Pens & Swords

While the pen is said to be mightier than the sword, why not have both?

This latest kit from Kallenshaanwoods.com (combined with the Knight’s Armor Pen Kit from Penn State Industries) is something a bit special!

A birthday present

A 70th birthday present for my Uncle.

Happy birthday Peter!

Acrylic pen, turned on the Nova Comet II.  With the drill press out of action, it took a couple of seconds to remember that I now had the Nova Pen+ Jaws from Teknatool

They worked perfectly, and worked with the pen mill as well mounted in the chuck.

It was nice not to rush this job – I had time to take my time.

Pen sanded to 12000 grit with micromesh acrylic sanding pads.

A Heart of Purple

Sure has been some time since I finished making something, anything, so with the lathe up and running at least, turning out a pen was the go.

With a blank of Purpleheart from Carrolls, I got into it. Pens don’t take a lot of time, so it is an easy project to smash out.

Basic slimline design, and the wood oxidised by heat (rather than by sunlight). Purpleheart is quite a different colour when freshly cut, and typically is allowed to gain its purple hue by leaving it outside to soak up the rays. I have noticed in the past that friction also works to a degree, and produces a more mottled effect, which I have used here.

Small steps.

Fire Rescue Pen

The latest pen from Kallenshaan Woods may be of interest, given the subject.  It is a fire and rescue logo, and although it is just one logo of the hundreds out there, the elements are quite typical.

The inlay kit has 19 pieces – red dyed basswood, natural basswood, silver metallic acrylic and curly maple.

 

Opinions of the Nova DVR XP

Spent about three hours out giving the DVR a solid workout, and I have come to the conclusion that the DVR XP is not a good lathe. In fact “good” and “DVR XP” shouldn’t be used in the same sentence.

The DVR is not good.  It is spectacular.  I am so sorry for turners out there (or would be turners) who read this blog: you are going to have to be seriously tempted by this machine, even if you don’t consider it in your budget. This lathe kicks some serious butt.

This lathe makes me want to be a better turner.  It inspires me to try to be a better turner.  This makes turning a particularly enjoyable exercise, and it was already fun!

Getting a hand in

I started with a couple of pens (go with what you know!), dials in the muscles – reminds them what they need to be doing for the task.  More on that later.  To the left of the head, you might notice an additional extension that has been added – the Nova Outrigger, with the bowl tool rest.

So once I had gotten the pens done, it was time to try out what really excites me about this lathe – the swinging head.

I took a bowl blank I had tried a few years ago, and quickly set aside as I found I could not do anything with it, without completely wasting it.  I have gotten better since then, progressing up the learning curve.

Outrigger and Bowl Tool Rest

The outrigger is an impressive addition, and if you ever intend to swing the head it is invaluable.  The bowl tool rest is an excellent accompaniment – a strange term perhaps for a lathe accessory, but turning and playing a musical instrument do have things in common.

Spinning Bowl

Working out just which of the degrees of freedom of the outrigger and rest to release to achieve the ideal placement is taking a bit, not that it is particularly arduous – operating the releases that are upside down I find frustrating – keep turning them the wrong way!  But the curved tool rest is exceedingly cool.  Now if only I could master the skew (chisel that is).

A Fine Finish

The timber is stunning, and it came to a very fine finish with a combination of sanding with the Ubeaut Orbital Sander, then EEE and Glow finish.

Last Time to See

A recess was cut into the base, and a dovetail cut for the pin jaws to engage.  Was going well, until the base blew out.  I just didn’t have enough timber supporting the clamping.  Sad, but not the first failure I’ve had, nor will it be the last.  I can’t think of another woodworking activity that takes timber so close to the point of failure, deliberately, consistently.  Taking timber to the point of failure tends to occasionally result in less than ideal results!  I might be able to get something out of the timber that remains, but that is an exercise for another day.

I do have some niggles with the lathe – the lockpin for the headstock needs a separate bar to operate (which is ok), but needs an on-tool storage for the bar, and it is hard to know just how tight, and loose the lockpin needs to be.  The operating bar also hits the power lead if you are not careful in its operation, which is a silly design flaw – minor and unnecessary.  The lathe starts at 500 RPM, and you can hold down the accelerate and decelerate buttons to achieve different speeds (takes a few seconds to achieve the entire speed range – it is faster with the spindle stationary), or you can go to one of your preset speeds.  However, selecting the preset speed you want requires two buttons to be pressed simultaneously, then a third one to confirm the decision – significant overkill personally.  5 single buttons, and one confirm button would have been more than sufficient.  Or toggling with one button through the preset speeds available, and a second one to then confirm.  Or something less cumbersome.  However, these are all pretty minor, and don’t distract from the lathe’s beautiful operation.  The speed thing might be negated in any case with the new wrist-mounted start/stop and speed controller that is retrofittable to other DVR lathes.

Back to the turning.

Next, I picked up a piece of Mahogany that had been sitting in a discard bin ready for burning, at a timber merchant and mounted it up.

Bowl Blank Mounted

Starting with the blank mounted and the tailstock supporting while roughing down the blank to round.

