Hey folks! Turned my 1st pen today, I'm hooked!!

[Johnnymitch]

I've been woodworking all my life as a hobby. I turned 60 this month and bought my 1st lathe. It was a little intimidating because I see this more of an "art and feel for it" type of thing. Today I turned my 1st blank, and was absolutely thrilled with the results. It was cocobolo, and I was wearing a face shield, but soon after starting my nose starting running and then sneezing. After a quick research, I realized that from now on I'll be wearing a respirator when working with coco! But like I said, I was thrilled with the results and am anxious to learn more about pen turning from you guys!!

 

[Ironwood]

Hi Johnny, welcome to the forum.

 

[Alan Morrison]

Welcome to the forum, Johnny, and enjoy your new hobby.

Alan

 

[magpens]

Hi Johnny !! . Warm welcome to IAP !! .

 

[studioseven]

Welcome from Wisconsin and congrats on your first pen. Cocobolo is a beautiful wood however it can be allergic to some members. What type of lathe do you have?

Seven

 

[Jim15]

Welcome Johnny.

 

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska and welcome to the IAP community - Go Bulldogs, 2021 NCAA College World Series Champions!

I was in your shoes about 5 years ago. I had no experience with turning, so I started out with a Harbor Freight lathe and inexpensive steel tools. It didn't take me very long to realize I was hooked so, not having a sharpening system, I bought carbide tools and did a retrofit on my lathe with a variable speed DC motor. A couple of years later I replaced the lathe with a variable speed JET 1221. I hope you have many years of enjoyment turning pens and I am anxious to see your work.

Regards,
Dave

PS Keep an eye out on the forum for blanks and stuff that members gift or sell at negligible cost to new turners. The PITH (Pen In The Hat) pen exchanges are also a lot of fun and the exchanges usually wind up with more stuff than just a pen - blanks, kits, bushings, etc. In the last PITH I participated in, the package I received from Tim Spronz in Grapevine, Texas had a couple of pens along with a bunch of unique blanks. Irish Bog Oak that Tim picked up in Ireland, Fordite from the Jeep plant in Toledo Ohio, some Corian, some Acrylics, some Spectraply, and a custom blank made from Colored Pencils.

One of the forums is dedicated to PITH exchanges. In addition to some of the organized annual exchanges, it includes a "Random Pith Exchanges" thread that people occasionally take advantage of as well.

 

[Bats]

I've been woodworking all my life as a hobby. I turned 60 this month and bought my 1st lathe. It was a little intimidating because I see this more of an "art and feel for it" type of thing. Today I turned my 1st blank, and was absolutely thrilled with the results.

Congrats! I did things backwards, and turned my first few pens before getting a lathe. Turning on a drill press is an... interesting experience, if not one I'd recommend.

It was cocobolo, and I was wearing a face shield, but soon after starting my nose starting running and then sneezing. After a quick research, I realized that from now on I'll be wearing a respirator when working with coco!

I read somewhere that there are only two types of woodworkers: Those who're allergic to cocobolo, and those who will be allergic to cocobolo.

I was turning some mesquite for the first time last night (pretty wood, but wow is that ever hard), and started having similar problems despite an N95 mask... but my allergies have been acting up like crazy lately anyhow, so I'm still not sure whether the two were related. I guess we'll see when I go to finish it up later.

In any case, welcome! Always good to have another addict. And I'll second Dave's recommendation to watch the marketplace for the cheap bundles & giveaways for new turners. Every time I see one, I wish I'd been around/paying attention when I was new. And then wonder if I could put on a mask and pretend to be a new turner. "Hi, my name's... uh... Bob?"

 

[tomtedesco]

Welcome from Colorado, stay safe.

 

[howsitwork]

Welcome Johnny

I use a face mask ( trend airhelmet) the middle 2 version.

The mk 1 saved me from being scalped some 25 years back . I still have the YEW bowl that exploded on me. Stuck back together with epoxy but then realised the shape was bad so kept as a safety lesson instead.

stay safe

 

[Johnnymitch]

Greetings from Nebraska and welcome to the IAP community - Go Bulldogs, 2021 NCAA College World Series Champions!

I was in your shoes about 5 years ago. I had no experience with turning, so I started out with a Harbor Freight lathe and inexpensive steel tools. It didn't take me very long to realize I was hooked so, not having a sharpening system, I bought carbide tools and did a retrofit on my lathe with a variable speed DC motor. A couple of years later I replaced the lathe with a variable speed JET 1221. I hope you have many years of enjoyment turning pens and I am anxious to see your work.

Regards,
Dave

PS Keep an eye out on the forum for blanks and stuff that members gift or sell at negligible cost to new turners. The PITH (Pen In The Hat) pen exchanges are also a lot of fun and the exchanges usually wind up with more stuff than just a pen - blanks, kits, bushings, etc. In the last PITH I participated in, the package I received from Tim Spronz in Grapevine, Texas had a couple of pens along with a bunch of unique blanks. Irish Bog Oak that Tim picked up in Ireland, Fordite from the Jeep plant in Toledo Ohio, some Corian, some Acrylics, some Spectraply, and a custom blank made from Colored Pencils.

One of the forums is dedicated to PITH exchanges. In addition to some of the organized annual exchanges, it includes a "Random Pith Exchanges" thread that people occasionally take advantage of as well.

 

[Johnnymitch]

Thanks very much Dave for the information on PITH, I will definitely explore that!

 

[Johnnymitch]

Congrats! I did things backwards, and turned my first few pens before getting a lathe. Turning on a drill press is an... interesting experience, if not one I'd recommend.


I read somewhere that there are only two types of woodworkers: Those who're allergic to cocobolo, and those who will be allergic to cocobolo.

I was turning some mesquite for the first time last night (pretty wood, but wow is that ever hard), and started having similar problems despite an N95 mask... but my allergies have been acting up like crazy lately anyhow, so I'm still not sure whether the two were related. I guess we'll see when I go to finish it up later.

In any case, welcome! Always good to have another addict. And I'll second Dave's recommendation to watch the marketplace for the cheap bundles & giveaways for new turners. Every time I see one, I wish I'd been around/paying attention when I was new. And then wonder if I could put on a mask and pretend to be a new turner. "Hi, my name's... uh... Bob?"

I can't imagine turning a pen on a drill press LOL, but over the years I've tried some pretty crazy things in my shop!
So the marketplace is only for newbies?

 

[Bats]

I can't imagine turning a pen on a drill press LOL, but over the years I've tried some pretty crazy things in my shop!

What's worse is that I was worried about what the lateral forces from turning would do to the drill press's bearings (and trying to rig up a rigid enough vertical tool rest turned out to be even harder than it looks), so, as I mentioned in another thread, I did most of the rough turning with a die grinder (yes, while it was spinning on the drill press). Surprisingly enough, the pens didn't turn out nearly as disastrously as my choice of tools would suggest.

So the marketplace is only for newbies?

Nope, the marketplace is for everyone (or at least almost everyone - I think there are a few constraints on sellers) - and there are all sorts of nifty/pretty things to be found there - but it's worth watching closely, because some people will explicitly offer things either cheap or free for new turners.

 

[TDahl]

Welcome from California