Woodpeckers Ultra-Shear Pen Mill Questions

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Bikerdad

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I am looking at upgrading my pen mill to the Ultra-Shear Pen Mill from Woodpeckers in order to take advantage of the replaceable carbide inserts. My questions are two:
  1. If you have this mill, how has it performed?
  2. Do you know if the Pilot-Reamers are interchangeable with the Whiteside Pen Mill reamers? They LOOK the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if this product is either a collaboration with or actually made by Whiteside. However, "looking" the same and being interchangeable are not the same thing.
If the mill itself is good, AND the reamers are interchangeable, then I can get just the mill body and pick up the reamer sizes that I don't already have as needed. If the mill is meh/blech, then I'll stick with what I have. If the mill is GRRRRREAT but reamers are not interchangeable, then I have to decide whether or not I want to drop big coin.

Your consideration is appreciated.
 
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Over time all pen turners use various tools and techniques to develop methods that works well for them including those that use pen mills as part of their standard regimen. I can only offer my experience and what my current regimen is and how I got there, so please take this as it is intended, not the right way or the best way or anything like that - it's just the way I do it.

I started out with a standard pen mill with replaceable reamers. I had tear-outs which I thought were likely due to the sharpness (or lack thereof) of the cutting edges of my pen mill. So, having some experience with carbide and it's properties, I replaced my pen mill with one that had carbide cutters (permanent ones - not the replaceable kind). In all honesty, I think it performed better than the steel one, but I still had some tear-outs. Maybe the problem was as much with my technique than with the mill -- cutting end grain can be problematic for catching and tearing using any kind of tool. Ultimately the tear-out problem was solved for me when I bought a squaring/sanding jig and a set of spacer sleeves from PSI. This lead me to my current disc sanding regimen, but along the way I replaced the purchased jig with one that is built to better accommodate the specifics of my particular disc sander. (If I didn't have a disc sander or didn't have a solid working squaring process, I would likely consider the on-lathe offset sanding tools that Rick Herrell makes).

That being said, I know there are members on IAP, that use pen mills with great success, especially with the Ultra Shear model. It's no surprise to me as I have several tools made by Woodpeckers and their attention to quality, accuracy, and tight tolerances have made every one of them worth the more expensive price they command. If I ever decided to go back to using a pen mill for squaring, I'm sure it would be a Woodpeckers Ultra Shear.

Best regards,
Dave
 
100% what Dave said.

That said, I have a few Woodpecker tools and have been impressed with them. I had my doubts about the Woodpecker Mill and finally decided that they had a super sharp system with their carbide inserts. Early carbide inserts were not nearly as sharp as a good sharpening of HSS tools. I too bought a carbide bladed mill about 12 or 13 years ago. It still did not do as well as Rick Herrell's sanding mill for me.

Then last fall (2023), I gave in to the quality of my Woodpecker tools and bought a full set of the Ultra-Shear pen mill. Due to some commitments through December, I did not get to use them at all or make a pen. Then in early January of this year, I had bypass surgery and have not had a chance to use them, until last week (May 2nd/3rd).

I put the blank in a pen blank clamp, and the UltraShear Mill in my cordless hand drill. I did light touches and was disappointed. I was expecting precision smooth cuts with what I thought was super sharp carbide bits, but it was not precision smooth (I am very persnickety on precision). THEN I got the directions and read them🧐o_O: Use in a DRILL PRESS and clamp the blank and blank holder down. At this point I was near the brass tubing on one end, so I decided to go with the 15 year old Sanding Mill (version 1.0) from Rick Herrell. But I could not find my sanding mill.

I went back to the Ultra Shear mill - with the shaft the size for a "cigar" pen tube. I put the blank in the pen blank clamp and used the UltraShear to get it close (using my cordless drill - I have 3 different size drills). After getting close, probably within a mm. I made a temporary sanding mill out of an old pen mandrill and put a piece of PSA sandpaper on it and sanded it down to the brass tube. AND then I ordered Sanding Mill version 2.0 from Rick. Got it last Saturday.

Moral of this story is that the Ultra-Shear was moderately better than the other pen mills, but I didn't use it in a drill press. To me that is too much work - 1. clamp the blank in a blank clamp and 2. then clamp the clamp down, 3 align everything; repeat for the other end. Hey, technically and correctly, all pen mills should be done that way. But for me, I have been using a sanding mill for so long that I forgot the extra steps for using a pen mill on a drill press.

IF you clamp the pen clamp down or to the drill press fence, it might work smoother. But I am sticking with the sanding mill.

My grandson asked about my the UltraShear set a few weeks ago and I said "not yet." Since I tried them, he might be the recipient of that set before long. He already has one of my drill presses.

As to your WHITESIDE questions. I don't know for sure. I have numerous Whiteside router bits and am very impressed with their quality. To me the difference between Whiteside and Woodpecker is in the finish only. Whiteside tolerances are (In my opinion) every bit as good as Woodpecker, but Woodpecker also adds a focus on the external finish. For industrial use, external finish is not a necessity and in many cases leads to higher levels of theft just because they look prettier.

