Newbie Pen Question

[tuneswoodshop]

I recently found the art of pen turning and love it. I have only made a couple and have searched the internet but cant seem to find the answer.
How do you hold the larger pen tubes like a 10mm. I have a 7mm mandrel do they make larger ones or is there some type of adapter tube you buy? Thanks for your help

[bobs64ford352]

Each style pen kit has a specific bushing set you need to buy. The bushings will be made to go over the 7mm mandrel and be sized to fit the tube that comes with the kit.

Bob

[chips ahoy]

Exactly what Bob said, for each different pen kit you buy the proper bushings.

Mel

[glennw]

Yeah what the other two have said. Look at the directions for each pen it will tell you what bushings you will need/ Hope that helps. Good luck if you have other questions feel free to ask.

[Arlin Eastman]

It seems you got faster reply's here then the search.

I really hope to see some of your pens.

When I started turning that is all I did and I still love to make them if I am not teaching others to turn them.

What I like about making them is that there is untold ways to make them and I really do not thing the limit has been reached yet.

Good luck

Arlin

[AHill]

There are different types of pen mandrels. Type A, which is 7 mm and Types B and C. Most pen kits use the Type A mandrel. As stated, each pen kit uses a specific bushing set which slides on the pen mandrel. The bushings are sized to fit inside the pen barrel, with a larger diameter on the same bushing which sets the outer diameter of the pen segment you're turning. Most sellers of pen kits have websites where you can download instructions that show you how to mount the bushings and tell you which segment of the pen each bushing is used for. For a lot of kits, there may be 4 different sized bushings, depending on the diameter of the hardware that's press fit into the pen barrel.

[iclark]

To what the others have said, I would add that it is important to keep track of which pen kits a set of bushings is for. You do not want to mix them up.

There are lots of different ways to keep track. I use small zip locks that are labeled with the bushing model number and the name of the pen kit.

[AHill]

+1. Also, if you are going to do a lot of turning, I recommend buying additional bushing kits. They are inexpensive, and after a lot of use and sanding the blanks, the bushings will change diameter and the fit between your blank and the hardware won't be as good.

iclark said:

---

To what the others have said, I would add that it is important to keep track of which pen kits a set of bushings is for. You do not want to mix them up.

There are lots of different ways to keep track. I use small zip locks that are labeled with the bushing model number and the name of the pen kit.

---

[Arlin Eastman]

Yep I agree with having a lot of extra bushings. They get sanded, nicked up and have finishes on them. I carry between 3 to 5 extra ones but mostly because I teach new people how to turn pens.

Arlin

[bobs64ford352]

iclark said:

---

To what the others have said, I would add that it is important to keep track of which pen kits a set of bushings is for. You do not want to mix them up.

There are lots of different ways to keep track. I use small zip locks that are labeled with the bushing model number and the name of the pen kit.

---

This is what I wound up with:



I also agree, with the kits you make the most of, it is a good idea to have multiple bushings. Besides having replacements handy some pens only require 1 blank, so if you have 2 sets of bushings you can make two pens at once.

Bob