# Jay Pickens blank squaring tool



## philthephlier (Jul 21, 2008)

For those with a disc sander in their tool inventory the jig Jay Pickens designed for squaring pen blanks works absolutely fantastic.  He really thought it through or worked it out.  I have had every pen turn out with a perfect fit.  It is really nice not ever seeing a gap any more, not even hairline gaps.  It took less than an hour to follow his tutuorial and the very first pen made with it was completely gapless.  Thanks to Jay for this great tool.


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## DocStram (Jul 21, 2008)

Hey Phil ... can you post the link to his plan?  Thanks!


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## cowchaser (Jul 21, 2008)

http://content.penturners.org/articles/2005/blanksquaring.pdf


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## philthephlier (Jul 21, 2008)

*thanks*

Thanks Dustin for providing that for Al.


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## stevers (Jul 21, 2008)

Thanks for the link, I'll have to check that out.


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## Mack C. (Dec 18, 2008)

Hello everyone; I am in need of a Blank Squaring Jig and have been looking at Jay Pickens instructions and plans.

He uses a 7 mm mandrel rod. My question relates to all the other pen styles that don't use a 7 mm tube. How does this jig work for them?

I have a Barrel Trimming Kit, but it's only good for up to ⅜" tubes.

I'll take advice from anyone!


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## KenV (Dec 18, 2008)

I only use the "D" drill sized shaft for the 7 mm tubes.   I use extra tubes in scraps of wood to turn sleeves that fit into the other pen tubes.   I label the sleeves over and over again and never have to change anything but the head (for sharpening).  The sleeves can be of almost anything -- plastics, wood, metal, etc.   I like them to be a bit longer than the pen tube being trimmed.  (The extra length will not work with a Jay Pickens sanding jig --- you want the sleeve a little shorter then.)


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## arioux (Dec 18, 2008)

Hi,

Altough it's usefull, You don't aboslutely need a sleeve with this jig.  Just make sure your tube leng sit flush on the rod when you sand.  Meaning all the lenght of the tube is always in contact with the rod.  The end of the blank will be perpenticular with the surface of the sander.  Hope i'm not mixing everyone up here.  Mabe someone with a better english could explain (if he understand what i wrote )


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## Mack C. (Dec 19, 2008)

arioux said:


> Hi,
> 
> Altough it's usefull, You don't aboslutely need a sleeve with this jig. Just make sure your tube leng sit flush on the rod when you sand. Meaning all the lenght of the tube is always in contact with the rod. The end of the blank will be perpenticular with the surface of the sander. Hope i'm not mixing everyone up here. Mabe someone with a better english could explain (if he understand what i wrote )


Hi Alfred; I understood you completely. I had thought of that myself as a matter of fact, and wondered why that wouldn't work. Now I know it will. Merci for votre response!


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## KenV (Dec 19, 2008)

Alfred -  You are correct that you do not need the sleeves in some situations - but those are limited to the ones where one end of the brass tubes are very close to square with the ends of the wood/acrylic blank.  The idea that Jay was following is that keeping the tube centerline as the process control, you eliminate the errors added by using irregular material on the outside.  Jay worked with slimlines as the foundation for all his pens and the mandrel was always right.  His need for sleeves was non-existant.   It is all about the precision and reproducablity of results.   Not having your skill I have to resort to machinist processes to get the same results with acceptable accuracy (and variation is within acceptable limits).  The sleeves are not the high precision solution, but do work well enough for wood turning.


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## rherrell (Dec 19, 2008)

I agree that this is a good tool and when I first started it was one of the first things I made for penturning. I used it with no problems for a long time until I started making some of the longer pens. To get around this problem I still use the same basic tool but I cut off the crossbar, cut a dado in the bottom and mounted it on kind of a rail system. With this setup I can still move left and right so as to not wear out the disc and more important I can move in and out for different length barrels.
Here's a couple pics that show the top and the bottom.







By the way, I use the same sleeves for this and my pen mill.


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## byounghusband (Dec 19, 2008)

Rick,
That idea rocks....  I have used barrel trimmers forever.....  I haven't made a jig for the specific reasons you encountered and got stuck thinking inside the box.  Thanks for opening the lid!!!


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## akbar24601 (Dec 22, 2008)

Hey Mack,

Just to let you know, you can buy individual barrel trimmers. I think I saw them at CSUSA. I've been thinking about buying some more, at least in the more popular sizes that I turn.



mackc said:


> Hello everyone; I am in need of a Blank Squaring Jig and have been looking at Jay Pickens instructions and plans.
> 
> He uses a 7 mm mandrel rod. My question relates to all the other pen styles that don't use a 7 mm tube. How does this jig work for them?
> 
> ...


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