How fast can you turn?

[vakmere]

How long does it take you to turn a pen? What kind of pen you might ask? What ever kind you do.
For me a slimline or trimline start to finish is 2 to 2.5 hours. Add another 45 minutes if acrylic, add time for CA, etc. Then again I do shapes on wood pens instead of a straight line. The sculpting takes a little time and I dont do friction polish any more.
A Majestic Squire aound 1 hour 10 minutes being its only 2" of wood.
Those of you who do shows and crank out 50+, how many do you do before you fall over from exhaustion? Interesting to find out.

 

[ed4copies]

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f22/10-000-hours-120852/

A little light reading to get you in the mood for answers.

 

[larryc]

I do shows and I usually turn my pens in the "production mode." That is about 10 pens at a time. All of the same model. It takes me two to three days to do a production run because I believe in letting the CA tube glue up to set at least overnight before I am ready to do the final turning and I let the CA finish set up at least overnight before the final finishing.
Yes CA is supposed to be "instant" but I get fewer failures when I don't hurry things. Even five minute epoxy, which I use for acrylic blanks, holds up better if allowed to setup overnight.

 

[its_virgil]

Enjoy...

How Long Does It Take To Make One Of Those?

Do you mean...

not plant the tree, but find the wood,

just 'see' the piece, (as if I could)?

to find a highly figured burl,

a crotch, an eye, or pearly curl?

And once I spy it, perhaps buy it,

inventory, store, and dry it?

Then saw or cut it, possibly I kiln it,

glue, imbue with fill, or drill it?

You mean, that once I'm satisfied

it's stopped the warps, checks, cracks, once dried?

And mounted on the lathe, to turn it,

(which takes much practice, just to learn it;

and then employ a gouge, or two,

or use a skew, which I don't eschew,

to mold it, shape it (what's your pleasure?)

by all means, I'm sure to measure,

then sand it smooth, please wear your mitts,

from coarse to fine, 10,000 grits,

then braze, or burnish, paint, or polish,

(the goal: enhance, and don't demolish)?

Is that your question, start to end,

how long's that path, its way to wend?

Or do you merely want to know how long it turned?

Ten minutes, or so.

© John A. Styer, The Lathe-meister

 

[Holz Mechaniker]

I Nominate that a new sub category be created in the Library under "meet the members" labeled "Turners Poetry"

Enjoy...

How Long Does It Take To Make One Of Those?

Do you mean...

not plant the tree, but find the wood,

just 'see' the piece, (as if I could)?

to find a highly figured burl,

a crotch, an eye, or pearly curl?

And once I spy it, perhaps buy it,

inventory, store, and dry it?

Then saw or cut it, possibly I kiln it,

glue, imbue with fill, or drill it?

You mean, that once I'm satisfied

it's stopped the warps, checks, cracks, once dried?

And mounted on the lathe, to turn it,

(which takes much practice, just to learn it;

and then employ a gouge, or two,

or use a skew, which I don't eschew,

to mold it, shape it (what's your pleasure?)

by all means, I'm sure to measure,

then sand it smooth, please wear your mitts,

from coarse to fine, 10,000 grits,

then braze, or burnish, paint, or polish,

(the goal: enhance, and don't demolish)?

Is that your question, start to end,

how long's that path, its way to wend?

Or do you merely want to know how long it turned?

Ten minutes, or so.

© John A. Styer, The Lathe-meister

 

[turncrazy43]

Vakmere, I second what LarryC has said about how he turns. I follow the same regimen and it has worked great for me. I don't try to spend 10-12 hours a day at it. After several hours my output/quality goes down.

I have found that part of the pleasure of turning pens is the actual turning of the blank and sanding/polishing to get the final result. Therefore, I'm not in a big rush. If I'm doing an order for a customer I always try to give myself enough time to complete the project comfortably if at all possible.
_____________________________________________
Everyday I'm vertical is a great day

 

[vakmere]

I second the motion

 

[larryc]

Vakmere, I second what LarryC has said about how he turns. I follow the same regimen and it has worked great for me. I don't try to spend 10-12 hours a day at it. After several hours my output/quality goes down.

I have found that part of the pleasure of turning pens is the actual turning of the blank and sanding/polishing to get the final result. Therefore, I'm not in a big rush. If I'm doing an order for a customer I always try to give myself enough time to complete the project comfortably if at all possible.
_____________________________________________
Everyday I'm vertical is a great day

And then there are those customers like one that called yesterday and wanted a custom pen for Father's Day. I told her I could possibly do it but I couldn't promise it. It seems like whenever you need to get one made in a week's time, something goes wrong and it takes you two weeks to do one pen!

 

[triw51]

I agree with LarryC when I do a set (10+ at a time) I drill all the blanks then rough up the tube and glue at one time. I let them set up over night or longer. Then turn the blanks the following day or next time I am in the shop. When I did 100 pens for a company I tried to finish 5 pens a day (work day) and 15 to 20 on days off. I got a system down and it worked for me. Was able to finish the order and deliever it with in a month (including ordering and waiting for shipping) I cut my own blanks from mulberry or sycamore large branches harvested locally

 

[Tiger]

Turning is the easy part, can get it shaped within 10 mins, often 5. Finishing with CA is the time consuming part where the final finish blends in seamlessly with the pen parts. I generally use a skew both in its traditional shear cutting mode and as a scraper to get it flush with the bushings.

 

[Curly]

3600 RPM!!!!!!!!!!! :biggrin:

 

[JerrySambrook]

3600 RPM!!!!!!!!!!! :biggrin:

Sorry you have such a slow lathe. :biggrin: