Pen kits for beginner

[Elaine]

Merry Christmas all.
Looking to turn some pens as a beginner in pen turning. Having searched the web there are so many to choose from. Planet seems to come up a lot in forums. My thinking is that it would be cheaper to buy a kit than buy each component individually.
Any advice from those who know would be great.
Cheers
Elaine

 

[spinks]

As you said the myriad of stuff for pen turning is endless...and the bits you "have" to have sends Mrs Spinks into meltdown!! The mandrel is just the start (unless you intend turning between centres!!) you need a way to drill the blank...so a drill press....you need something to hold the blank square to the drill press so a vice is needed...you need a barrel trimmer to square the blank off after drilling and gluing....you need the correct bushings for the pen kits of your choosing....you need a way of pushing the finished blanks over the pen kit to put the pen together (I turned a couple of nylon pads and use the drill press again!!) It all adds up remarkably quickly!! as for the basic mandrel kit this is a perfectly useable piece of kit (also available in MT2) http://www.stilesandbates.co.uk/product.php/section/6148/sn/PSK-1

good luck

 

[nev]

Hi Elaine
The basics required are a mandrel and possibly a trimmer**. most of the other items in a kit can be bought as you go.

Each different pen kit, slimline, sierra, etc require different sized bushings and drill bits so one usually purchases these with the first purchase of each kit.

The stuff required for all pens that you may have already is..
gouges: standard size is fine, mini pen sized gouges not required.
glue: epoxy, CA or PU
abrasive.
finish: friction polish, CA, MC wax, etc
potato or plasticine for blocking the tubes

And for the first pen you turn..
pen kit
bushings
drill bits
mandrel
pen trimmer***

order of play is
make/take timber pen blank, lets say 150mm x 20mm x 20mm
cut to length: 2 or 3mm longer than brass tube.
drill blank: with correct sized drill* (too tight and you may split the wood and too loose will result in off centre or not sticking.)
optional: clean brass tubes with acetone or similar and sand lightly to help adhesion.
plug brass tube ends with potato or similar. (you dont want the glue inside the tube). Wipe again with cleaner.
coat tube in glue and insert into drilled blank, twisting as you go to spread glue. make sure brass tube is pushed below the surface of the wood. you will trim down to the tube later.
set aside to dry.

once set, remove potato and using barrel trimmer gently trim to just above brass tube.
put appropriate bushings and blanks on mandrel and turn to size (just a fraction bigger than bushes)
sand
polish
remove from lathe
assemble as per instructions (bench vice with soft jaws will be fine)
write!

fine tuning will come with practice (using calipers instead of relying on bushes for accuracy etc)


*Apart from the slimline 7mm kits, the majority of the pen kits seem to be imperial and do not always have an exact size metric equivalent. UKdrills is a good source for cheap imperial and metric bits.
**The barrel trimmer will need to be a close fit inside the tubes. You can get multiple shaft sizes for the different tube sizes or, as i do, use the std 7mm shaft in conjunction with 7mm tube with timber turned to the correct size (usually made from early pen making attempts turned and sanded to size)
***or you can use a sander if you can guarantee you can hold the tube absolutely square to the tube end.

 

[SVB]

A good list from Nev.

Note, I don't use a barrel trimmer as I have a sanding disc machine and use that back to sand back to just above the brass tube (I have seen others use a sanding sheet on a disc held in the lathe with a home made table clipped onto the lathe bed, which is useful for many other jobs as well). Not to say barrel trimmer is not useful, it is the proper tool for the job, but as ever, for most turning is a hobby and outlay can be large at the start so this is a alternative to consider.

Simon

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

I get my pen kits from Turners Retreat. The 7mm kits are a good starting point, because you don't need to make them slimline. They are about the cheapest though, so any mistakes will not cost as much.
I don't have a barrel trimmer yet, so use a jig I made which is essentially an MDF disc with a bit of 40-grit abrasive from an old sander belt and a hole in the middle which takes a bit of 6.5mm silver steel for the blank to slide over.
I got the general idea on YouTube. It works for me, until I get the real thing.
I use the drill press to assemble the pens using bits of an old plastic chopping board to protect the ends.

Good luck, and enjoy the experience.

 

[VikingAl]

Hi Elaine,

I saved up my pocket money & bought the deluxe starter kit from turners retreat, everything there that you will need & it came with a few free pen blanks to get started which was a result, however, it's a bit pricey, I just had to do a few more paper rounds that's all!. I buy all the pen/key ring etc stuff from timber bits in Oz, takes a bit longer to get here but financially, it's worth it!. I now chop up me own blanks, use my lathe as a horizontal drill press to bore through them & job done, well, nearly!.

Loads of people on here doing pens & they are all impressively good @ them, I'll get there one day but it's very inspirational looking at their pics!.

I really enjoy making the pens & wish you all the best with it!.

Al.

 

[woodndrum]

Agree with all the above, you might also consider Axminster Tools for slimline pen kits. From memory they are about 2.39GBP with 25per cent off for 10 I think. When I was in full production building drums, I was often selling pen blanks 10p each on eBay and bidders went a lot higher for exotic woods. Corian is good fun when you get the hang of wooden pens, and if you pm me I can send you some if you pay the postage.

 

[bellringer]

the best place to buy kits is https://www.timberbits.com/ and the slimline is one of the best kits to start on

 

[Elaine]

Thanks everyone. The info was really helpful. I have gone with the Deluxe Colleted Pen Turning Kit from Turners Toolbox.
Keith I will pm you re the corian.
Much appreciated. Excited now :lol: