Hi I'm Mike from Craft Supplies USA and
today we're gonna turn a pen with traditional turning tools. In this video we're gonna turn a pen
with traditional tools, but if you want to see how to turn a pen with a carbide
insert tool, watch our companion video linked in the description below. What do I mean by traditional tools? I'm talking about the basic tools that most woodturners have in their shops. Like the skew and the spindle roughing gouge. I turn most of my pens with just two tools. A 3/4 inch spindle roughing gouge and a
3/4 inch skew chisel. The roughing gouge is designed to turn
square stock round and I'll use it to turn nearly all of the pen. The skew chisel is used for final cuts and improves the surface finish, while
reducing the sanding required. Along with the turning tools, to complete this project, you'll need a pen kit, a turning blank of your choice, bushings a drill bit, a barrel trimmer and some standard turning supplies. When turning pens, I prefer to use dense hardwoods, stabilized woods or acrylic blanks. Pens get handled a lot and soft woods will show dents and scratches easily, so I'm going to be using a stabilized Box Elder Burl pen blank. And as a resource for this video,
we'll include links to all the products we've used in the description below. For this video I've chosen to turn the Roadster pen, because it's easy to turn
and it has a classy look. Now grab the brass tubes that came with your pen kit and check their length. Some pens use brass tubes with different lengths for the top and bottom of the pen. With this pen, both tubes are identical, so it
doesn't matter which is the top or bottom. If you are unsure, check the
instructions that came with the kit. Now take the brass tubes and place one on
top of the blank flush with the end. Make a mark about a quarter inch longer than the tube, then repeat with the second tube. Mark the blank with a perpendicular
line to help keep track of grain alignment. This will come in handy later. Cut the blank on your marks with your preferred method. Next we need to drill
the holes in our pen blanks. I'm going to be drilling on the lathe, because it's the most accurate and easiest way to do this. Check your instructions that came with
your pen kit to verify you have the right drill bit. For this pen kit, we're going to be using a 7mm drill bit. Mount a blank in some pen drilling jaws on your chuck, then with the lathe running at about 2,000 rpm, use a skew laid flat to square the end of the blank. Then use the tip of the skew to create a small dimple, so the bit will start on center. Secure the drill bit in the tailstock using a drill chuck, and move the tailstock up until the bit is almost touching the blank, then lock down the tailstock. Now turn the lathe speed down to around 500 rpm's, then advance the bit slowly by turning
the hand wheel on the tailstock. Make sure to stop and back the drill bit out
every half inch or so to clear the chips, keeping the blank from overheating. Continue until the bit exits the back of
the blank, then repeat with the second blank. After drilling it's time to glue the
brass tubes into the blanks. Start by lightly scuffing the tube with 220 grit sandpaper to give the glue a better bond. You can use epoxy or CA glue, but I'
prefer a thick CA also known as cyanoacrylate glue, because it doesn't
require mixing and sets very fast. Now coat a tube in thick CA glue twisting as you insert it to spread the glue evenly. Work quickly as CA glue sets very fast.
Keep going until the tube is just below the surface of the blank, ensuring that
the tube is not protruding from either end. Now glue the second blank the exact
same way. spray with an activator to set the glue
instantly after the glue cures you're gonna need to square the ends of the
blanks even with the brass tubes this is critical for the pen components to fit
together properly after turning to make this step ez will use a barrel trimmer
which is a mil mounted on a precisely sized pilot shaft that fits into the
brass tube in this case we'll be using a barrel trimmer with a seven millimeter
pilot shaft hold the blank and advice while lightly cutting just until the
tube is revealed don't cut too far or the pen will be too
short which will cause problems during assembly repeat with the second blank and when
you're finished the blank should look like this now that the blanks are glued
and trimmed we can mount them on the lathe before mounting your pen blanks on
the pen mandrel reference the instructions for the proper bushing
layout and this is important because the bushings help you sighs you're turning
correctly place a pen mandrel into your headstock and slide on the first bushing
seat the first blank place the second bushing then the second blank and
finally slide on the third bushing and lock everything in place with the
knurled nut and notice here that our marked line meets up on the blanks so
the grain stays aligned to support the pen mandrel slide a 60-degree revolving
Center in place then lock down the tailstock
now carefully advance the revolving Center with the hand wheel until the tip
rests snugly inside the dimple on the end of the pen mandrel when it is just
supporting the mandrel lock down the quill and don't over tighten because the
center will bow the pen mandrel and produce oval shaped pins now we can
start turning position the tool rest as close as you can to the blanks without
touching rotating the blank by hand to verify the edges don't come in contact
with the rest now turn the lathe on and set the lathe speed to around 3,200 rpm first up is the spindle roughing gouge
keep the tool handle low by your side and place it on the tool rest roughly in
the middle of the blank then slowly raise the handle until the tool starts
cutting keep the flute open at the 12 o'clock
position and work from the middle towards the end of each blank take light
cuts to prevent chipping once the blanks are round turn off the lathe and move
the tool rest closer now turn the blanks to shape keep an eye on the bushings as you turn
they not only hold the blink in place but are also engaged for the finished
diameter of the pen now that your blanks are shaped and close to the finished
size it's time for the skew chisel the skew is the perfect tool for achieving a
super smooth finish in just a few light cuts hold the tool flat on the tool rest
keeping the lathe around 3,200 rpm advance the tool slowly making a light
scraping cut to even out the turning and smooth the surface using the tool like
this is easy to control and produces a great surface turn until the blank is
slightly proud of the bushings to compensate for sanding once the blanks
are turned to shape it's time to sand we've found a Burnett sanding screens to
be perfect for pen turning they cut well and don't load like traditional paper
set the speed to around 2,000 rpm our final cut with the skew give us a very
smooth surface so I'll start sanding with 320 grit sand with light pressure
moving the paper back and forth constantly across the blanks spend more time on the coarser grits as
they'll even out the turning and the finer grits will polish the blanks work
your way through the grits stopping the lathe and sanding laterally between each
grit this will get rid of the radial scratches that form when sanding on the
lathe I'll sand through at least 600 grit once
you're done sanding choose a finish for your pen that looks good but will hold
up well to repeated handling my preferred finish and the most durable is
a CA pen finish which is applied by building up thin layers of CA or super
glue we'll cover the basics here but if you want a more in-depth video on CI pen
finishing we'll have a link here and in the description below start by swapping your bushings with the
non stick pen bushings to prevent the blanks from being glued to the bushings let's start by covering one blank at a
time in thin CA glue to seal and strengthen the wood then lightly spray with activator to set
the glue now turn the laid down to around 200 rpm because going slow will
prevent the glue from curing too fast using a medium CA glue begin applying
very light coats with just a few drops on top of each blank with some paper
towel then smooth it out spray lightly with activator and wait a few seconds
before the next coat making sure we're only working on one blank at a time so
the glue doesn't set too fast repeat this process and apply seven to
ten coats to each blank once you've built up a fixie a finish
it's time to smooth it out with some fine grit sandpaper
I recommend micro surface pen finishing pads because they're very easy to use
and produce a glass-like finish bring the lay speed back up to 1500 RPM then
dip each pad and water starting with 1500 grit move the pad back and forth
across the blanks for a consistent finish the lowest grid is the most
important here so make sure the finish is nice and level before moving on this
might take some time but it's well worth the effort now stop the lathe and sand
laterally between each grid just like before repeat this process with each pad all
the way through 12,000 grit once you've sanded through 12,000 grit
add a small amount of hutt plastic polish to a soft cloth and gently
applied to the blanks for a beautiful shine after polishing remove the pen blanks
from the mandrel and remember that proper order for grain alignment the
ends will likely have a small amount of CA glue on the end that can be removed
by hand using some 1500 grit sandpaper now that the blinks are finished it's
time for assembly check your instructions for the correct order of
parts and lay them out on the table accordingly the Pens we sell are all
held together by press fitting the parts into the brass to there for gluing the
parts together is not necessary the pen can be assembled using a simple shop
vise but I like using the penultimate assembly tool it gives me more control
when I'm pressing into parts and the plastic pieces don't scratch the parts
it's a good idea to start the parts by hand and make sure they're square then
finish with the press if a part gets pressed in at an angle it can split your
turning or crack the CA finish so use precision here and avoid any mistakes and take special care when pressing in
the twist mechanism just press until the indent is flush with the edge of the
tube this is where the penultimate comes in handy giving you very fine control by
simply rotating the hand wheel on the tailstock once the parts are all pressed in align
the green with a simple twist and you're done your roadster pen is now finished
and ready to show off to your friends and family turning pens is a lot of fun and be sure
to visit us at woodturners catalog comm to learn more about this exciting hobby
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click the link right here or down in the description below
