieces I kept, just in case I needed them and started turning pens. Turned my first bowl today actually. I am whole and intact, so I must have done something right.

 

[Pen Joe]

Had been wanting to turn pens for several years, I like Mechanic work, Lathes, Milling machines and the restoration of them, wood is not my favorite but have had to do it over the past many years because I had to but getting older and appreciating quality even more was looking to get into pen turning, found one on Craig's list, looked down in the Wanted section I might have someone looking to but what I might want to part with when I saw the add Pen Lathe with all the tooling and many pen kits, her husband has passed on, when I saw all that she had I gave her a lot more than she was asking, that was perfect timing, have just made over 100 pens, nice change of pace when I don't want to Mechanic, Machine on the metal Lathe to do something quick and rewarding.

 

[wolf creek knives]

My father in law got me started on wood working 45 years ago after I got out of the Navy. It was a pretty rough start to say the least as I had no experience with any wood working tools. I got a lathe about 40 years ago and was making furniture and other items. All on request though. I hadn't thought about pens until late 2017 when I got a catalog from PSI. That peaked my interest so I gave it a shot, dropped a few hundred dollars on some equipment and I've been doing it ever since. Now it's morphed into not only pens but key rings, coffee scoops, seam rippers and some other items. That doesn't include what I do on the knife side of my business.

 

[Argo13]

I intended to start wood working in the late 90s and early 2000s. Bought all the equipment, made a few things. Bought a lathe maybe in 2004 right about the time my career became very demanding. Along with my kids needing some dad time lead to no time or energy to do wood working, plus I was very discouraged that it would take weeks or longer to make a table, etc... after making some changes to my work life. In 2012 I decided that maybe using the dusty lathe I bought years before would provide some " saw dust therapy" and the completed projects would take far less time. I found this site and then this happened:

Bob Jackson, Jeff and Glenn McCullough jump-started a session at the Woodcraft store and the initial Ohio IAP Chapter was born. I may be wrong, but I think that Argo13, MagicBob and I were at that class.

And they have been trying to get rid of me ever since.

Bob Jackson, he was the experienced pen maker, encouraged us all. And now the Ohio chapter is full of very creative and talented pen makers.

I agree with the OP that in time there was less satisfaction in just turning things round so I started making my own blanks( watch,bottle caps, stamps, hybrids, etc.) makes it more fun. I have started to learn Bowl turning and other small projects.

The turning has been wonderful "therapy" but the people I have met have been better.

Thanks to all.
Jason

 

[WriteON]

2 friends of mine are pen turners. They made slimlines using plain woods. Never impressed me...the pens or how they were made.
Years ago I wanted to buy a (Taig) pool cue repair lathe. I stopped in PSI (I pass by every week for years). I wanted a stand for a lathe. Had no idea what PSI was about. Anyway I tell my buddy I was at PSI and he replies ... I can have his lathe as he is done turning. I tell him it's not what I want but I'll try it. Fast forward>>>> I watched a pen a turning video...realized I can do this. Got the hang of it pretty fast. I'm only doing small items. Pens, stoppers, rings. No bowls for now.

My background. I'm an orthodontic dental technician. I worked with a Baldor & Dremel for a lifetime. Sitting a bench processing, trimming & polishing acrylic is my heartbeat. Being in a shop is recreational. It's a hangout. I tell people I have better hands than brains. I learned penturning from trial and error, videos and mainly everyone's support here at IAP. A lot of nice things happened to me in my lifetime. Penturning is one of them. It's very special. I'm having fun with it...more than I imagined.

 

[Talltim]

When I say my first experience with a lathe was about 48 years ago it makes me feel like an antique. My granddad had an, old then, rockwell (if I remember correctly) lathe. It was a cast iron beast. He let me turn a few things on it. Then shop class in highschool sparked it again. When I got married funds were low and I got a cheap, did I say cheap, craftsman lathe. It was such a piece of junk it took the fun out of it.

