Producing straight pen barrels

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Tiger

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if you want fairly straight pen barrels do you sand with a block behind some sandpaper or can you get it straight off the tool? I have some large scrapers that I haven't used for pens but on those occasions where I need a straight barrel it seems a feasible way to get it, providing I don't have a catch.
 
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Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice. :biggrin:

After I made about 8 to 10 pens, I bought some slim tubing and cut some 2x4 pine end cuts into blanks. I spent a full day, practicing turning and finishing. Not for a pen but for the experience to learn the technique that worked best for me in turning, sizing and finishing. That got me over the hump. I still had learning problems and some mess ups. But I learned the "feel" of the tool against the wood, the feel for pressure in turning, in sanding, in finishing.

My straight cuts are from the tool; the finish sanding, when I sand, is much easier at this point. So is the CA and occasional other finish.
 
Thanks for the replies. Unless I'm dealing with brittle, crack-prone barrels I will rely on my tools to smooth and shape the pen blanks. I noticed recently that I kept sanding through on a blank even though it looked perfectly straight. I put the digital calipers on and there was a little less than 0.1 mm difference in diameter. One good thing about using the sandpaper method as Rod uses is that low points will stand out. I do have some large skews and scrapers that I have used for spindle turning so I might take the dust off them and give them a go.
 
Negative rake scraper will give a better finish than a traditional scraper.

Shear scrape techniques are almost as good for finish.

Small straight edge with a light behind will tell you how well you are doing.

6 inch machinist straight edge is small, light, and handy.
 
Thanks Ken, I often turn between centres and sometimes there isn't room to get the 6 inch straight edge in behind. Also Don, how wide is your large skew?
 
I keep a 2 inch long piece off a broken tape measure at my lathe, which is very handy for measuring on short turnings. It also has an edge straight enough to check the straightness of a pen blank. Not as dead flat as a machinist straight edge, but plenty good for a hand turned wood blank.
 
The suggestions above are all good ones. Since I finish all wood blanks with a matte finish, the flatness isn't as much of a problem.

I finish all acrylic blanks to a high gloss, and these, I do flatten with sandpaper and a small stick of wood. This is because once polished the blanks will show any unevenness in reflections from lights.
 
I have yet to try the negative rake scraper, but intend to do so on my next pen. However, I have found that creating "a sling" with a 4-6" length of sandpaper, the width of which is a tad more than the length of the tube does a fair job of making a straight barrel (and cap).
 
One can "sand through" [the finish] regardless of the shape of the blank. For the first grit on the finish I sand as little as possible, usually just to remove any ridges in the finish, and for later grits just enough to remove scratches from the prior grit.
 
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