My Second Attempt
Do you have a bandsaw? Drill?
I remembered when I first began I only had a hand drill and a jigsaw. It wasn't easy. I was so anxious to turn SOMETHING that I got a bunch of dowels from the limberyard and turned between centers.
If you need some pre-drilled and cut blanks, I can make some for you -small charge :smile-big:.
Well attempt #2 down! YAY! I will post my second attempt later today. My 3rd attempt didn't make it past the pen mill phase.....I was drilling and the whole blank split in half. I still have the tube and the other half. Any suggestions? I guess I can try to find another piece of wood to match the half that didn't break apart.
I do have a very cheap drill that didn't perform this weekend at all. The barrel trimmer bit kept getting loose in the drill chuck (keyless on a craftsman 9V drill). Eventually I had to put the barrel trimmer bit into my dad's electric drill with a keyed chuck and that's when I split my first blank in two. The other three pieces drilled out just fine. So it's a work in progress. I see a new drill in my future for sure.....9V won't cut it really and the chuck is so loose I can't tighten it around the barrel trimmer.
As for a drill press...my dad has a REALLY, REALLY old one that I used and wouldn't you know it....the thing drilled straighter than the one I used in my Woodcraft class. So I will get by with his for now.
I tried cutting my blanks in half with a miter saw - now that didn't work out very well at ALL! The blade on the saw kept catching the blanks and ripping them out of my hand. It did HORRIBLE cuts leaving the ends all frayed on the blanks and I barely got them cut. I should have given up and used a hand saw...it would have been MUCH safer and done much less damage to the blanks.
Anyway - the bandsaw I want is on sale this month so it will be coming to live at my new shop shortly! I need to crank out A LOT of pens for X-mas and I can't see myself having all these "mechanical" issues every time I try to turn a pen. Once I have that saw all should go smoothly until I start to need more tools for turning. It took me over two hours to make this second and attempt a third pen this weekend because once again nothing worked like I thought it would. Go figure.
I'm excited though and I'm ready to jump from slimlines to the next size and see what that will yield. I haven't been courageous enough to try a CA finish yet so that will be coming next too.
Any suggestions? Wish me luck!
Thanks!
Candy