Reformed lurker from San Antonio

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S

Shock me

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
164
Location
Boerne, TX
Greetings all! I've been lurking around the forum for quite some time and only recently came out of hiding. I'm Greg, a cardiac surgeon by day and an aspiring penturner by night. (My username, "Shock me" isn't a challenge, it's just the username I use for darn near everything because I HATE having to remember multiple aliases. Most of my day job involves implanting cardioverter/defibrillators, so "shock me" is easy to remember.)

I have a special fetish for sharp tools, so I may get a little excited if we talk about ways to get our tools scary sharp.

I'm also an incurable perfectionist, I'd rather spend six hours getting an absolutely perfect fit and exquisite finish on a simple Eurostyle pen than to turn out a half dozen ordinary ones ( I know, most of y'all can turn a perfect one much faster, but I'm not there yet!) So most of my questions will probably be along those lines.

I've never sold a pen and don't intend to, every one is either my own keeper or a gift.

I've been enjoying learning how it's done by reading your forum advice and looking forward to sharing back what I'm still learning.
 
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Welcome from another newbie :)

"shock me" sounds quite fitting lol, I wanted to be a surgeon but my mother said I wouldn't have the patients!

In case you hadn't noticed, we like to see pictures, lots of pictures.

Look forward to seeing some of your work and if you find a way to get your tools scary sharp, I'd be more than willing to listen :):)
 
Welcome from Pearland (just south of Houston).
Look forward to see some of your pens if you get a chance to post picts of them.
 
Welcome from Georgia. I have a special place in my heart for cardiac surgeons. I had by-pass surgery in October, 2009.

Welcome to the wonderful world of pen turning. You will find a lot of perfectionist here and we all love to see pictures. The saying is if there not a picture, it didn't happen.

Enjoy the IAP experience.
 
Welcome from Oklahoma. Your perfectionist attitude toward finishing will take you far with this hobby. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask as there are many folks here who will pour out more information than most can handle.
 
Another welcome from Georgia. We like seeing pictures as you can tell from our comments so far. Just ask a question and someone will give you a answer. Occasionally it is even right...lol Again welcome Russell
 
Welcome from Virginia! So... I'm just curious since you're a "sharpoholic", do you have a sharpening system yet? How DO you get surgically sharp edge on a lathe chisel??? :biggrin:
 
Welcome from Ohio. You have the right attitude about your pen production. I've never been real impressed by the guys who brag about turning out 10 pens an hour. Their work normally proves that they actually do what they claim.
 
Welcome to the IAP Greg. We also have a penturners group here in San Antonio which meets the first Thursday of the month at WoodCraft on Rt. 281 and Bitters Rd. We get together around 6:30 pm

Hope to see ya, Keith "mrburls"
 
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welcome to the bottomless vortex of pen making. If your not doing your job your either going to be here or in the shop. :biggrin:
 
Thank y'all for the warm welcome.

Being a slave to peer pressure, I've uploaded pics of my most recent pens. Nothing fancy.

@MrBurls, I've heard of the local penturners club and would have been there except I understood the December meeting was cancelled., January for sure.

@people who asked about how I sharpen- I use a Tormek wet grinding wheel and jigs. I'm fanatical about setting them up reproducibly otherwise you start to reshape the tool and that's bad. I keep tool rests in both the vertical and horizontal posts, kept at the exact right height for my gouge and skew respectively. I always inspect the bevel under magnification just after I start to make sure I'm not creating a new one. As for "surgical" sharpness, I wouldn't settle for it, in fact I don't. The surgical instruments in the OR are nearly always way too dull for me---I take them home and sharpen them myself. I don't sharpen the gouge nearly so fine, it only lasts about three knocks on the square blank. But you'd better be careful with my skew...
 
Welcome to the IAP Gregory. When you get the time, if you haven't already, give the library a look. There are all kinds of info there.
Charles
 
Gregory, welcome to the IAP. That information about the penturners meeting was incorrect since it was the wood turner's meeting we met on the first Thurs. this month and we had lots of drawing. It was very fun I wished you would have called us. I make sure and send you a reminder around the time we are getting near that date.
Oh, BTW, I hope you make a special pen to sign your name on every stint you put in or anything else. I think that would be cool and original. (just kidding)
 
Thanks Charles!

I've already pillaged the library---an amazing collection of really cool ways to do things better. I am excited today the library article on turning between centers got me fired up to do it and my centers and bushings just arrived today from JohnnyCNC. Sadly, I wont have time to try them out until this weekend at the earliest
 
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