Synopsis: Pen turning is fun, it’s a great use for scraps, and it can probably be done mostly with tools you already own and skills you already have. Barry Gross will show you what you need to get started, how to choose the wood, prepare the blanks, turn and polish the barrels, and assemble the pen. And in the time it takes you to read this article, you could put together a fabulous gift (or more than one). Give it a try!

More furniture makers should try turning a pen. You already have most of the tools you need, you probably have the wood, and if you’ve done any wood turning at all, you have the skills. Not only is pen turning fun, but pens also make great gifts both for the recipient and for the maker. In the time you’d spend making a box—never mind a small piece of furniture—you can make half a dozen pens and get six heartfelt thank-yous instead of one.

Pen turning can be done on any lathe with a few specialized tools. I’ll tell you which of these tools are essential and which ones can be duplicated by tools you probably already own. I’ll tell you what pen hardware to buy, what woods work well, how to turn and finish the blanks, and last, how to assemble the pen.

Preparing the pen blank

Woodworkers often ask me what wood makes the best pen and I half-jokingly reply any wood they rejected for furniture making. Examples include gnarly or crotch sections of boards, isolated patches of figure or curl, or even pieces of firewood with spalting in it. remember, you want a blank that is less than 1 in. square by 5 in. long. For this reason, burls are a good choice because their tight, swirly grain pattern is the right scale. If the scrap bin or the firewood pile is exhausted, one of the benefits of wood turning is the opportunity to try new and exotic species such as amboyna burl, lignum vitae, or red palm for $2 to $8 a blank. You can also buy eye-catching composite woods and acrylic blanks.

Once you’ve selected the pen kit and the materia l for the body, you can get started. Depending on whether your kit has a one part or two-part body (or barrel), place the pen tube(s) on the pen blank and mark it for length, adding 1⁄16 in. to each end. Label the sections and then cut the parts to length.

From Fine Woodworking #226

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