# What is your BEST tip for a newbie?



## wyone

I am a TOTAL newbie, been turning pens for less than a month, but learned a LOT in that time.  I can see it is way more about technique than tools at least for me.  

That said, I think it would be very beneficial if those of you who have been turning would give your best tip to newcomers.  To me that means, what type of pen to learn on, what materials to use, any tools you cannot live without, etc.  

I look forward to learning more and as I have now turned about a dozen pens I am starting to get some confidence in my abilities.  I know in the beginning, learning on slimlines, I almost gave up as I had too many failures.  But I am not a quitter!  lol

Thank all of you in advance and the amount of information I have learned on this site is immeasurable.


----------



## mark james

Well, you asked for it...

After you get all your ducks in order and can start to turn pens...  Turn scrap wood for 2 weeks!  Don't try to make ANYTHING!  Get used to the tools, the lathe, the chucks, etc...  (However, if you have been turning, disregard...).

REad as much of the IAP Library as you can stomach.
Ask questions - some answers will be great, some will be snarky (disregard).
Read as much as possible, and experiment as much as possible.
There will be many isolated topics you will have questions on...  Keep asking!

Oh...  Welcome to IAP!

HAVE FUN!


----------



## mredburn

My best advice is to stop now and save the rest of your money,sanity and soul from the bottomless pit of pen turning.  
Other than that there are as many approaches as members.  Some practice on pieces of pine 2x4 or cheap wooden dowels until they build confidence and skills. Some just run headlong off the cliff and try and figure it out on the way down. Pick a sierra or one of its many clones.  A single tube easy to turn and finish pen.  Exotic Blanks :: Pen Kits :: Pen Kits (By Kit Name) :: Sierra Kits (All)  I know Smitty also sells them under the LE   ROI model.  PSI sells a version as does almost all the vendors.


----------



## Shock me

Sharp tools.


----------



## wyone

Thank you Mark.. I appreciate it!  

I have been turning for a while, but the learning curve is slightly different when turning pens.  Way less chances to correct..  shall we say.. discrepancies that might occur?  lol

I know one of my issues the first few times was drilling the holes.  I bought a 7 MM bit, drilled it horizontally on my shopsmith, but it never seemed to be right.  I had glue failures, too large of holes, etc.  

I have since gone back to drilling on my drill press with a homemade jig, and a better drill bit and using thick CA or Gorilla glue to glue the tube it and my failure rate related to that has changed immensely.

Speed of turning was another thing I had issue with, and am still learning the best speed for the small diameter turning.  HATED using acrylic blanks until I read the posts on here and since then, I have decided I love it!  lol

Also learning that wood does not always turn out with much figure in small cases such as pens.  I had a piece of walnut that I have had for probably 15 years given to me as scrap by someone I consider to be a HUGE influence in my woodworking.  I thought it would be so awesome to surprise him with a pen turned from something he gave me.  When I turned it, it has so little figure, and is pretty much just blah... so totally opposite of the effect I was hoping for.  I have another piece or two he gave me, so I will have to look way more carefully at my selection of where to choose the blank.  I may still send him this one as it finished smooth.. is nice enough.. just blah...

SO much information on this site!  Wife wonders what I am doing online so much I think.  LOL

Again... THANK YOU ALL for the advice, hints and information


----------



## MikeL

I read as much as I could in the IAP library and watched a ton of you tube before my first pen. I don't know your background so I am going to suggest you go slow and think safety first. If you lose a digit or two off your fingers or throw wood into your eyes it tends to make turning less enjoyable. . There is no need to get in a hurry. Tools will be a personal choice but I really like finishing the final cuts on wood or resins with Easy rougher by easy wood tools. They have a carbon tip that is almost square but has a slight radius on the corner. These tips are good for finishing cuts. Kinda like a skew. Or! Learn how to use a skew. I have yet to own one. Good luck.


