# Pens without a lathe



## jyreene (Aug 24, 2015)

Some of you know I recently moved again. This time I was not allowed to bring my lathe or any of my pen making machinery. It makes sense. No shop, different electricity, and many other reasons. I will get back to my precious machines (and got permissions to update some things (nice metal lathe here I come)) in a few years. 

That said, I've had some ideas on how to go old school mixed with hand carving, mixed with ingenuity. I do plan on having a friend drill out some blanks and what not for kits to practice the carving part but I also plan on buying an old time hand drill and just doing that. Talk about not having to worry about heat build up! Other than what's already the ambient temperature. Anyone have some wood workers tips and tricks they mind sharing to help me out? I won't have a lot of free time but when I do I plan on just playing around with it so I'll still be learning a bunch of new things. 

Also, since I'm in a different part of the world, wood and more particular resins (vintage would be awesome), does anyone know of a manufacturer in Bangladesh for pens? A search doesn't yield any languages I currently know. Are there any Bangladeshi woods I should look for? I know I can Google it, and have but I ask because I was curious if anyone had seen or used any nice ones, or rare ones.

Thanks for the help all.


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## thewishman (Aug 24, 2015)

Now that sounds like an interesting posting. How long will you be there?


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## Skie_M (Aug 24, 2015)

Get or build a portable drilling rig to enable you to drill a perfectly perpendicular hole.  These rigs don't use any kind of power... just hold your bit in alignment so that you can drill straight.

Obviously, you'll need a small vice with diagonal slotted jaws to hold your pen blank while drilling, and that could be built in for a single-purpose item, but you may want to leave it removable (make alignment pins!) in case someone else needs to use it for something.


There are converters that will permit you to use electronics made in england here in the US, or vice versa .... what's the electric status where you moved to?  They should be able to sell you converter kits that plug into your outlets, and provide you with american style outlets and 120V 60Hz 15A AC ....

Last, but not least, you could always just build yourself a treadle lathe and operate it on foot power .... 
Green Wood Working from England's MasterCraftsmen

PSI's Drill Blanks Anywhere Drill Press  <--- You can turn this with a HAND DRILL!


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## Curly (Aug 24, 2015)

A few years back someone showed how the seniors or handicapped people they worked with made pens without a lathe. I can't find the thread again unfortunately. :frown: He made them a frame to hold the blank and bushings on a rod, mandrel or between centres and they were sanding pens to size and shape. You could rig up your own version to make round, faceted or carved pens as you like.


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## Tom T (Aug 24, 2015)

Cruly, That is a great post for sure.  I have tried to look and my mind is gone completely.  I can not remember the members name.  Last year she started a group in her area, based on that post. It was really cool.  She posts here all the time and I think she is from the western area.  She makes some really cool stuff and had lots of diffrent woods.  My mind is blank on her name.  Sorry about that.  Other members will come up with it.  Thanks for serving in what sounds like a very remote place.


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## Charlie_W (Aug 24, 2015)

Curly said:


> A few years back someone showed how the seniors or handicapped people they worked with made pens without a lathe. I can't find the thread again unfortunately. :frown: He made them a frame to hold the blank and bushings on a rod, mandrel or between centres and they were sanding pens to size and shape. You could rig up your own version to make round, faceted or carved pens as you like.



Phil, FireWhatFire, had a post maybe a couple of years ago with part of the 
"Make a pen without a lathe" components. I think he had some pics.

The original thread was about turning for seniors in a retirement home....with no power tools. I remember reading it and seeing the pics. The blank once drilled and tube glued in was on a piece of rod or mandrel with two sets of bushings and was slid across some sandpaper until the pen blank was round and down to the bushings. This method gave you a straight blank.
They had a jig for drilling too..again by hand.
Good luck!


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## mark james (Aug 25, 2015)

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/no-lathe-needed-124827/

Maybe this was it?

Last post has the pics of the tools.


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## thewishman (Aug 25, 2015)

Am I the only one that heard Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" playing in my head when I read the thread title?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFpfTd0EIs


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## thewishman (Aug 25, 2015)

Here is a search results page for agar wood - it seems to have a lot of significance and interest:

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=agar+wood&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8


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## chartle (Aug 25, 2015)

Got any green twigs lying around? 

