Making a Pen with Your New Wood Lathe

So you just purchased a wood lathe but do not know what kind of project you should start out with. As soon as the right amount of skill is obtained, beautiful pieces of woodwork can be created with a wood lathe. However, before you get too over your head, it is best to start out with a basic woodturning project. My recommendation would be beginning by carving your very own pen.

Pen turning is a common hobby or past time. These homemade pens can make excellent gifts for any event. Pen turning is a fun yet practical project that can help you get a taste of the capabilities of your wood lathe. The following are some tips in preparing your wood for the lathe that will help you make your first wood lathe experience successful.

1. Pick an interesting wood blank. One of the great things

about pen turning is you can use any sort of wood you want, including scrap pieces from other projects. Pick out a piece of wood with interesting figuring. Be aware that some wood changes appearance with light and air exposure and will begin to look dull with time, such as Paduak or Purple Heart wood. If you are not comfortable using a scrap piece of wood there are numerous wood blanks that can be purchased in all sorts of exotic woods.

2. Examine your wood. It is very important that you examine the wood you are using for your pen project. Make sure that your wood is dry and without faults or cracks. Damp and cracked wood will make for a lousy pen, if you can even make one out of that type of wood at all.

3. It is better to be oversized than undersized. If you have to choose between an oversized wood blank and an undersized blank, always choose the oversized one. This will give you some leeway just in case you make a mistake.

4. Have an idea. As with everything else in life, your pen will turn out better if you have an idea on what you want to create before you start. Decide before using the wood lathe on what type of shape you want your pen to be.

5. Mark the wood blank before you cut. It is nice to put a pencil mark across the grain of the wood before you start. This will make it easier to match up the grain pattern after you cut the wood blank.

6. Make sure your ends are square. If the ends of your wood blank are not perfectly square before using the wood lathe, there will be possibilities of cracking when the pen is assembled.

7. The smaller wood lathe the better. This tip is really just meant to make your life easier. Any wood lathe is suitable for pen turning; however, the smaller the wood lathe the easier your job is.

8. Keep it simple the first couple of times. It is tempting to want to do some fun and intricate pen shapes the first couple of times but stick to the basics until you figure out just exactly what it is you are doing.

A pen is an easy project that can help you with the beginning possibilities of your new wood lathe. After you conquer creating your own pen, there are several other projects to start with such as table and chair legs, wooden bowls, wooden hammers, candle sticks, or even pieces to a chess set. Just remember to begin with a simple project with your wood lathe to get use to your new tool before attempting more difficult projects.

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By making a pen with your new wood lathe

So you've just purchased a wood lathe but I do not know what type of project should begin with. Not just the right amount of skill is achieved, chunks of wood can be created with a wood lathe. However, before you get too much over your head, it is recommended to start with a basic project lathe. My recommendation would be starting from carving your pen very personal.

Pen turning is a common hobby or past time. These pens at home can make excellent gifts for any event. Pen spinning is a fun yet practical project that can help you get a glimpse of the ability of your wood lathe. The following are some suggestions in preparing your wood lathe that will help you make the first successful experience wood lathe.

1. choose an empty wooden interesting. One of the great things
information about pen breakthrough is that you can use any type of wood you want, including pieces of scrap from other projects. Take a piece of wood with interesting understanding. Be aware that some wood changes appearance with exposure to light and air and will begin to seem tedious with time, as Paduak wood or Purple Heart. If you're not familiar with a piece of scrap wood there are numerous wooden spaces that can be purchased in all types of exotic woods.

2. examine your wood. It is very important that you examine the wood that you use for your project. Make sure that the wood is dry and without defects or cracks. Damp wood and cracked will make for a terrible pen, if you can even make one out of that type of wood at all.

3. it's better to be oversized than undersized. If you have to choose between an empty wood oversized and undersized blank, always choose the oversized. This will give you some room for manoeuvre in case you make a mistake.

4. Have an idea. As with everything else in life, your pen will be better if you have an idea about what you want to create before you start. Decide before you use the wood lathe on which type of shape you want to the pen.

5. mark the wood blank before cutting. It's nice to put a pencil across the grain of the wood before you start. This will make it easier to match the grain after it cut the wood.

6. make sure that the ends are square. If the ends of your white wood are not perfectly square before using the wood lathe, there will be the possibility of cracking when the pen is assembled.

7. smaller wood lathe. This tip is really only meant to make your life easier. Any wooden lathe is suitable for pen turning; However, the smaller the wood lathe easier your job is.

8. keep it simple the first couple of times. It is tempting to want to make some forms of fun and intricate pen the first couple of times but stick to the basics to understand just exactly what it is that you're doing.

A pen is a simple project that can help you with the opportunity to start your new wood lathe. After conquering, creating your own pen, there are several other projects to begin with, as the table and chair legs, wooden bowls, wooden candle sticks, Hammers or even pieces of a chess set. Just remember to start with a simple project with the wood lathe to get use for your new instrument before attempting to projects more difficult.

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Sharpening Woodturning Tools: Making Sense Of Grinder Wheels For Sharp Wood Lathe Tools

Getting a good edge on a wood lathe tool is one of the great difficulties for a beginning woodturner and an ongoing concern for intermediates and experts. While the grinder is the tool of choice for woodworkers sharpening tools for wood lathes, getting it set up with the correct wheels can be a confusing challenge. It need not be with a couple of simple steps.

First it is necessary to move in thinking of the grinder as a sharpener. Many people come to woodturning from general woodworking where the grinder is used to remove lots of metal in a hurry so as to grind away nicks and breaks in chisels, plane irons and the like. Water stones and honing implements are used for final edges. Woodturners move from the grinder to the wood. Most shop grinders are not set up for this and the problem is largely the wheels.

Thus the second consideration is to replace the grinder wheels. While it is agreed that since woodturners generally use high speed steel tools they should have aluminum oxide wheels, there is a lot of confusion in the catalogues as to what color wheel to get and what bond to have. The color reflects individual manufacturers attempts to make choosing between grades of their particular wheels and has little to do with other wheels on the market. Consideration then should be given to grit and bond.

The bond of a wheel refers to how friable the material is that holds the aluminum oxide together. More friable bonds allow the material to break away quickly thus leaving a sharp cutting and cooler grinding surface. Unfortunately, the most friable bonds manufacturers recommend for woodturners groove, pit and wear quickly requiring a lot of wheel dressing and expensive replacement. Thankfully, almost any aluminum oxide wheel generally available to the home market is sufficiently friable for good sharpening with good wear so making sense of the friable numbers of bonds is not necessary. Just get a good wheel.

Third is consideration of the grit. While it may encourage argument, a good setup is a fast cutting wheel of about 46 grit on one side of the grinder and a sharpening wheel of eighty to one hundred on the other. With a good jig especially, this will meet all the shaping and sharpening needs of the woodturning shop.

Simply put, a couple of inexpensive aluminum oxide wheels of appropriate grit will give a lot of sharpening satisfaction and help to make a lot of shavings for a long time to come. Keep it simple and keep it fun.

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