----------



## kingkeyman

Learn to use a skew

Buy a set of transfer punches

Learn to use a skew

Buy a drill chuck for your tailstock

Learn to use a skew

Don't waste money on a pen press, use a heavy duty ratcheting wood clamp

Learn to use a skew(1 inch or wider)

Pen mills tear up many projects,  Set yourself up with some sort of disk sanding method to square your blanks (I prefer the one made by rherrel)   

Buy a cheap chuck for your headstock

You will learn more repairing your mistakes than you will by throwing your ruined project away and starting over.

Oh yeah, did I mention learn how to use a skew?


----------



## kingkeyman

Shopsmith was my first mistake. Keep it around for other projects, buy a lathe for pens.


----------



## wyone

*Shopsmith*



kingkeyman said:


> Shopsmith was my first mistake. Keep it around for other projects, buy a lathe for pens.



I have to agree.  I had one of the taiwan knock off lathes for about 20 years and it never really worked well so I got out of the mood so to speak.  

I bought an older shopsmith for $50 a few years back as Dad had one that I was never allowed to use.    I actually rebuilt that one as well as two others and paid for all of them with the proceeds.  Not if you include my time of course.  But my wife knows of my love of wood and for my 55th birthday, got all of our friends to do me a WOOD party.  I got several pen blanks and supplies and well the rest is history.  

I am thinking in the next year I will be looking at a REAL lathe, but until then the shopsmith is what I have and it does work for turning.  Not sure I like it for any of the other things, but has no vibration or anything because of the rebuild and the weight.  

So look for me to be asking advice on what to buy for a lathe in a few months!


----------



## mtassie

RUN!!! Just kidding x2 what everyone else says. This hobby is very addictive.


----------



## jj9ball

Read as much as you can from the library here at IAP... oh, and don't ever, under any circumstances, eat yellow snow.


----------



## Big

I turned my first pen two days ago and made every conceivable mistake. My advice as another total newbie to the craft is to read the library, watch Youtube videos, join a local wood turning club, and most importantly, listen to the safe advice and wisdom of the folks here. They know what they are doing, they are wonderful people, and will not steer you wrong. Best of luck and welcome from Pensacola, FL.


----------



## Sylvanite

My best advice?  Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment.

Regards,
Eric


----------



## Sylvanite

Sorry, inadvertent double-post


----------



## Rink

sharp chisels.  high speed.  sharp chisels. light cuts. sharp chisels.  i bought the HF full size lathe on sale $275.  Great lathe, but if doing it over again I'd go with a smaller lathe for pens.  read the library post on finishing with CA, it changed everything for me.  abranet sandpaper...awesome.  and since nobody has mentioned it...be careful using CA for finishing.  The fumes are terrible and will injure you seriously.  I have a respirator and i use the shopvac hose clamped to the lathe to suck the fumes away.


----------



## Cloven

I am no expert by any means, I have only been doing this about a year and a half, but my tips I learned through experience are such:
drill slow speed
turn high speed
CA finish low speed
A carbide tool is most certainly worth the investment

If you're doing a CA finish, my first few weren't great because the head speed was a bit too high and I kept the paper towel on too long.  Now I turn the speed down as low as it can go, then only wipe side to side a couple times then take my hand away right before I would start to feel it start to set, then give it a spritz of accelerator.  Now all my CA finishes come out perfect.  Watch the fumes, though, keep yourself protected.


----------



## yorkie

Don't make pens out of wood unless it's extraordinary wood, highly figured or exceptional burls.  If you're going to go to all the effort and skill it takes to make and finish a pen, invest in the best of the best pen blanks.


----------



## wyone

I agree about the wood...  some of the pens I like the best were with acrylics or with wood that was thin laminated sections.  LOTS to learn about real wood pen making


----------



## RKB

Welcome the wonderful, addicting,frustrating,fullfilling world of pen turning.  Being a pen turning tenderfoot my best tip would be read from the library, it helped me so much.  My quality of pens increased the most by using calipers.  My next biggest improvement came in using a lighted magnifying glass to inspect my blanks BEFORE assembly.  Good Luck.


