leehljp
Member Liaison
I had a bit of Christmas this afternoon, at least it felt like Christmas, as I found over a hundred old pen kits that have been packed since the summer of 2010.
Over the past 9 to 10 years, I have been making 3 to 5 pens a year, Cigars and Sierra/Elegant Beauties, while doing quite a bit of other woodworking, in addition to church growth consulting and assisting in the rebuilding rural churches - (Part time work that is full time, If you know what I mean). Since late February of this year, I have been spending more time in my shop, trying to make more room to bump up the pen turning a bit. I have a hoard of pens and pen equipment still stored from when I was in Japan, and that I brought back with me when returned to the USA a few days before Christmas in 2010. However, I had forgotten about them. Since returning from Japan, I did set up my Rikon lathe, and bought a 16" (diameter) Grizzly G4062 lathe (in 2012) and have used that to make a few larger turnings that turned out well.
Since my unexpected cardio-bypass surgery in January, and being limited from doing heavy woodwork because of that, I started itching to get back into turning pens more on a regular basis. And since I have been turning Cigars and Sierra types occasionally for the past 9 - 10 years, I have only needed those bushings. About March, I started looking for my hoard of bushings (organized, labeled and in box) for other pens. I have hunted and hunted for them during March, April and till today in May. In the process, I found a several packs of kits from when I was in Japan: a pack of 50 Cigars, a pack of about 40 Sierra and Elegant Beauty; a few Aero; two Emperors, About 10 Jr Gents, and 10 Barons; about 50 slimline, a few click pens & some pencils from Penn State, a pack of Teacher's pens and another pack of odds and end pens from way back when and some yo-yo kits.
I know that I will need to change out the ink refills in those old kits as I doubt they work after 15 years in storage. I found my bushings in two cases behind some "lathe chucks in their boxes" on a shelf. I also found a whole set of 6" x 12" MicroMesh and a bunch more items, including some prize persimmon ebony given to me by a friend in Japan back in the early 2000's.
It has been a rewarding afternoon, and now I need to go and re-organize to make room for quick access to all my "new" stuff.
I really need ORGANIZE badly! A friend on this forum sent me a cigar pen blank last month that I needed to turn for a daughter's birthday. Not thinking, I put one part in on the wrong end and needed to use a HF punch to back it out. I looked and looked for my punch set. Could not find it. While at Cardio-Rehab 30 miles away the next day, I picked up another set of HF punches. As soon as I got home and put it on the shelf, - back behind a box of blanks was the punch set I was looking for. And today, I found another set of punches still in the box that I had in Japan. Three sets of HF punches, and with a couple of hidden calipers, I now have 5 sets of calipers and one micrometer.
I need to clean out my shop of toooo many tools. I am ready to get back to making a pen or two or three weekly.
All in all, it was a good afternoon, but I need more space.
Over the past 9 to 10 years, I have been making 3 to 5 pens a year, Cigars and Sierra/Elegant Beauties, while doing quite a bit of other woodworking, in addition to church growth consulting and assisting in the rebuilding rural churches - (Part time work that is full time, If you know what I mean). Since late February of this year, I have been spending more time in my shop, trying to make more room to bump up the pen turning a bit. I have a hoard of pens and pen equipment still stored from when I was in Japan, and that I brought back with me when returned to the USA a few days before Christmas in 2010. However, I had forgotten about them. Since returning from Japan, I did set up my Rikon lathe, and bought a 16" (diameter) Grizzly G4062 lathe (in 2012) and have used that to make a few larger turnings that turned out well.
Since my unexpected cardio-bypass surgery in January, and being limited from doing heavy woodwork because of that, I started itching to get back into turning pens more on a regular basis. And since I have been turning Cigars and Sierra types occasionally for the past 9 - 10 years, I have only needed those bushings. About March, I started looking for my hoard of bushings (organized, labeled and in box) for other pens. I have hunted and hunted for them during March, April and till today in May. In the process, I found a several packs of kits from when I was in Japan: a pack of 50 Cigars, a pack of about 40 Sierra and Elegant Beauty; a few Aero; two Emperors, About 10 Jr Gents, and 10 Barons; about 50 slimline, a few click pens & some pencils from Penn State, a pack of Teacher's pens and another pack of odds and end pens from way back when and some yo-yo kits.
I know that I will need to change out the ink refills in those old kits as I doubt they work after 15 years in storage. I found my bushings in two cases behind some "lathe chucks in their boxes" on a shelf. I also found a whole set of 6" x 12" MicroMesh and a bunch more items, including some prize persimmon ebony given to me by a friend in Japan back in the early 2000's.
It has been a rewarding afternoon, and now I need to go and re-organize to make room for quick access to all my "new" stuff.
I really need ORGANIZE badly! A friend on this forum sent me a cigar pen blank last month that I needed to turn for a daughter's birthday. Not thinking, I put one part in on the wrong end and needed to use a HF punch to back it out. I looked and looked for my punch set. Could not find it. While at Cardio-Rehab 30 miles away the next day, I picked up another set of HF punches. As soon as I got home and put it on the shelf, - back behind a box of blanks was the punch set I was looking for. And today, I found another set of punches still in the box that I had in Japan. Three sets of HF punches, and with a couple of hidden calipers, I now have 5 sets of calipers and one micrometer.
I need to clean out my shop of toooo many tools. I am ready to get back to making a pen or two or three weekly.
All in all, it was a good afternoon, but I need more space.
