First Blank Drilled

[RGVPens]

I finely got all the pieces in and put them together tonight. I changed the belt because I saw somewhere people drill between 500-600. All went fine, I went slow on a piece of Rosewood for a Sierra/Gatsby pen. I like drilling on the lathe, it's smooth and accurate. The tube slides in easy enough to have room for the glue. I'll pick up some 5 minute epoxy tomorrow...then try a glue up.
The mark on the far end is incase of blow out I could cut it and still have a 1/16th to flush trim...good cut, didn't need it.

 

[magpens]

Nice start !!!

Show us more when you can !

 

[WriteON]

Good start. You will learn something every time you're at the lathe. The fun never gets old. Nice wood choice. Should be interesting.

 

[jttheclockman]

A couple things to add for you. By the way Rosewood is my favorite woods and any species is a great looker. I am sure yours will be too. But when gluing in the tube, fill in the ends of the tube with something. I like to use playdough. Make a small ball and push tube into it and it fills the end. I am sure others can give more examples. Next is glad you made the blank a little longer than needed and always do this. When gluing in the tube, push it in at least 1/16" further than the end. Never rely on the end being true to the tube. Never ever will be. Needs to be sanded to match the tube after glue has cured and not just dried. Remember whatever you do in any steps of pen making heat is your #1 enemy. Good luck.

 

[WriteON]

Good points JTT…. I use dental baseplate wax to plug the ends.

 

[KenB259]

Drilling on the lathe, the only way to go. One tip for drilling on the lathe, make sure your blank us as square as possible. Get into that habit and when and if you get into segmenting, things will go much smoother.

 

[turnit2020]

All good advise above. I do everything on the lathe but cut the blanks to length. It may be a bit longer but the accuracy is there.

 

[Bope]

Another way to avoid blow out when drilling is to not have the drill exit the end of the blank. Leave your blank long enough to grill deep enough for the tube but not completely through the blank. Then trim the blank to length. Before I learned this I have had blow out that the small amount you left would not even come close to covering.