----------



## wyone

RKB...  Ok.. see EXCELLENT idea... I have issues with my pens that I only discover after assembly.  I do have a magnifying light literally within 10 feet of my lathe.  THANK YOU


----------



## preacherman

There has been some great advise so far. One thing I will add is that you should take your time. It does not matter how long it takes to get it right, just get it right! When I started turning pens I watch some youtube videos and those guys were making pens in 10 minutes and I though I ought to be able to do that also. When I slowed down and took my time I learned to make a much nicer pen. For me this is a hobby and I don't care if it takes me and hour or two or five to make a single pen!


----------



## mredburn

1- Dont be afraid to fail, you will and you will learn just as much or more than  as if you succeeded the first time.
2-design your pen on paper,so you understand the relationships between the parts, the threads, the holes and lengths.  It doesnt have to be a cad drawing just have the dimensions wrote down with a sketch.
3 just go do it. Its not rocket science and just getting started will show you its not that hard.  You can make it harder as you get better.
4 When drilling a nosecone for a refill drill the large hole from one side and the small hole from the other. It will help keep the hole centered on your piece.  Drilling all the way through from one side will tend to make the drill bit wander and your hole will be off center.
5-start all holes with a center drill, drill bit.


----------



## ed4copies

preacherman said:


> There has been some great advise so far. One thing I will add is that you should take your time. It does not matter how long it takes to get it right, just get it right! When I started turning pens I watch some youtube videos and those guys were making pens in 10 minutes and I though I ought to be able to do that also. When I slowed down and took my time I learned to make a much nicer pen. For me this is a hobby and I don't care if it takes me and hour or two or five to make a single pen!



You SHOULD be able to make them in 10 minutes *AFTER* you have made a few hundred.  When I started making resin pens, I was certain they could not be completed in less than 90 minutes!!  And, I had MANY "blowouts".  

Most important---have FUN!!  Enjoy the trip, you will get to the destination at some point!!

Ed


----------



## preacherman

ed4copies said:


> preacherman said:
> 
> 
> 
> There has been some great advise so far. One thing I will add is that you should take your time. It does not matter how long it takes to get it right, just get it right! When I started turning pens I watch some youtube videos and those guys were making pens in 10 minutes and I though I ought to be able to do that also. When I slowed down and took my time I learned to make a much nicer pen. For me this is a hobby and I don't care if it takes me and hour or two or five to make a single pen!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You SHOULD be able to make them in 10 minutes *AFTER* you have made a few hundred.  When I started making resin pens, I was certain they could not be completed in less than 90 minutes!!  And, I had MANY "blowouts".
> 
> Most important---have FUN!!  Enjoy the trip, you will get to the destination at some point!!
> 
> Ed
Click to expand...

 

That's my point Ed, at first you likely cannot turn a pen in ten minutes. I got frustrated trying to do that and almost quite pen turning. He is asking for advice and I gave him mine!


----------



## ed4copies

I completely agree with you, Dale!!

In fact, I may start adding that to my vids----thank you!!


----------



## Fireengines

Take your time.


----------



## jsolie

One thing that I haven't seen... pick up some extra tubes for the kits you like to turn.  That way if too serious of a "design opportunity" happens, you can recover without rendering a pen kit tubeless.

I know it's already been said, but learn the skew--even if it's a carbon steel one that comes with a set.  When I was showing my son how to use the skew, I bought some cheap 2x2s at Lowe's and cut them down to about 12".  He went through many of them, and now he at least has an idea of how to use that tool.

I also find that if a tube is kind of loose in the drilled hole, I'll use epoxy.  It seems to hold the tube better than CA.  Plus I haven't found I've needed to scuff the tube with epoxy.


----------



## hewunch

Get a nice set of calipers and don't trust the bushings for size. 

Get a couple extra sets of tubes, go ahead and glue up some ordinary wood and turn the stuff all the way off. That will help you get over your fear of going too thin, which leaves most pens too thick.


----------



## bjbear76

Listen to comments, critique and downright criticism at times.  Take advice and make improvements, but don't think you have to do everything the way everybody else does.  Do what works for you; make your turnings your own identity.


