A Penmakers Challenge Stage 1

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ldb2000

ldb2000

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Sep 11, 2007
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Laurence Harbor, NJ, USA.
This is a modified slimline I made for the Penmakers Challenge . It is made with curly maple and a custom made centerband of pauduk . This entire pen was made on the lathe no saws were used to cut the blank or centerband .
Remember this is a Challenge so it's time to put on your thinking caps and figure out how it was done . I will answer all questions but you might not always like my answers :devil: I will be posting how I made this one at the end of stage 1 .



Sorry for the crappy pictures but I really couldn't bend very long to focus manually so I had to use the auto focus .

Now let's have some fun and and get some better pens posted .
 
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Nice pen.

So is the challenge to make one without a saw? Or just replicate the modification using any method we figure out?
 
done it is this ok ???:laugh::laugh:

done it.jpg
 
This entire pen was made on the lathe no saws were used to cut the blank or centerband .

Sorry, Butch, I doubt that.
As Carl said, the tree won't fit on MY lathe.

Also, can we DRILL before we mount on the lathe???
Drillpress allowed, or drill on the lathe only??


If the "blank" is a given, there is no challenge so far.
ANY tool will square the ends.
 
I think the idea of these challenges is to show that there is more than one way to do something -- hence the focus away from tutorials. And I think Butch purposely didn't use a saw to try a new method for doing a custom center band, perhaps to challenge himself.

I think it's okay to use a saw if you choose... or not, for those that want to try to figure out how Butch did it.

Personally, I've never made a custom center band -- and I look forward to that challenge. So I think I'm going to use a saw, as that would be the method that I think I'll achieve the best results.
 
Ok are we going to play or play around ??? Instead of wasting time making ridiculous comments you should be making pens . If any of you really read the original posts I said there are many different ways of doing things . I don't care if you want to use a beaver to cut your blanks , the idea is to try different ways of doing things , to improve your skills . The type of materials don't matter , the way you do it don't matter , just make the stupid pen !!!! Sheeesh you guys need a tutorial on how to follow instructions ??? I spent time IN PAIN to make the pen , was I just wasting my time ???
 
Sorry, Butch, I was NOT trying to pick on you.

I did not understand what was being asked. As I see the comments, seems like everyone else got the drift, so I will "butt out". No sweat.
 
Got the bottom half of my pen done. Got the top half glued up, but my daughter's crying, so I have to go feed her. With any luck I'll have mine posted later tonight.:)
 
OK here is my entry. On a designer. And it has 3 Blackwood bands. All done on the lathe (minus some of the gluing of course :biggrin:)

designerbengal.jpg
 
Sorry for the tirade guys but I mean .... really . Ed it's not a problem , I don't mind fooling around and when in this place you gotta expect it but 15 posts and only 2 serious ones ?
Joe hit the nail on the head . I have never tried to do a centerband this way and that is what this challenge is all about , pushing your skills , learning new ways of doing things .
 
Sorry for yanking you chain Butch. I'm at work, bored, and I can't wait to get home and make my challenge pen..... Just having a little fun in the meantime. Yes, I'm serious.... I just can't get to a lathe! So...talking pens is the next best thing to making pens.
 
Yeah, I can't find it. I probably imagined it.

Here's the pen I had used as an example:

il_fullxfull.107801229.jpg


Glue up the blanks on the tubes, trim the blanks, chuck up the cap end and turn round. Part off whatever distance you want your CB to be from the end, then glue on new parts. I use CA and clamp it to make sure the joint is solid. Trim up and turn to desired shape.
 
I would say that is close, but notice the extra maple between the layers of paduk in Butch's pen? To me getting that effect is the fun part. (ha, get it "part" :biggrin: ). Even more fun is getting the grain to match up. Here are some others I did that way.
sparkssm.jpg
 
Don , Thats kind of what I did but I used a thin slice of the parted maple as an accent . That was the hard part , parting off that thin slice of maple . The slice kept falling apart .
 
Thanks Hans . That is exactly the effect I was trying for . It's that little extra effort that sets it apart from just a one piece centerband . I could have used a piece of acrylic in there but the maple from the body ties it all together .
 