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-modern-build-of-a-medieval-spring-pole-lathe/


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## tomtedesco (Aug 25, 2015)

Gunny, thanks for serving in places most of us don't want to be.  Stay low and enjoy your tour.  Semper Fi!


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## jyreene (Aug 26, 2015)

thewishman said:


> Now that sounds like an interesting posting. How long will you be there?


18 months here and then another 18 months at a yet to be named location.



Skie_M said:


> Get or build a portable drilling rig to enable you to drill a perfectly perpendicular hole.  These rigs don't use any kind of power... just hold your bit in alignment so that you can drill straight.  Obviously, you'll need a small vice with diagonal slotted jaws to hold your pen blank while drilling, and that could be built in for a single-purpose item, but you may want to leave it removable (make alignment pins!) in case someone else needs to use it for something.  There are converters that will permit you to use electronics made in england here in the US, or vice versa .... what's the electric status where you moved to?  They should be able to sell you converter kits that plug into your outlets, and provide you with american style outlets and 120V 60Hz 15A AC ....  Last, but not least, you could always just build yourself a treadle lathe and operate it on foot power ....  Green Wood Working from England's MasterCraftsmen PSI's Drill Blanks Anywhere Drill Press  <--- You can turn this with a HAND DRILL!


So electricity is sketchy at best but that's no the real issue. A place for the tools if I had brought them would have been the issue. We weren't allowed to bring most of our stuff. We knew that coming into it but it did make us change a few of our hobbies for a bit.



Curly said:


> A few years back someone showed how the seniors or handicapped people they worked with made pens without a lathe. I can't find the thread again unfortunately. :frown: He made them a frame to hold the blank and bushings on a rod, mandrel or between centres and they were sanding pens to size and shape. You could rig up your own version to make round, faceted or carved pens as you like.





Charlie_W said:


> Phil, FireWhatFire, had a post maybe a couple of years ago with part of the "Make a pen without a lathe" components. I think he had some pics.  The original thread was about turning for seniors in a retirement home....with no power tools. I remember reading it and seeing the pics. The blank once drilled and tube glued in was on a piece of rod or mandrel with two sets of bushings and was slid across some sandpaper until the pen blank was round and down to the bushings. This method gave you a straight blank. They had a jig for drilling too..again by hand. Good luck!


I remember the pens for the bling thing. That was really cool!



mark james said:


> http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/no-lathe-needed-124827/  Maybe this was it?  Last post has the pics of the tools.


That would be it but no tools other than my carving stuff.



thewishman said:


> Am I the only one that heard Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" playing in my head when I read the thread title?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFpfTd0EIs


Lol...probably not but I'm not familiar with that one. More of a metal or hair band person.



thewishman said:


> Here is a search results page for agar wood - it seems to have a lot of significance and interest:  https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=agar+wood&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8


Agar, I'll have to ask around. I did notice that when I searched.



chartle said:


> Got any green twigs lying around?  http://www.instructables.com/id/A-modern-build-of-a-medieval-spring-pole-lathe/


That would be neat but no space for it really, and no tools to make it.



tomtedesco said:


> Gunny, thanks for serving in places most of us don't want to be.  Stay low and enjoy your tour.  Semper Fi!


Any time. I love this job and this country.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll keep digging through the posts but some of the links give me ideas. It will be some time before anything is just ideas because I had to hit the ground running and it will take a few months to get things settled.


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## TurtleTom (Aug 26, 2015)

First off, I think I would find a water filter that can remove arsenic.  Big problem in Bangladesh.    So much of Bangladesh is delta that finding hardwood could be a problem.  Some of the palms make pretty pens though.  Good luck out there.


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## jyreene (Aug 26, 2015)

TurtleTom said:


> First off, I think I would find a water filter that can remove arsenic.  Big problem in Bangladesh.    So much of Bangladesh is delta that finding hardwood could be a problem.  Some of the palms make pretty pens though.  Good luck out there.



Water is such a problem that we have our own distiller in the house for anything we put in our mouths. I'm used to this kind of thing (using water bottles for brushing teeth and what not) from deployments but the kids have a harder time. They are getting it though.


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## thewishman (Aug 26, 2015)

Might be a little messy applying a CA finish.:biggrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnv0DAR_gWA


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## jyreene (Aug 26, 2015)

thewishman said:


> Might be a little messy applying a CA finish.:biggrin:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnv0DAR_gWA



I bet. Thankfully I stopped using CA years ago.


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