JCH May Turning Event: Pens for Troops Turn-a-thon
The May 9th JCH turning event will be a Pens for Troops Turn-a-thon. The current plan is to have a significant number of “ready to turn” blanks (sized, drilled, tubed, and trimmed) for rapid pen production. And for those who would like to learn or practice the entire process of turning a pen from a piece of raw wood, we will have source wood which can be cut into blanks, drilled, tubed, and trimmed before mounting on the lathes to turn.
Turning pens, while rather simple from a pure turning perspective, involves a lot of steps, special equipment, and time for glue to cure. We will need to rely on member-loaned equipment for this pen turning event such as 7mm drill bits, Jacob’s chucks, pen presses, blank trimmers, etc. Each toolbox should still have a pen mandrel and mandrel saver live center, but I’ll bring a couple in case they are needed. I will also bring my 10” Rikon band saw, and an assortment of pen-turning hardware (2 each of 7 mm drill bits, barrel trimmers, mandrels, Jacob’s chucks, and for finishing: scissors, paper towels, nitril gloves, CA glue for finishing, accelerator, and release).
We are working on procuring a good selection of pen-blanks for this event and to distribute with the pen kits from Woodcraft Supply. To this end, on a recent visit to Albuquerque Exotic Woods (AEW) Nancy Novak procured a donation of a selection of pre-cut pen blanks and some dimensional hardwood lumber from which we can cut more blanks. At the April meeting, several members offered help prepare pen-blanks from the dimensional hardwood, but I do not recall who made these offers. If you offered to cut blanks, please coordinate with Larry Linford who is organizing the blank preparation for this event.
If you can produce the lathe-ready blanks for the production component, that would be a tremendous help as this would allow completion of a greater number of pens at the event which would jump start our annual target. Larry can supply you with the brass tubes from the on-hand pen kits. If you can only produce the raw ¾” x ¾” x5 ½” pen blanks for the educational component, that would still be a great help.
If you can offer your time to assist any aspect of this effort, or to provide wood, or can bring pen-making equipment to the event, please reach out to Larry Linford. If you have preference to employ a different finish, please plan to bring it to the event.
Hope to see you on May 2nd and on May 9th,
Mark
