Schools startin!

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hiharry626

Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
106
Location
California
After my spontaneous obsession for pens I finally get to start turning pens at my schools woodshop class. The thing is, it's for people who took the first year already. Hopefully I get to stay in that class and turn :D. Hope to show you my pens once I get started, the quality of the picture and pen won't be like anything on this forum though :rolleyes:. Is there a way to achieve a high gloss shine with just sand paper and CA? I've seen pens made by my peers and it didn't seem like the pens on here. It seemed unfinished, anyways I cannot wait 'till I start turning!! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
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Once you have sanded your blank to 400 or 600 and applied the CA, you need to polish the blank with micro mesh, all levels, 1500 - 12,000 followed by a plastic polish like Novus or an automotive anti-swirl compound.
 
Not as nice as Micro Mesh, but you can go to some hobby stores to get similar sanding films or sanding cloths in the plastic model section. They may not last as long but usually cost $5-$12 for a set depending on the number of sheets and how high the grit goes. Made by Testors, K&S, Revel and others.
 
Hey, Shoot me a pm with your address, I'll send you a set of small MM sheets. If you're careful not to burn them by pressing too hard on a blank moving too fast, especially on an edge or ridge, they will do dozens of pens for you. Just store them in clean water and rinse after each use.

A school shop should have the basics available to you, a lathe, turning tools and a way to sharpen them, basic sandpaper, ect. If they already teach penturning, they probably have a mandrel for the lathe, probably bushings for whatever kit they teach with, and some form of wax based polish. Any woodshop will generate plenty of scraps and pieces of plain wood to practice with. I would bet that any shop teacher worth a darn will let any student willing to invest a the time to clean up a little in the shop, extra time to work an a more advanced project. You can use any brand of super glue to start finishing with, you don't necessarily need the thin, med and thick versions. I finished plenty of pens with the walmart generic 4 tubes for a buck superglue. So, you should be able to turn out a good version of just about any pen you want for small money, if you have time to practice.

The best advice I can think of is to get extra tube sets for whatever pen you plan to make. That way you can experiment and make the occasional mistake without messing up a whole kit. Also, you can keep trying until you get a set of finished blanks that look good without feeling like you need to put something you aren't happy with on a pen just to finish a kit. That will make it a whole lot more likely that you will be able to sell your pens for enough money to buy more pen stuff! (which is how it tends to work)
 
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