Pen mills

[JimBellina]

I hate them, have never found one that worked well. The head isn't concentric or isn't perfectly perpendicular, or the flat on the shaft is milled to the end making is chuck up off center. Not that they are impossible to use, just frustrating.

Stopped into my local Woodcraft today and saw that Whiteside is now producing a pen mill. Has anyone tried it?

Price seems reasonable, and Whiteside makes fantastic router bits, so I have very high hopes. I also like that they make at least a dozen shaft diameters.

Shafts are $9.99, mill head is 12.99, and a starter set with the 5 common shafts and one mill head is $34.99.

Anyone? Thanks,
Jim in NC

 

[PenMan1]

Jim:
Nolan, a member here did sell a wonderful four blade carbide pen mill.
I haven't seen him post here in a while, but his mills worked very well, UNLIKE many of the commercially available cutters.

It might be worth a PM to Nolan.

I've used the Whiteside mill and found it to be no better than the others. I have simply quit using mills, as I do almost 100 percent alternative materials.

 

[ghostrider]

I've been using the Wood River, and needed to replace it because some of the shafts are bent.

I too noticed the WhiteSide, and bought a set a couple days ago. I can say that the rods and head are definitely sharper than any of the Wood River kit I've used. Beyond that, it's too soon to tell with the White Side.

 

[JHinkson]

The Whiteside penmill kit

I've been using the #9100 pen mill for about two weeks on six pens. I bought it at my local Wood Craft store. The mill quickly became dull. I found a two-bladed carbide-tipped mill in my tool box that works very well. I just forgot that I had it. Whiteside (makers of highly rated router bits) should put carbide cutters on their pen mill.

I did some searching and found a nice tutorial on honing the edges of a pen mill. See http://penmakersguild.com/articles/penmillsharpening1.pdf

 

[JHinkson]

Whiteside Pen Mill Kit

I purchased the kit from a Woodcraft store about a year ago. The mill dulled very quickly. I recently tried the carbide tipped mill. It works very well. All of the components of the mill kit are first rate.

However! At almost the worst possible moment the mill digs into some costly wood and either ruins it or makes a glue up necessary. This has happened to me too many times. From now on I will do as the pen kit instructions suggest. I will use my trusty old belt/disk sander and avoid the problems all together. It's the old KISS principle at work again. Keep it simple stupid! That sure applies to me.