turning blanks

[montmill]

What tools do you use to turn a pen blank?

Do you use different tools for acrylics and wood?

Just curious.

Montmill

 

[kovalcik]

Most of the time a roughing gouge and skew for both wood and acrylic.

 

[navycop]

I use a rouging gouge both for wood and acrylics.. Sometimes a roundnose tool. Not sure what it is called but it is by Shopsmith.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

I use the same tools for all materials.

I use spindle gouges from Thompson Lathe Tools for my pen turning by hand on my wood lathe.

I use carbide end mills / engraving bits (various types) for my carved core blanks that I make with my Digital Ornamental Lathe.

I use HSS tooling in my metal lathe for stuff I need / want to do on the metal lathe.

Learning to sharpen / use the tools you have is more important than what tool you have.....unless the only tool you have is a shovel (or something like that). At least that's the way I look at it.

Ed (who does not sharpen carbide end mills / engraving bits....but who wishes he could)



Ed

 

[Jim Burr]

Have you even checked the library? All questions are answered there and this is the most common one to be found!

 

[crokett]

For wood I use a spindle gouge to rough turn and then depending on the wood a skew or carbide tool rolled on edge for final shaping. For acrylic I use a spindle gouge. I can get a surface that is ready to sand just with a sharp gouge and light touch.

 

[Edgar]

Most of the time I just use an EWT Easy Rougher with a square-R2 blade for the whole pen job for both wood & acrylic.

 

[ed4copies]

Nearly any tool can be used effectively. Just practice with the tool of your choice.

My choice for 15 years was a roughing gouge, for the last five, a skew. But, I can turn a pen with any tool you want to see, as long as I am allowed to sharpen it the way I want.

 

[Whaler]

I use a Woodchuck Pen Pro for everything but sometimes I will go to a skew for the final cuts.

 

[TBCbushings]

I use my carbide penturning tool ...

 

[Adillo303]

For wood, I use a spindle gouge to rough and a skew to finish.

For plastics I ttied the dpindle gouge on my first one. Ruined the blank.
Fir the second one, I used a round nosed scraper. That went fine.

I have only turned two.