The real spark was when my son became interested. I drug out the old craftsman, it had not improved with age, but we tried it anyhow. It lasted about a month and died a horrible death right before our eyes. I invested in a jet lathe and my son took up pen turning. I turn a little but I am mainly the sharpening technician. No hair at all left on my forearm and those tools are sharp. Did I mention my job seems to be chief bankroller as well.

It is a great experience.

 

[Magicbob]

Like a lot of guys in Ohio, Bob Jackson made me do it.

 

[Charlie_W]

My dad and I did some wood working projects when I was young. Probably when I was in high school, he bought some used tools which included a small lathe.....did some turning in shop class in high school, bought another used lathe (larger) about 1971. Turned a litbit but got busy with family, kids and work, and my shop was at my parents house. My career was as a cabinetmaker in the kitchen and bath field.
Fast forward to about 2009....our daughter is in Tech Ed and brings home a couple pens she turned. We cleaned off the old lathe and did a few pens.....bought a Jet 1014vs and turning became a passion. Soon after, I joined a Woodturning club, and got involved. I bought another lathe (Nova 1624) soon after.
I thoroughly enjoyed penturning and MAPG...3 years.
Today, I am a member of three local Woodturning clubs, an AAW member as well of course an IAP member. I now turn few pens but many other items....have taken numerous professional workshops through our clubs, attended turning workshops at Arrowmont and Marc Adams. I enjoy our biannual Virginia Symposium, have attend a couple AAW symposia, and have had a little presence in the AAW Journal. I have mentored folks at our skill enhancement sessions, been on the club's board of directors for a number of years and just rotated off the board. Teaching new turners, doing club demonstrations, teaching at Woodcraft, being shop helper for professional workshops, and mentoring at skill enhancement sessions keeps me busy now.
Best of all are the wonderful folks I have met along the way and friends I have gained over the years.

 

[sbwertz]

In 1975 I was working in the scene shop at our local junior college theater. We were doing a play that needed an upper balcony to go with the staircase we already had. We had made the staircase with spindles from Home Depot, but they no longer carried them. We had a new theater with all new tools and sitting in a corner was a wood lathe that had never been used because no one knew how to turn. I got a book from the library, and with book in one hand (no you tube back then) and tool in the other, I made 22 matching stair spindles out of 2x2 fir. I used the tools right out of the box, never sharpened them, didn't know how. But I was bitten by the bug. It was almost 30 years later that we retired and built a woodworking shop and I got my first lathe. I went to Woodcraft and took a pen turning course and the rest is history!

 

[More4dan]

About 3 years ago I purchased a small metal lathe to make small parts and bushings for my custom pocket knives. I had started down the rabbit hole of making automatic openers (switch blades) and couldn't buy what I needed. 25 years before I had taken a machinist course in college so I re-remembered the basics. I went to my local Woodcraft store looking for wood for knife handles and picked up a few pen kits, a mandrill, and a small set of pen turning tools. I made a bunch of kits. It was nice to be able to turn out a pen in an hour vs knives that took days. I used the metal lathe to also make pens with solid aluminum and brass bodies. I got tired of straight body pens, so I made a tracer/duplicator adapter that let me machine curved surfaces. I also made my own banjo and tool rest to use on the metal lathe for hand turning.

Then I started making kitless pens that stretched out fabrication to days. I haven't made a single knife since I started turning. Started casting about a month ago, I'm starting down another rabbit hole.

2 weeks ago I got notice that I was getting a bigger than expected bonus for last year and I've started shopping for a "proper" wood turning lathe. While the mini metal lathe is a precise tool and can do much a wood lathe can't, I need more room and power to expand into other forms of turning. Bowls and pepper mills are next. 3 years of turning and I've never turned on a wood lathe. Everything I've done so far has been self taught plus what I've gleaned from this site. Looking forward to the next expansion into this craft.

Danny


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