Dominic Greco
Member
Hello,
This is my first post here. I can thank Scott Greaves for pointing out this forum to me.
So far I've picked up a lot just from "lurking". Anyway, I've got a fairly simple question here.
I just got into pen turning. My first pens were made from the Berea Cigar pens kits. Simple enough to make and quite nice looking. I only screwed up 2 out of the first 10. And that was cause I didn't use the correct procedure to press the parts together.
Anyway, on the request of some customers, I started looking for some thinner pens. I chose the stealth pen kit from PSI (I live very close to there showroom in Phila). I also bought the designer pen bushing. That sure helped with sizing the tenon for the band.
My question is about orientation of the blanks.
The cigar pens came with excellent directions. I believe Bill at Arizona Silhouette (great guy BTW) includes them with every kit. The Stealth Pen Kits came with NONE (is that normal?).
The parts went together easily enough. But I had trouble deciding which blank went where. Did the long blank get the bushing for the nib? or was it the short? Since I didn't know, and couldn't really tell from pictures in catalogs, I did one pen each way.
From my viewpoint, the pen with the shorter "cap", looks better balanced. However, the one with the longer cap lets you show off the wood more. It also allows more room for inlays. I inlayed malachite on one pen and I think it came off pretty well. In addition, the black rubber grip takes up a good portion of the lower portion of the pencil. So which is the "correct way"? Or is there?
Thanks in advance
Dominic Greco
This is my first post here. I can thank Scott Greaves for pointing out this forum to me.
So far I've picked up a lot just from "lurking". Anyway, I've got a fairly simple question here.I just got into pen turning. My first pens were made from the Berea Cigar pens kits. Simple enough to make and quite nice looking. I only screwed up 2 out of the first 10. And that was cause I didn't use the correct procedure to press the parts together.
Anyway, on the request of some customers, I started looking for some thinner pens. I chose the stealth pen kit from PSI (I live very close to there showroom in Phila). I also bought the designer pen bushing. That sure helped with sizing the tenon for the band.
My question is about orientation of the blanks.
The cigar pens came with excellent directions. I believe Bill at Arizona Silhouette (great guy BTW) includes them with every kit. The Stealth Pen Kits came with NONE (is that normal?).
The parts went together easily enough. But I had trouble deciding which blank went where. Did the long blank get the bushing for the nib? or was it the short? Since I didn't know, and couldn't really tell from pictures in catalogs, I did one pen each way.
From my viewpoint, the pen with the shorter "cap", looks better balanced. However, the one with the longer cap lets you show off the wood more. It also allows more room for inlays. I inlayed malachite on one pen and I think it came off pretty well. In addition, the black rubber grip takes up a good portion of the lower portion of the pencil. So which is the "correct way"? Or is there?
Thanks in advance
Dominic Greco
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