Blank Spun Up

With the blank spinning (1000RPM for this stage), it was a bit out of balance, but certainly bearable.  I decided after this photo to knock the corners off on the bandsaw – no point doing more work than I needed to.  While at this stage, I turned down a foot that would fit the 75mm jaws in contraction.  The underside of the bowl was shaped up to the foot, before reversing the bowl into the 75 chuck.  The head was then turned outboard as well to shape the interior.  Speed was increased to 2000RPM.

Raw Bowl

With the free spinning sander, the interior and exterior were sanded to 400 grit, then EEE applied, followed by Glow.

Glowing

During the finishing process, I got just a little carried away, applying just a little too much pressure which generated a bit of smoke at the periphery.  Nothing too drastic, just a bit of discolouring but it immediately showed me what it could look like, so I carried on, creating significant burning, cutting through the cloth (and a bit further, unfortunately – my finger was behind that, which got a bit warm!)  But the result was perfect for the bowl.

One Surface Finished

With the inside finished, and the outside also done as far as could be reached, it was time to again reverse the bowl to complete it.

Reversed in the Cole Jaws to Finish the Base

I used mini Cole Jaws to secure the bowl, gripping tightly enough to be able to turn the foot away, without causing extra damage.  These have the optional dovetail feet, which provide a more positive retention.  The lathe was again back to 1000RPM for this – didn’t want to go too fast with the Cole Jaws.

Base Turned Away

With the base turned away, it was time for the final sanding and finishing.

Finished Base

The base felt thin – lots of flex, so I didn’t want to overdo the sanding and finishing.

Completed Bowl

The finished bowl feels amazingly light – the average thickness is about 2.5mm.  Maximum 4mm, and down to 1mm or so.  As I get more practice, I will be looking for more consistency in wall thickness, however at this stage I’m just pleased to get a result!

Testing Thickness

When you get this result holding the bowl to the light, for me to go any thinner at this stage would be rather prone to disaster!

So with the first successful result off the Nova DVR XP, I’m pretty ecstatic with the new machine.

With Great Power comes Great Responsibility

Or in other words, just because you CAN do something, does not necessarily make it a good idea!

So after getting as far as I could (be bothered) in a day setting up to have another go with the Pen Wizard, I wanted to try it, and a new carbide cutter out.

I decided to try acrylic again, which although will work, the inherent patten in which may result in a too-busy-a finish, but “I have the power”

First job is to do all the required steps in making a pen, including getting it up to a respectable finish.  It can be done, but is a lot harder to finish with all the grooves cut.  If I was filing the grooves, that’d be a different matter.

Pen Body

So from the original acrylic (seen on the right), I’ve cut, milled, drilled and mounted the blank on the lathe, then turned it round, then finished it with the acrylic finishing pads.

From there, it is off to the Pen Wizard.

Engraving

The Wizard is set up in this case with the guilloche attachment in place, as well as the depth guide.  A laser bit chosen that is allowed to just be exposed through the guide, then the whole thing height-adjusted to just match the start and end points of the pen, and the stops set. The depth guide takes over once the cutter is at full (set) depth, and then rides up over the pen producing a consistent-depth cut (and in the case of a laser point, a consistent width as well).

With 12 of the possible 24 passes done (using the index wheel between passes), the engraving was completed.  The pen body was returned to the lathe for a final sand, then assembled.

I think the result would be nicer in a plain wood, especially with an infill, but still, the ease of the unit made this a very simple, controllable, repeatable job.

Guilloche Pen

Rather interesting techniques so far – looking forward to trying out other designs.

Turning out the Pens

This one was made as a birthday present, and takes a blank I was really interested in seeing turned, coupled with a Sedona mechanism.

I was a bit surprised how translucent the pen blank was – the colour of the brass core can be seen through it, which although doesn’t detract from the result, was not what I was looking for.

The box is a nice presentation style from Carbatec, and not particularly expensive either.  I didn’t mind using a commercially made box, so long as it isn’t wooden.  If I gave a pen in a wooden box I’d rather have been the one to have made the box as well.  But this felt box certainly looks, and feels the part.

Black & Pearl Sedona

Sedona Fountain Pen

The Camera is Mightier than the Pen

With the upcoming Carbatec pen demo (31 July), I have been giving some thought to the whole pen-turning process, and just what equipment I use these days when making a pen.

Before I start (and you may have already glanced ahead at the collection of photos), remember that pen turning is a good beginner exercise, and as such you do not need such a collection of tools to produce a pen.  They help obviously, but are not mandatory.

Even the lathe is optional. You can turn a pen using other means, the primary alternative being the humble drill press.  You don’t even need turning chisels – many a pen has been made using a sharpened screwdriver.

Mini Lathe

A lathe makes life a lot easier of course.  I haven’t used a dedicated pen lathe, but my feeling is they would be too underpowered to really be effective.  You can use a belt-driven one or variable speed – I tend to run it flat out for pen turning, so that makes the decision rather moot.  I have a mini lathe, but it would be no issue using a larger lathe as well.  So long as the lathe is accurate (the two ends (head and tail stock being directly in line).

