First commissioned turning.....a pair of pens..

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Fitz

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Sep 1, 2008
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I'm a rookie pen turner. I've been turning for almost 3 years. I've turned maybe 70 pens. Most of the pens were simple slimline pens. Recently I've added Euros and most recently some filagree Americans I bought from Arizona Silhoette. As a result of a Filagree American I sent to my DIL in TX, she called me up. "Dad...I have a dear friend who wants to know if you'd turn a couple of pens for her to give as Christmas gifts?". I can't tell my DIL "No". She and my youngest son are sending my wife and I to NZ in December for 12 days to celebrate our 40th anniversary. I can't or won't tell her "No"!

Her friend chose 2 pens I've never turned before. She chose a Cigar pen from CSUSA and an Elegant Sierra from Berea Hardwoods. The woods she picked out are Sweet Gum for the Sierra and Tiger Pradauck for the Cigar.

Any gotchas for either of these pens or the woods involved?

Thanks in advance!

Fitz
 
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Since you have not done a cigar yet - one warning that even seasoned veterans experience - lay out the bushings according to the tube and blank and double check. It is easy to get a couple of the cigar bushings reversed.
 
Like Hank said the bushing placement is very important. I always use the instructions in hand, because it is so easy to make an error and ruin a blank. The Sierra is very straight forward and bushing placement is not complicated. I check the ends with a caliper to make sure they are flush with the parts.
 
I think both the cigar and sierra are easier than the slimline. If you don't have calipers, you can use the nib of the sierra to check if you are turning to the proper diameter. The nib doesn't press in, so you can check it against the tube while you are turning.
 
A beginner mistake (in my opinion) for the sierra is to make it have too big a bulge. The sierra (again, in my opinion) looks best either bushing to bushing our with a very slight taper.
 
fiferb said:
A beginner mistake (in my opinion) for the sierra is to make it have too big a bulge. The sierra (again, in my opinion) looks best either bushing to bushing our with a very slight taper.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. It's way to easy to give them a bulge. I like a VERY gentle curve. I just turned a 3 color herringbone on one of the Fishers Of Men kits and caught myself trying to bulge it.
 
I'd say that goes for both the cigar and the sierra. Both of them require a gentle bulge. You'd be surprised how little. Me, I don't like straight B2B. If you've got a pen with only one piece of wood to look at, I think it's just too plain to go straight.

With the Cigar, as well as the fact that you have to be SURE you've got your bushings correct, make sure that the longer barrel is on the nib end. When you assemble it, make sure you know where all the parts go before you press it together.
 
I'll agree with the cigar fittings. You want to make sure you have the right fitting in the right spot before pressing. A miss-assembled cigar was the first pen I had to disassemble.

Also make sure you have the bushings on the right barrels. I wasted a very nice oak burl when I turned an upside down cigar the other day.
 
Add one more post to the "don't mix up the cigar bushings" post. For me, the easiest way to remember is:

The LONGER tube is the LOWER barrel. Then the other one is the upper barrel.

The order of bushings from nib to clip is: smallest, 2nd to largest, largest, 2nd to smallest.

BTW, you can get cigar kits from Arizona Silhouette too. You can order both from the same place.

Sorry if I added any confusion.
 
Also, there isn't a big difference between smallest and second smallest. It all boils down to check 2 or 3 times before you start throwing wood chips around.
 
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