I would be interested in other's use and response.
 
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I have had the complete ultra sheer set for a couple of of years now and use it in my drill press. I doubt other brand inserts will work with this system and it is better to just use brands own components. I have done a lot of different blanks with a variety of materials and still haven't had to rotate the carbides.

The ultra sheer can give you butter smooth cuts but it can also lead to rough tear out. It is an extremely aggressive system that if you press the blank too quickly it will blow out. The main thing is to take your time and try to be as smooth as possible. Using a drill press is ideal as it gives you even pressure all the way around the blank being trimmed and flushed. Being too aggressive or not using the correct sized mandrel insert can lead to the tear out and/or blow out. Have a clamp to hold the blank firmly and evenly in place, do NOT try to hold the blank with you hands as this mandrel system will shred your hand if it gets too close. If you do not have a drill press, harbor freight has decent ones at a low price that will work (I use one) or you can get one of those mount systems for a hand drill to act as a drill press.

The results I get with this mandrel are usually very clean and smooth. Experience is the best teacher, I have blown out blanks and still do on occasion when I rush too much. I do get tear out on punky end grain though, not a lot that can be done about that so sanding really punky or spalted wood may be better.

I do recommend the Woodpecker ultra sheer mandrel set. It is quite pricey but it is also a quality set but I chose to save up and splurge on it because other mandrel systems just weren't doing a good enough job. Nor did I have a sanding system setup for the sanding method. I do not recommend using this system if you do not have some sort of drill press system to use it safely.
 
I bought the woodpeckers pen mill when it first came out. I used it a few times, it now sits on a shelf virtually unused. I prefer a sanding method. We all know why we square the blank ends, we are squaring them to the tube, not the blank. That being said if you mount the blank in a vice on the drill press, you generally will have the blank perfectly straight, the tube may or may not be, that creates a binding situation. I don't make a lot of just plain wood pens, I mostly do segmented. Pen mills don't work well on that type of blank. In my opinion, they only work well on very dense woods such as Purple Heart. If I were you, I would ditch the pen mills altogether. Sanding, with a jig works well on any kind of blank you have and you will never suffer a blowout.
 
I had a "not so good " experience with the system and ended up selling to another member here. I do almost exclusively acrylic. It was very aggressive and had constant catches no matter how much pressure I used. I used it in my DP, and always considered it dangerous because of the sharpness and catches.....It was not for me....
 
I've used it for several years and haven't had any issues. I do have to be careful with acrylics but usually have problems only 5-10% of the time.
 
I have owned several mills. And have tried other methods. The other mills, I could use in a hand drill. So I was a little frustrated when I got this one and realized it has to be used in a drill press. Like any tool, it took a little while to get used to the setup and manual feed rate. Now I love it and it gives me a superior milled end. I have an XY bed on the drill press, and a vertical VBlock, getting the blank set is the hardest part. I turn the RPM way down to 500 rpm. I almost never make wood pens, usually some sort of plastic
 
The Ultra Shear from Woodpeckers is identical to the one sold by Axminster in the UK but Woodpecker want 190 and Axminster want 90, quite a mark up for a Red box.

Glad I found the Axminster one first 😉 and it comes in a better quality box as well.
 
I bought the entire set and used it for a month or so in my drill press. For me, it is too aggressive. I prefer to use a sanding sled and sanding discs on my table saw. If anybody is interested, I will be listing the Woodpeckers set very soon.
 
moke said:
I had a "not so good " experience with the system and ended up selling to another member here. I do almost exclusively acrylic. It was very aggressive and had constant catches no matter how much pressure I used. I used it in my DP, and always considered it dangerous because of the sharpness and catches.....It was not for me....
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I thank you Mike cos I know the grief it gave you getting it to me!

I've used it only in my drill press at low speeds and with work VERY WELL SECURED ! It is NOT for the feint hearted or those who hand hold blanks 🫣 cos it really can bite.

So far results have been fairly good . Only resorted to sanding on one " difficult " plastic ( acrylic? ) blank. On wood - brilliant but MUST Be well held in vice
 
John, for what its worth, as someone who started with a pen mill and switched to Ric's sanding jig, I would never use a pen mill again. Its just too easy to use the jig on a lathe and you never have to worry about ruining a blank with a tear-out. You also never have to worry about trimming too much and making the blank too short. You just sand away until you hear the change of the sound its making as it starts making a sound similar to "shush" (like you are asking someone to be quiet).
 
Here's another vote for Rick's sanding jig. I bought one and have not used a penmill since. I wish I had not waited so long to get one. You just need a set of transfer punches (cheap at Harbor Freight) and a faceplate to stick a sanding disc on. I use a disc made from kitchen counter material and PSA discs.
 
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