Variable Speed Mini Lathe

A variable lathe does have the advantage when dealing with larger, or more out-of-round blanks – being able to change speed easily without having to move belts between pulleys.

Drill Press

A drill press can substitute as mentioned – turning the pen vertically rather than horizontally. It also is particularly useful for drilling the centre of the blank to insert the brass tube core. This drill press has the laser attachment for centering the bit on the blank.

Bandsaw

A bandsaw is useful for easily trimming the blanks and can also be used to knock the corners off before turning if the blank material is prone to chipping/splitting during the initial turning to round.

It also has a major advantage in preparing blanks – scavenging materials from offcuts, resawing dried branches/logs etc.  You can take a lump of timber full of defects and still extract plenty of material for pens.  If you ever get into segmented turning (and yes, you can do segmented pens), then the bandsaw becomes critical. Not sure where the photos of my harlequin pen have gone…

Harlequin Pen

…..found a poor version back from about 2006.  Made from Red-gum, Pittosperum and Purpleheart. I only made the bottom half of the pen in harlequin – wasn’t happy with the result to justify continuing this experiment, but the principle is valid.

I also made this slimline for an informal pen comp where the theme was cross.

Cross Pen

I went with a traditional cross, with the obvious religious overtones. So I decided to take the photo on the woodworker’s bible (no insult intended).

Disk Sander

I find I use a disk sander for some jobs as well – trimming the ends of a blank down close to the length of the brass insert ready for the pen mill.  It isn’t particularly critical – I use it because it is available, and convenient.

Spindle Gouge

As far as turning tools, you can go the whole hog – roughing gouges, skews, gouges.  For a long time this was the only one I needed – a basic spindle gouge.  Used it for roughing and finishing, and details.

Detailed Pen

Captive Ring Pen

Even with a pen, you are only limited by imagination.  The captive ring was made by taking a very cheap skew and sharpening it to a much longer point so it could reach right under the ring as it was forming.  You can buy dedicated captive ring chisels – never tried one (yet), but the basic tool still achieved a perfectly good ring.

Hamlet Mini Turning Chisels

For very fine detail, a set of mini turning chisels can be quite effective, but again not critical – I got these more for dollhouse furniture than pen turning.

Wood Pen Blanks

The blanks themselves can be either timber, acrylic, bone, horn, metal (cartridge) etc etc.

Acrylic Blanks

Acrylics are interesting to work with, producing some quite colourful results, but I never feel like the pen is fully my own, and it won’t until I get into producing my own acrylic blanks.  This isn’t too difficult, but I need to learn how it is done so I can really feel like some of  these pens are really fully my own creation.

Laser Cut Blank

You can get very elaborate with blanks.  This for example is a laser cut kit from Rockler, and is a development of the segmented turning concept.  Pens made from these sorts of kits are also very interesting, but you are nervous the entire construction because of the cost of the ‘blank’ (around $US50 for this one, and the one below).

Fire Pen

Tiger Myrtle Sedona

After tackling the Mont Blanc, I had a closer look at the Sedona kits that I (re)discovered in my pen kit, and decided it wouldn’t actually be a complicated build.  It has a large-diameter brass tube core, so I opted for a larger blank I had to ensure that I didn’t suffer any splitting during the drilling step.  And I had a perfect piece of Tiger Myrtle for the job.

This was also a good test of the drilling vice – how easy it copes with changing the size of the blank, and it proved to be no drama.

Sedona Fountain Pen

The pen lid is threaded, and can screw onto the end when the pen is used, giving it a very nice feel, weight and balance.  It is also interesting writing with a fountain pen – a completely different feel to a ball point.  I haven’t used one since the Navy – it is traditional to hand write letters (posting acceptance letters from vague memory) using a fountain pen.  12 or so years on, and I’m rediscovering fountain pens as a writing implement.  They also make quite a statement when you use one in a meeting, just have no idea what that statement is!

Capped

Even capped, the style has a bit of punch, but it is interesting watching the reaction when the cap is removed and they discover the iridium nib, rather than the ball point they were expecting. The finish, like normal for me these days is the significantly durable and glossy (by choice) CA finish. (CA = Cyanoacrylate = Superglue)

Components

The pen obviously comes apart for refilling, and comes with both a standard ink cartridge (purchasable from stationary shops).  It also comes with an interesting cartridge that has a bit of a syringe thing happening.  It is a reloadable cartridge, designed to be used with an ink bottle to refill.

Refillable Ink Cartridge

So another pen design experienced – by no means the cheapest (or the most expensive). Around $25 for the pen mechanism.

It is a nice pen 🙂

Pink Pen

Used a quick turning practice session to get my eye in for a new pen I was about to try by turning a blank I’d purchased for my daughter.

She’s 3, and unsurprisingly, her favourite colour is pink.

Pink Pen

It is an EB (elegant beauty), with rose gold components, and pink acrylic body.

Giving it a try-out

Happy Camper