Don if you mean thin CA to hold the slice together then yes that's what I did . It hardened the wood enough to part it very thin . I also gave the upper blank a sealing coat of thin CA to seal it so the the Paduk sanding dust didn't get into the light colored maple .
 
ldb2000 said:
Ok are we going to play or play around ??? Instead of wasting time making ridiculous comments you should be making pens . If any of you really read the original posts I said there are many different ways of doing things . I don't care if you want to use a beaver to cut your blanks , the idea is to try different ways of doing things , to improve your skills . The type of materials don't matter , the way you do it don't matter , just make the stupid pen !!!! Sheeesh you guys need a tutorial on how to follow instructions ??? I spent time IN PAIN to make the pen , was I just wasting my time ???
Click to expand...



On second thought, I think i will pass on this challenge. I am famous for saying stupid stuff, and the tone of this challenge is just too serious for me... I thought it was all about fun.
 
I interpret this to be a challenge. Build a modified slim with centerband and do not use a saw to make the centerband as well do not use a barrel trimmer. Everyone should have a drive spurr, so there should be no problem there. A collet chuck is going to be the most convenient, but Butch does not have or does not use one..therefore it's a perfect opportunity to build your own jam chuck. You spin a cone similar to the taper. You drill out the inside, you make a couple cuts in the end like an x. The blank goes in the hole once it is round and you pound it home, the cuts will squeeze into the headstock holding the blank in place like a collet and the tailstock comes up to keep it from popping out. Although for some of us, this is very basic stuff, it's amazing what you can learn from actually doing it. It is good to think of different ways of approaching something because it expands the mind which will allow you to think of new ideas using this system that couldn't be done otherwise. Or..maybe your chop saw broke and now you can't make a pen? Yes you can. If you don't have a drill chuck, I'm sure Butch would say use a drill press because there is no other way, but other than that, make an entire slim and centerband without cutting the centerband with a saw. By doing so, the barrel trimmer will not be needed either.

Here is mine. I had to make a couple of these for a customer, so fortunately I had the inlay on top already set. Because I did not use any saws of any kind <the inlay of course does not count as it's an add on and has nothing to do with constructing the pen from blocks of wood>, It took longer but I was able to nail the center of the lizard dead square and my centerbands always look good, but by doing them on the lathe they are flawless all the way around. By cutting them on a chopsaw and then drilling with a drill press, sometimes the centerband looks perfect but if you measure it might be off by a millimeter as you go around the pen and the eye might not see it..this all happens because the drill bit might wander off just a hair while drilling causing the tube to not be perfectly square to the blank. So it was a bit of a pain not using any saw to make my pen, but the end result is an improvement and the added time was probably worth it. It only took me 2 hrs to make this pen by using the lathe only, and some of that time was spent carving the footprints. I used a 7mm euro kit because I can't give the customer a flat top and slim clip, but otherwise it's the same thing. Started it before work, finished it when I got home.:)
 

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Entry #1

Well, lookee there, I learned something new on day 1:biggrin: Fairly simple design, but in the spirit of the challenge, no saw blade was used in the creation of the CB. Quitled Maple and Padauk, to stay true to the original pen. While this isn't the most impressive use of the technique, by figuring out how to build the CB on the lathe with no saw, it took a huge amount of the guesswork and "eyeballing" out of the rings and made them MUCH more accurate. This is something I will use quite a bit more, now that I know how to do it, in that it will allow me to do some more intricate stuff without sanding the tips of my fingers off getting things even:biggrin: My technique used delrin, CA, and a parting tool. Butch, I will be anxious to see what your technique was to accomplish this, and without spoiling the fun in the thread, I will be happy to answer any questions on the method I used through PM if anyone is interested. Thanks for looking.
Sorry about the crappy cell phone pics, my real camera is not with me at the moment, but will be back for round 2:rolleyes:

 
Sweet Pen

Pretty pen, Butch. I can't get to mine until Monday, but I think I have the idea. I have never modified a kit before, so this is a challenge for me right off the bat. Don't anybody get so caught up in making your pen that you forget to buy Mothers Day flowers/cards.:eek:


Chris
 
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Ron , I have no problem with playing around and this is going to be fun and the comments are part of it . My problem was that in the first 15 posts there were only 2 serious posts , you gotta admit thats a bit too much . While the fun is part of it some people actually want to learn as well . Make the fun comments but temper it with some useful information as well .
Jeff , thank you for the information . Some of those ideas will help the people that either don't have the equipment or want to try new ways of doing things . As I said in the original thread , " It's time to think outside the box " , to push your skills and learn new ones .
 
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