----------



## sbwertz

wyone said:


> Thank you Mark.. I appreciate it!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also learning that wood does not always turn out with much figure in small cases such as pens.  I had a piece of walnut that I have had for probably 15 years given to me as scrap by someone I consider to be a HUGE influence in my woodworking.  I thought it would be so awesome to surprise him with a pen turned from something he gave me.  When I turned it, it has so little figure, and is pretty much just blah... so totally opposite of the effect I was hoping for.  I have another piece or two he gave me, so I will have to look way more carefully at my selection of where to choose the blank.  I may still send him this one as it finished smooth.. is nice enough.. just blah...



Try turning it cross grain...that will give it a lot more figure.  This little slimline is cross grain walnut.  It was one of the very first pens I turned, and was my carry pen until I left it in a pocket and it went through the washer and dryer.  Put in a new refill, and it still looks pretty good! This pic was taken AFTER it got washed and dried.


----------



## butchf18a

Practice, practice, practice. Find 2or3 styles you like and turn them, save the screw-ups, there will be some, these you look back on later to gauge your progress. Give bunch more away to friends and family, the word will get out and before you know it people will buy them from you. An important question to ask yourself is, "what is my goal in pen turning?". Regardless of your answer always strive for quality. Still your approach will vary dependent upon whether you want to make a living or just a fun hobby.  

Jmoicbw-bidi


----------



## firewhatfire

If it's about saving money, but a $100 pen every time you pass a penturner at a show.  Doesn't matter how many you pass it's still cheaper than turning pens.(kinda snarky post for whomever said don't listen to em):biggrin:

That said, I use 2 tools I start with a woodchuck uni-tool round one, and then change over to a woodchuck pen pro.  Turn the pen pro up on edge at a angle on the rest.    

If your going to sell pens don't underprice your product.  If you make quality products people will pay quality product price.  

Phil


----------



## jfoh

1. Use good dust collection to keep both your shop and lungs clean. 
2. Be aware some woods are toxic. You can still use them just be careful to limit your exposure. 
3. Good light and good ventilation are a must. 
4. Start with just one or two basic kits and perfect them before you move onto more expensive kits.
5. When I order kits in large lots I order 50-100 extra tubes for stock. Easy way to do it is use extra tubes to glue up blanks, turn and finish. Then assemble pen kit parts returning extra tubes to stock. 
6. If a blank does not turn out well just turn the blank back to the tube and reuse it. 
7. Never make a pen you do not like. Do what you like and make it as nice as you can.
8. Keep a small notebook for each kit you turn. Page one is the instructions. Page two are clear drawings for all blank lengths when cut, drill sizes, bushing sizes finish sizes. page three are notes that you can learn from. What worked and what did not, turning tips you see or figure out. If you do not turn a kit for six months you will forget a lot of minor details that make a good pen into a super pen.
9. Try different things even if what you are doing  works.  Ask others for their tips. 
10. Bring more money.  
11. Keep a black sharpie in your pocket. Use it to mark blanks for match in the middle, then put a mark inside the pen tube in the middle so you can keep grain matched up as you turn, finish and assemble pens.
12. Learn to do CA finish. It takes a little time but is the gold standard for finishes to many. Other finishes can be used and you may like them better. CA is the super glue type finish. Never use it without good ventilation. 
13. Straight grain blanks are very boring. Cut them at an angle or cross grain to make a rather boring blank much better.
14. Do one thing at a time. There are wood blanks, casting blanks, segmented blanks, truestone blanks, stabilizing blanks and blanks made out of clay. All can be done with a little effort but to do more than one at a time will be expensive, time consuming and counter productive. Get good at one or fail at one and then move on. A failure is not a mistake. It just means that is not for you. Some people make great segmented blanks but cast poorly. 
15. When you look to cut out blanks for a board look for the best blank on the board and layout out that one first. If your board has a knot  or section of nice grain use it for a blank. Sometime I buy a board for one or two blanks even if the board could make ten times that. Two premium blanks are better than 20 boring ones. You are cutting for figure not for maximum number of blanks. 
16. Do not over look the slim line kits. Get rid of the center band and it becomes a very good kit. Make it fat or thin, longer or shorter add different types of wood as accents on the ends. A two dollar kit can be a fun learning experience.  You can make them as a one piece pen, change the lower tube length to make it a trimmer, longer pen. 

