Newboy from England

[Lawson]

Hi,

I have been in some ways fortunate in that i inherted my late farthers wood work shop, i have played about for a little while on the lathe and have stumbled on pen turning.

I have so far made about 8 or 10 7mm slimlines and a 10mm classic fountain and rollar ball set. I have made all of them out of walnut, because i had lots lying around that i could cut to form blanks.

Now,

Can i get some professional advice??

firstly i have only ordered from Turners retreat in england, can any one reccomend any other suppliers for pen kits, i particually want to start making luxury kits.

secondly, i have not been entirely pleased with walnut as a wood to turn, what reccomendations do you all have, and can someone explain the difference's turning wood as opposed to acrylic blanks.

many thanks and congratulations on the wonderful looking pens you have all made.

Kind regards

Lawson

 

[randyrls]

Lawson; Acrylics need to be shear cut. Round off the corners on a sander before turning. Turned with a cutting action, not a scrape. VERY SHARP tools, and light cuts. You should get long ribbons of material off your tools. If you get "pellets", the finish will be poor with lots of tiny pits in the blank. I do mostly acrylics now and not wood, but still do wood pens from time to time. I turn acrylics almost exclusively with a skew.

Hope this helps.

 

[NewLondon88]

I couldn't recommend suppliers in England, but I'm sure someone from the
UK will respond as there's a few here. :biggrin:

There's lots of suppliers who ship international though. Sometimes users will
pool their orders to save shipping, but I don't know how much that saves,
if at all. More common in Australia, I think. Shipping there is $$$

I like turning walnut if I can get a nice piece with curls in it, or walnut burl.
Walnut can look plain if it is just straight grain. But sometimes you get a
nice piece with lots of fire in it and it just lights up. Darker woods like
walnut can really show off chatoyance. Look for woods that excite you,
and then remember that you'll only see a couple of inches. A wood that
looks wonderful as a tabletop might not look like anything at all when you
cut it down to a half inch by three inches..


Acrylics can give you some more excitement because some of them have
a lot of eye appeal. Try searching the photo archives (top of page) and
look through the photo albums. You'll see a lot of different woods and a lot
of acrylics, too. Even some steel, aluminum, bakelite .. it's amazing what
people will turn into pens.

Acrylics turn a little differently than wood, but not that much. The main
difference I find is that with wood, I don't have to stop every minute to
clear off a 30 foot ribbon of wood shaving. :tongue: Everyone says that you
should have very sharp tools for acrylics, but you should really have that
for wood, too. Acrylics don't need a finish unless you want one, they will
polish up to a high gloss with sandpaper and micromesh. Most woods
benefit from some type of topcoat for protection.

The other benefit of acrylics is you can make your own, if you're so
inclined. (and if they look good, people here might buy them) You could
grow your own wood, too .. but the people here wouldn't buy them. Their
great-grandchildren might, though. :biggrin:

Welcome to the madness..

 

[Rick_G]

Lawson

Welcome to the group. A good bunch here and you can nearly always get answers to any questions. Can't help you with the UK suppliers but as for the walnut you have lots of don't give up it makes great pens. Here are a couple I did in walnut, one is cross cut at 90 deg. to the grain and the other is at about 45 deg. If you have lots experiment, if you don't like what you get turn it down to the brass tube and start over you are not out anything but some practice time.

 

[Ligget]

Welcome to the group, Turners Retreat sells the Jr Gent, Jr Statesman as well as the larger Gent and Statesman version, they are under different names though but they are from Craft Supplies USA.

He also sells the Jr Retro, Baron etc... not a big plating choice but if you phone him he will tell you what he has in stock.

The only downside is Turners Retreat is expensive, but you dont need to pay Post Office handling charges like you do when buying from the USA.

 

[splinterinfinger]

Hi Lawson welcome, you have come to the right place for help mate, if you need anything I can help you, I am a new supplier here in the UK I cast all my own acrylics blanks, I have a large selection of African timbers, English timbers some Australian blanks and over various timbers from around the world, I also have a selection of deer antler coffee bean blanks and a reasonable amount of various different pen kits now today sometime I will be placing another order
Checkout my new website.

If you need to ring me on a Sunday then there is no problem, more than likely I will be down the workshop, contact details on the website

www.ukpenkits.com

Many regards Mervyn

 

[rherrell]

Welcome Lawson!

 

[Jim15]

Hello Lawson.

 

[papaturner]

Welcome from Georgia.

 

[djz9]

Welcome Lawson

From Spring Hill Fl. Enjoy the smell and feel of the wood. And remember every wood pen is one of a kind, and it will never be reproduced, like a finger print. But most of all, just enjoy!!!
Dave

 

[djz9]

One other idea, I have some friends in London, they brought me Yew, and Partidge wood and it is wonderful wood.
Dave

 

[Fred]

Welcome, Lawson, to the Forum. Very glad to make your acquaintance.