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John4337

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2025
Messages
4
Location
Copperhill, TN
Thanks for allowing me to join. I've just started with pens. I made this little jig to drill blanks on my ShopSmith and made the first one with a piece of scrap oak. This should be fun.

John
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SAVE your first pen for yourself!!! The jig is great (jigs are sometimes as fun to make as pens 🤣 ). Welcome to IAP from Ohio. Have FUN! I love plain Oak. I would sometimes tint with any available stain, let it soak in the deep grains, then do a final turning. It really brings out the grain. Oak is dismissed as a plain timber... I disagree! If the photo gets attached, this was a 2" thick branch from an English Oak tree, 105 yrs old, at my FIL's house. I brushed a stain, wiped it off and turned as usual.

https://www.penturners.org/media/img_1838-jpg.35487/
 
Welcome! Enjoys this madness and join in the fray.

I guess you heard that ShopSmith is closing their doors unless they can find a buyer.
https://www.shopsmith.com/?fbclid=IwdGRjcANFSWBjbGNrA0VJNmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEe 5DnTlH45u5FFEu3KcSrdsgT5yIEtB-7V7aURIaJRoecCKsQqsx0pBnuO3k0_aem_t5_xae-wY001i7NnbrnrVQ

ShopSmith has been the tool for many people. Get parts while you can.
Yeah, sad news for sure. This was my father's machine that he bought in the early 80's. Sadly he had a stroke a few years later and it sat for many years until I retired. Restoring it was my first retirement project. A couple of months ago, I found a box of old sandpaper from back then and was preparing to toss it, and found several pen kits in the bottom, started me thinking about making pens for fun. Couldn't figure those kits out, no instructions, etc. I may start a thread with some photos of them, someone here may know.
 
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