New old guy from RI

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Danny Linguini

Danny Linguini

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2025
Messages
21
Location
RI, USA
Hello all. Sort of old timer here, haven't touched a wood lathe in over 55 years, since jr high wood shop. I've been dabbling in woodworking for quite awhile, mostly frames for my wife's thousands of cross stitches, but a few pieces of furniture along the way as well. So I know my way around a bunch of tools annd enough to be dangerous with woodworking in general. Unfortunately the shop has been a bit neglected lately, mostly due to lack of energy and motivation. But I finally retired this past January, and still working on figuring out how to pass the time.

A good friend has been turning pens for several years, and I've been hemming and hawing about getting into it for most of that time. I like the idea of smaller projects and the many possibilities offered by various projects and virtually limitless materials. And now after watching a few videos these last few days, I finally pulled the trigger today on a Penn State Turncrafter Commander 10" starter set. I've spent most of the day watching more vids, but decided to search out the best place I know to gather information on any given topic - an online forum. I'm guessing my pack o' goodies should get here in a few days, at which point I'll dive into the pen kits that come with it and see where that goes. Bottle stoppers have really caught my interest, but let's learn a few basics first and take it from there. For now, I'm starting at square one and looking forward to learning … basically everything.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Welcome Danny! Lots of information in our Library. Lots of great people here to answer questions too. One bit of information that has changed since you dabbled on a wood lathe 55 years ago - carbide insert tools eliminate the tediousness of learning how to sharpen lathe tools and also eliminate the need of the cost of a good sharpener. To me, I can get a tad sharper tools on HSS (high speed steel) tools that I can't find on carbide inserts, but for 99% of the time - carbides will do so that you can spend that on pen making materials! IF you do want to sharpen your own tools and you already know how to sharpen other tools that works too.

Library: https://www.penturners.org/resources/categories/iap-library.2/

Welcome again!
 
Greetings from Nebraska and welcome to the IAP community. Ahhh, I remember those times - I had never touched a wood lathe when I made the leap and have learned a great deal from a few YouTube videos and from questions and answers from the IAP membership - a tremendous and diverse knowledge base!

I'm guessing that the included pen kits are Slimline types, in my opinion not the easiest nor most user friendly kits to start with, but they are usually what turners start out with because they use a single sized drill and are the most inexpensive of all of the kits.

And, once again, Welcome!
Dave

PS Please also look for a Direct Message from me. It should show up on the little envelope icon at the top of the site.
 
Welcome from Utah!

As everyone has already noted, the reference materials here are great, but even better, the members are welcoming, knowledgeable and willing to share.

Have Fun!
 
Thank you for the warm welcome, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

1764263247183.png
 
Welcome Danny!!! This is a wonderful place to be to hang out with a lot of great people who have immense knowledge on this hobby ... and are willing to share!!!

Kind regards,
Chris
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom