technique help

[Bope]

The reason I was bracing with my body was only to try to keep things steady not because of excess force. My daughter made another attempt yesterday but used the fat in the middle instead of perfectly straight. It came out much better but we did use sandpaper for the final finishing. Now we are trying some different finishing techniques.

As far as sharpness of the tools they are sharp but could be better. Some of them also need reshaping. These tools have definitely been sharpened with less than ideal technique. I am still working on getting a grinder set up but did hit them with a small diamond card. It helped but  they are not like you see in some videos where the person lays the tool gently against the wood then slowly turns the lathe by hand and nice curls come off.

[Rodneywt1180b]

Wet wood will do that.  Dry wood, like for pen blanks, not so much.  That would be more like chips than curls, you just don't want to be making dust.

[DFJarvie]

Sharp tools will help immensely. Look at a few videos on how to sharpen and make do with what you have. You can turn a basic pen with only a 1/2 scraper even rounding over the blank. As others have said a light touch will go far.

[SteveS]

Particularly with burls I turn the barrel, using roughing gouges, spindle gouges, bowl gouges, skews or scrapers until I feel it's getting thin. Having amboyna burl (or other premium pieces) blow out on me encourages me to switch to sandpaper a bit early if the pen style requires a thin wall and get it to final shape from there.

[Arlin Eastman]

The reason I was bracing with my body was only to try to keep things steady not because of excess force. My daughter made another attempt yesterday but used the fat in the middle instead of perfectly straight. It came out much better but we did use sandpaper for the final finishing. Now we are trying some different finishing techniques.

As far as sharpness of the tools they are sharp but could be better. Some of them also need reshaping. These tools have definitely been sharpened with less than ideal technique. I am still working on getting a grinder set up but did hit them with a small diamond card. It helped but  they are not like you see in some videos where the person lays the tool gently against the wood then slowly turns the lathe by hand and nice curls come off.

Not that I have a ton of experience but have done or helped do thousands of pens.

Like someone said a 1" to 1 1/" skew will level out the wood and a 1" to 1 1/4" spindle roughing gouge will do the same if turned on its side.

I would love to suggest you take 10 to 30 blanks and turn them down and use the tools to get them level and then do the pen blanks when you have the knack of it.  Last please leave about 1/16" of wood and then sand down to the bushings so you do not end up taking off to much.  Going thru the grits will take quite abit of wood off.

Last for years I used thick CA glue do the blanks and now I only use 5 minute epoxy which I really think is best now.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing your pens. 

[gear jammer]

When doing a pen, spindle move your tool equally. Moving the cutting end but not the handle gives horrible results giving a concave cut. Move both hands equally the same distance either way using your  arms or legs to move your body with the tool.  I hold down with my hand on the rest or gripping the tool behind the rest, much easier than trying to hold it with my fingers. Even for light cuts. 

For sharpening I use a 4 inch belt sander with a 6 inch disc. I generally use the disc setting the tool on the platform and rolling it at the desired angle. I have a wolverine and grinder if I want to change the angle on the piece but a quick pass or 2 on the sanding disc gives me a good edge without turning my tool into metal shavings as fast.