Turning pens

Posted by jerry on April 27th, 2008 — Posted in Journal, Woodwork

I’ve been turning more pens today – I shall be visiting some special friends next week and wanted to bring them something connected with Australia. What better gift, then, than a pen hand turned from Western Australian jarrah.

The timber is hard and brittle, but takes a wonderful finish when turned, burnished and polished. I cracked three of the blanks during the turning process and one during the assembly process – so I had to remake the blanks.

I wanted to achieve a design that would sit nicely in the hand – a shape that that would mold itself to the hand. And this is what I came up with – what do you think?

hand turned pens

Cheers
Jerry

3 Comments

Comment by Mike DiNapolis

Jerry, very impressive. I didn’t know you could make pens by hand. Is it very difficult to do? Does it take a long time to learn?

Mike DiNapolis (a.k.a. shoptablesaw.usaveauction.net)

Posted on August 12, 2008 at 11:11 am

Comment by Jerry

Not too difficult – took about an hour the first time and after that much easier. I watched a guy turning them at the Canberra Timber and Working with Wood Show and then found a YouTube vid showing the steps. When I’m doing a batch of them it takes about 15 minutes per pen. You buy the insides and you can also buy pre-drilled pen blanks too to make it easier the first few times.

Cheers
Jerry

Posted on August 12, 2008 at 11:11 am

Comment by Dave Stewart

I’m a passionate pen turner too. I really like your work. The double ridge design on the left in your photo is very, very nice! Kuddos.

Posted on November 10, 2010 at 8:00 am

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