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Cigar, Sierra, Atlas(Patriot), and most single tubed. Those are my top 3. And imo, I think cigar is easiest due to the meat left over the slimmer pens.
 
I've found that most kits are around the same complexity. Single barrel pens (sierra's) are 'easier' as it is half the work. The material you use will probably determine most of the complexity.

Also, don't rule out slim-lines, they're probably the most customizable kit available and the cheapest. They're great for beginners that want to play with shapes or experienced turners that want to create something really custom.

AK
 
In my opinion the slimline is the hardest pen to get right. The fit at the nib, cap, and center band must be perfect or you can feel it. Any out of round will be magnified in the fit. Granted, it is cheap and very customizable.

Single barrel pens to me are the easiest to fit well. Cigars are easy too unless you mix up the bushings during turning. Been there done that.
 
In my opinion the hardest kits are the ones that need a tenon cut for center band. If you or out or round or cut too much or any number of things can go wrong.

The material is what also makes it difficult. I would say the easiest kit would be single barrel and cigar. then after that it would be anyone's guess.
 
I think the cigar is both the easiest and, for me, the best "bang for your buck" pen. By that I mean that the kits are fairly inexpensive, fairly forgiving but command a higher price (if you sell them) because they're meatier and, due to the size show off a bit more grain.

The Wall Street/Sierra pens are a close second.
 
The single barrel, particularly the Gatsby because of the bands at both ends, it's much more forgiving when it comes to turning close to the bushings.

Slimlines are tough for beginners, thank God they're cheap. The rest are equally hard simply because the transition from the bushing to the material is critical. Over, or under turn and it easily shows up.
 
The El Grande's are a bit tricky with the cap. The leftover material is paper thin and SUPER easy to crack. Slims can be hard for beginners to align the components with the blank since you have to turn away so much. All in all though, the concept is the same. Turn to the correct dimension. Just the variation of that diameter is what can give you hell.
 
I actually had a lot of trouble with the 'teachers' pens I made for the end of this last school year. The little 1" end pieces are somewhat difficult to turn and get to match well. Plus the transmission are hard to press into those little tubes - they really want to bend off to vone side or the other.
 
I am a fan of the Baron, the Jr. Gent, the Sierra, and casing pens. I still consider myself a beginner and I've been on this site for 4+ years - I just don't get to turn much due to other family time committments with a 3 and 4 year old.
 
HowaC said:
Slim Lines are the easiest for me, and the laser inlays are some of the hardest.
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I think the single barrell are the easiest to turn.

Cigars are harder to me because they are very unforgiving in the tube length...take a little metal off the tube when squaring and you need to start over.

The big companies all recommend slimlines as the best for beginners and I agree with them. They didn't decide that because slimlines are the most profitable for them. They make the most sense. Screw up one of the low priced slims and it cost you maybe $2.00 -- you can at least double that for a low end of about anything else. Aside from that you have the modified slims like the comfort or soft grip & streamline or trimline. Also anything you learn turning slims will transfer to other styles. Personally I turned about 200 slims before I decided to move to something else.

Hardest to me are the tenons.
 
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I just assembled a click cartridge pen and found it to be the hardest to assemble. easy to turn because you only have the one tube but the instructions were horrible.
 
Since you have a troop of kids wanting to turn Maybe the best would be a sierra style pen. Like that everybody has their chance to turn relatively quickly and the kid at the end of the line doesn't have to wait for everybody else to turn 2 parts.
 
Here's my take on your question. I think the easiest to start out on is the Sierra (Wall St. 2 at Woodcraft) because it is a single tube, a straight cut and very easy to assemble. Next I would suggest the Atlas (Polaris or Carberra) because it is still one tube, but introduces the kids to a cut that differs in width from one side to the other. It is also easy to assemble, but slightly more complex than the Sierra. The third would be the Retro (this is the Woodcraft Retro) because it has two small tubes but both straight cuts, and offers a little more challenge to assembly, but still easy. The Retro can be easily customized so that the kids could use two different or contrasting pieces of wood, making it more individual. All three are nicer to write with than a Slimline, IMHO. Also, these three are not expensive kits, which will be a concern. If kit cost is no object, a Baron or Sedona is an easy kit, but pricey. The kids might want a carry pen for themselves, so the Baron Sedona is expensive and the Cigar is a huge pen. I would highly recommend to keep the variety of kits down as they learn at first. They can learn different types of wood, then PR and the rest, without the need to branch out so much. Then throw open a Penn State catalog or Woodcraft website and let them pick what they want to do next.
 
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