I am sure other have hit on most of these points. But have fun and try different things to see what you like and what works for you.


----------



## its_virgil

Keep a log of every pen you make...include the kit, material used, finish, who owns it now or where it is ,date made  and any notes about the pen you would like to remember. I wish I had done that when I started but it is too late for me now.
Do a good turn daily!
Don


----------



## wyone

Thank you again all. I will be getting some plastic pages to keep instructions in 
and a three ring binder today to record things.  I have been taking a picture of every pen and am amazed at how far I have come since my first pen.  I am still a bit intimidated when I see the pens that some of you are turning, but it gives me a goal to try and reach and that is a good thing.


----------



## wyone

*Cross grain turning*

I think that is an awesome pen.  I guess part of the process is learning that the only thing that limits what and how to turn is me.  I was taught from the beginning of my woodworking experiences to always use the strongest part of the board and cross grain is certainly not that, but it is gorgeous as you have shown me.  Learn not to limit myself....  excellent advice


----------



## Glenn McCullough

Be sure your lathe and set up is true or you will forever turn out of round pens. Nothing shows a pen was done by a beginner more than out of round pens or the turning too proud or short of the components.


----------



## JasonC

Without reading all the other posts...

Buy nice tools. Spend more up front for the nice stuff. Buy a top-notch tool sharpener. 

I like mandrel savers from PSI. Places the compressive load from the tailstock on the bushings instead of the mandrel - if someone should over tighten the tailstock hand wheel.

I press all my pens on the lathe with these pen press adapters. Cheaper than a pen press and insanely more accurate due to the fact that you can precisely control the press with the hand wheel on the tailstock.

Focus on accuracy, fit, and finish. Illuminate the work area near the lathe to more easily identify flaws in the finish. I have a 2' 2400 lumen T-5 above just above my lathe.

You can build a house and be off quite a bit everywhere, still get the house built, and hardly anyone will notice. When making a pen your tolerances are in the thousandths. A few thousandths off at the nib and the user will feel it EVERY time they hold the pen. Digital calipers. Buy some. Use them.

If you've taken the time to turn a nice blank don't take a shortcut on the finish. 

Basically, it's like I tell my kids. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing to the max of you abilities. No sense in going into a project with intent to half-ass part of it. 

Don't take shortcuts.

If you don't know something research and ask questions. 

Buffing (Beall 3-wheel system on the lathe) is worth it. I use tripoli and white diamond then use the carnauba wheel as a final clean/buff without wax. Every pen I make - whether I sell it for $25 or $150+ gets buffed. Acrylic, wood, bone, everything. Buffing makes a difference.

Which brings me to...use the SEARCH. Between the IAP library and the search function I can't count the hours I've spent reading between April (when I started penturning) and now.

And remember that no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better. Never settle for good enough. Keep pushing yourself to progress. If you find yourself doing the same pens without experimenting with new stuff, you've stalled and you're letting yourself down.

It's worth failing a time or ten to make a pen that's awesome.

Work with great woods. I like to work with burls because the grain sells the pen. I apply the same theory to pens as I did to being an assistant editor for magazines - people are drawn in by visual cues. No text I could put on the cover would make people pick up the magazine - it's awesome photography that will grab their attention. Same deal on the inside. Awesome photography will keep their attention when they flip through at the newsstand - strongly written editorial has to support the photography.

With pens there are two things that will draw attention - either the blanks or the hardware. 

This Victorian in Amboyna has both an awesome blank and nice hardware. While some have said it's a bit too much, I think it has enough for people want to pick up and admire the pen just for the fact that there is a lot to look at. 

After you've made some pens carry them and use them. Everywhere. It's not often people stop and say "Wow, that's a nice pen." When you can make that happen you're doing something right. Several guys here have sold the pens out of their pocket.


----------

