My antique pen press

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spitfire

spitfire

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bloomsburg,pa.
My Mom bought some furniture from a lady who was selling it because it was a family members who passed away. The lady had lots of things for sale so I was checking things out down in the basement when I cam accross a drill press, I thought hmmm, that might be a good pen press. Asked that lady how much she wanted and she said 20 bucks, Probably more than what I should have paid for it but I wanted it so.
Here are the before pics
penpress1.jpg

penpress2.jpg

I then cleaned it all up and sprayed it with a hammered paint, turned a knob and added a platform, I used walnut for the knob and maple for the platform then used a plastic cutting board for the main surface of each. Works well and it was fun to refinish it and have somethinbg unique in the shop. My research shows that the press was from between 1950-1955. The only think I might do is make the handle a little longer for more leverage.
after pics
penpress5.jpg

penpress4.jpg

penpress3.jpg
 
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Jason,

I think it's cool. Much satisfaction to be gained by finding a new use for something otherwise a cast off.
 
sptf43............sweet! thought I would have been the only one with something like this. So what do you use to press the pen in with, the bolt where my walnut knob is?
 
I am always amused when someone says 'I just cleaned it up and then'

What does the cleaning up entail? Did you just brush it down with a wire brush; did you take it down to the metal; did you drill sand it? Also, what is hammered paint? And lastly, how long did it take?

Thanks,
Ruth
 
Originally posted by rlharding Also, what is hammered paint?
Click to expand...


Hammertone (spray) paint is sold in aerosol cans. Neat stuff since it gives the 'look' like the surface has been textured as if you've had 'hammered' pock marks onto the surface. Canadian Tire and Home Depot sell these paint cans.

-Peter-[:)]
 
I used sandpaper and my dremel to clean it up. I used the wire brush attachment on the dremel. Most if it was taken back down to the metal. Hammered paint is made by rustoleum here is a link to check it out http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=29
Took me about 1.5 hours from start to finish.
 
Sweet looking machine. what is the travel on the quill? You can with hold your answer if you can press a complete pen together without moving the table. Worse yet if you can press any type of pen kit together with out making any adjustments. I just could not take knowing that. plenty of room for holding the barrel as you press. suppose you will be adding a work light next. me jealouse? naw nothing like that. happy for you really I am. happy, yeah happy that's what I am. Hope your fancy pants wooden knob doesnt catch your thumb while you press in that end cap. alright I am just kidding, but that really is a nice looking addition to your shop.
 
For more than a year, I used one exactly the same as that as my drill press using a hand drill mounted to it. I got by but lost quite a few blanks due to drill "drift". If I haven't had a pen press (arbor punch) yet when I got a real drill press, I would probably have done the same as you did. Of course mine wouldn't be anywhere as nice as yours. [:D]

Great job!!!
 
I have one exactly like yours that I still need to do something with. A couple friends also use these drill presses for pens but they discarded the table and use the base instead. That way it is much more stable when using it.
Oh I paid only ten for mine.
 
And here they are! Very nice job, it's quirky enough to work nicly like that and looks great still. At $20.00 it's not a "steal" but you did not get taken either. If you had bought it as a drill press, you were had. However, putting it to use for this... well I guess you could still say it was a great deal for $20.00

Now my thought is that you need to add a lamp to that hole where the drill press mounts so it will "fill" it out and allow you to have a light to see what you are doing. A simple task light with a switch on the lamp head would be perfect.

Nice job!
 
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