J Michael
Member
Howdy y'all! Guess it's about time that I introduced myself since I've been reading and sucking up a ton of knowledge from all of you folks.
I'm retired (Cardiopulmonary Technologist in the first half of life and a Senior Systems Analyst/Programmer the second half) and didn't grow up with woodworking. In fact, never really had a chance to do anything with wood until I retired and came to live with my son and his family.
We started off about 5 years ago with a little scroll saw he borrowed from a friend. We made boxes, figured out how to do portraits, made clocks, etc. Then about a year later John saw someone turn a pen on YouTube - he got hooked on wanting to try it. In fact, that was about all he talked about for a couple of months until I got him the 5-speed bench top wood lathe (#65345) and the 8-piece set of HSS wood lathe chisels at HF for his birthday. We didn't know nothin' 'bout turnin' stuff - and we had no idea how dangerous that birthday gift could be. You know the drill - you get this and then you see that and need it .... and then you need a .... oh, and one of those shiny thingies, too! Last year we were able to upgrade to a Nova Comet II.
John turned a couple of pens, showed them off at work and some people asked if he could make them one. You know how that story goes. To date, we've produced somewhere over 1200 pens. Didn't think we would get this serious about this pen thing or I would have kept better records.
I find that John and I working together is stimulating and rewarding. While I don't think we actually "compete" with each other we do challenge and stimulate each other to advance our skills and come up with new ideas and techniques. We just recently started casting our own blanks (Alumilite) and I'll probably be able to start stabilizing/dying this weekend once the we get a couple of things moved around where I can set things up.
Now, I have to thank all of you who have shared so much knowledge here. It has been inspirational and educational.
I'm no photographer, just have a cellphone to work with right now, but I'll try to post a few pictures to show you what things we come up with.
Michael
I'm retired (Cardiopulmonary Technologist in the first half of life and a Senior Systems Analyst/Programmer the second half) and didn't grow up with woodworking. In fact, never really had a chance to do anything with wood until I retired and came to live with my son and his family.
We started off about 5 years ago with a little scroll saw he borrowed from a friend. We made boxes, figured out how to do portraits, made clocks, etc. Then about a year later John saw someone turn a pen on YouTube - he got hooked on wanting to try it. In fact, that was about all he talked about for a couple of months until I got him the 5-speed bench top wood lathe (#65345) and the 8-piece set of HSS wood lathe chisels at HF for his birthday. We didn't know nothin' 'bout turnin' stuff - and we had no idea how dangerous that birthday gift could be. You know the drill - you get this and then you see that and need it .... and then you need a .... oh, and one of those shiny thingies, too! Last year we were able to upgrade to a Nova Comet II.
John turned a couple of pens, showed them off at work and some people asked if he could make them one. You know how that story goes. To date, we've produced somewhere over 1200 pens. Didn't think we would get this serious about this pen thing or I would have kept better records.
I find that John and I working together is stimulating and rewarding. While I don't think we actually "compete" with each other we do challenge and stimulate each other to advance our skills and come up with new ideas and techniques. We just recently started casting our own blanks (Alumilite) and I'll probably be able to start stabilizing/dying this weekend once the we get a couple of things moved around where I can set things up.
Now, I have to thank all of you who have shared so much knowledge here. It has been inspirational and educational.
I'm no photographer, just have a cellphone to work with right now, but I'll try to post a few pictures to show you what things we come up with.
Michael
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