Modified Slimline/ custom nib, band and finial

[dmott]

Made my first nib and finial last night. I do not yet own a chuck, so the nib was done on centers. The finial I glued to a waste block that screwed into a faceplate. The problem with this is you cannot remove the finial to check the size compared to your blank, and the tenon that needs to fit in the brass. This means you have to eyeball it, and I got pretty lucky.

I probably wont try again until I buy a chuck.

Osage orange and white pearl acrylic "hardware". Used tranny and tubes from a Slimline.

Kinda looks like a 50/50 bar. I put it next to an El Grande for size comparison.

 

[ghostrider]

I think it's pretty impressive that you did this without a chuck. I like it.

 

[seamus7227]

I agree that it is impressive! Your finish is superb! Very nice job especially without the proper tools!

 

[Drstrangefart]

I'm definitely impressed. And I just remembered how much of an amateur I am.

 

[juteck]

Looks like you're off to a good start. Don't feel like you need to wait to buy a chuck to keep up with this. A glue block, jam chuck, or screw chuck can be used to do this, and all can be handmade jigs.

A fast and easy glue block can be made by making a wooden morse taper, face off the front of it, and CA glue your finial material to it. You can use the same block and cut a recess into the face to use as a jam chuck. I first saw Mark St. Leger use this technique. Here's a good article from the AAW website on "how-to":

http://www.woodturner.org/community/youth/projects/MorseTaper_1.pdf



And a quick google search came up with this:

http://syzygypens.com/blog/2010/08/30/turning-a-morse-taper/


And here's an example of using a glue block to turn a custom finial -- although the article shows a glue block held in a chuck, a wooden morse taper glue block will work just as well.

http://syzygypens.com/blog/2010/09/20/custom-finial-for-a-navigator-pen/



Good luck, and looking forward to seeing more!

 

[dmott]

Thanks for the good replies everyone.

Just to be sure, what I want is a collet chuck, correct?

 

[Rick P]

Dmott

Very nice! Love to see more folks thinking outside the box! I use a mini jawed chuck and I really like it for pens and small vessels. There is always more than one way to build any project, I still dont have all the chucks, jigs and other gizmos I want but when there is a will there is a way! Makin it work with next to nothing is a long tradition here in Alaska.......even have a friend who used antler, a camp saw and skinning knife to make a new guide wheel for his snowmobile!

 

[bitshird]

Pretty nice start, as John said you can do quite a bit with out a chuck! As you've already demonstrated, keep up the good work.

 

[Manny]

Thanks for the good replies everyone.

Just to be sure, what I want is a collet chuck, correct?

Collet chucks are great as long as you have the right size collet....