Another noob from MA

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Electricpen

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
2
Hello pen people. I played with an antique lathe as a kid but only started turning pens last year after a friend found me a mini Unimat lathe in a foreclosure he was cleaning out. I made some rings with it but the pen arbor barley fit and it was just a pain to use. I downgraded to a HF piece-o-junk and have been using that since.

This site has been very helpful with fueling my creativity and honing my techniques. Thanks to everyone at IAP. I promise I will post some pics of my pens that make the cut.
 
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Welcome from Western Mass.

You didn't mention what part of Mass you're in, but we have a local New England Chapter that meets around the 3rd Sunday of every other month at Woodcraft in West Springfield (right down the street from the Big E, if you're familiar with that) check out the Local Chapter area and subscribe to the New England chapter to keep up with it, and hope to see you there!!
 
Welcome to the group. From Central Texas.

Sounds like the HF lathe was an upgrade from the Unimat.

I use a HF lathe. Not bad, just no bells and whistles.

Ray
 
Welcome from far west Kentucky, to the addiction, sometimes referred to as the vortex. You mention that you have read some of the site, be sure to give the library a good bit of time. The link is at the top of the page. You will find an article called Library Index. This covers tutorials on about anything pen making you can think of. You will also notice that there are articles listed by year. Much good info there as well. When these fail to answer your questions, by all means post it here. I have never seen one go unanswered very long. You might also want to give this thread a good look. It has some very good info for the beginning pen turner; http://content.penturners.org/library/general_reference/Getting_started_in_pen_turning.pdf. Grab some wood, make some shavings and have fun all the while being safe.
Have a look at the series of videos ed4copies has just posted showing how to complete a pen from drill to finish.

Charles
 
welcome fellow western mass turner, i also use an antique lathe but im learning anyone can do it with the right amount of patience and tools. where do you get most of your materials i cant find any place around here with wood other than downed trees and home depot
 
Pharmasweaves said:
welcome fellow western mass turner, i also use an antique lathe but im learning anyone can do it with the right amount of patience and tools. where do you get most of your materials i cant find any place around here with wood other than downed trees and home depot
Click to expand...

The Woodcraft that we meet at in West Springfield has a great selection of wood in both pen blank and larger sizes, but even better still, hidden in the hills of Belchertown just off of Rt. 202 is Bad Dog Burls (Bad Dogs Burl Source - Home Page). An absolutely staggering amount of fantastic wood...

I haven't looked around the Greenfield area to see if there is anyone out there, but you'd be surprised what is hiding around in little side streets...
 
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