# Mini-lathe



## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

I've been pondering the furniture and design styles I like and I'm leaning more and more toward elements of Queen Anne, Chipendale, Colonial, etc. Mostly the simpler, more subtle turnings they use.

Anyway, I decided to start looking for a used mini-lathe and got my hands on a Turncrafter Pro for about 1/2 new cost. Got a beginner set of HSS tools and setting up a grinding/sharpening station this weekend.

And I signed up for a pen turning class at the local Woodcraft store as a way of getting some instruction as well as "instant" gratification in spindle turning technique.

Well, class was last Wednesday and we made Wall Street II pens (same as Sierras elsewhere). Neato. And I picked up three slimline kits and did a little more on my own last night. Lined up side by side I can see where I've improved and where I still need to improve. This is great, and it falls in line with a resolution I made a few years back about gift giving in that I want to NOT give things that require batteries. Although I have made some exceptions to that, now I have a much easier path as far as finding items. Pens, pencils, bottle stoppers, etc. 

And I can glue up some blanks and practice some spindle turning too!

Left to right on the pictures, Wall Street II (Woodcraft kit), Slimline #1 as plane-jane straight turning, Slimline #2 with small bead at the top and Slimline #3 with an urn shape near the nib. That is also the order of production. The Wall Street II we finished with HUT products at the class. The three slimlines I did a BLO/CA (6 layers) finish with a final coat of wax. All walnut because it is both easy to turn and for the slimlines where I made my own blanks, I have a small stash of cut-offs from other stuff.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Good job on the pens, Rob. Next time don't make the pics so small so we can see your nice work better.


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Rob,

Those are great looking pens......

Welcome to the addiction


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

curiousgeorge said:


> Good job on the pens, Rob. Next time don't make the pics so small so we can see your nice work better.


Yeah, these were the ones I sized for over at penturners.org and their size restriction for attachments is pretty severe, 320x280 and about 20K.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Great looking pens Rob. Congrats on the lathe.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

BernieW said:


> Great looking pens Rob. Congrats on the lathe.


Hiya Bernie!

Good ole' Goodland, KS! I grew up in Dodge City. The two nuttiest national weather service radars in the country seem to be in Goodland and Dodge. Everywhere else can be reporting sunny and mild and either Dodge or Goodland will be reporting hail, snow, torential rain or a plague of frogs! Or if everybody else is under 7" of snow, Goodland or Dodge will report a blamy 72F

I bought some extra 7mm tube and so cut up and made some spare blanks from my walnut scrap to play with. Did them tonight and tried 12 coats of BLO/CA (did 8 on the pens from last night). They look to have come out very nice. I have a few more brass tubes to play with so I'll probably dig through the scrap bin and make a few more blanks.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Hey Rob. Yep the old saying is if ya don't like the weather in western Kansas just stick around 5 minutes and it will change. I am the supervisor for the FAA and take care of the western 1/3 of Kansas and the Dodge City airport is one we take care of. All the navigational aids and communications the planes use. Lots of road time. Oh well only 292 days left and won't have to be on the run all the time. 

As for the pen blanks. I usually put about 4 coats of CA and skip the BLO. I found it really does nothing unless you want to pop the grain a little then I only use it on the first coat. One thing I have found and don't know if you have seen it but if I put more than 3 or 4 coats on it will after time start flaking on me. Maybe I am not doing it right but with 4 coats it seems ok. I have a pen I put 10 coats on and it is cracking and flaking. The other one with 4 coats my wife carries in her purse is fine. Don't know for sure but have cut back.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Mom and Dad's house is about 1.5 miles west of the airport. Ever go pet the longhorn cattle over in the fields next to Airport Road? Ha!

One of Dad's coffee buddies was air traffic controller out there for years but I'm drawing a blank on his name right now. The guy was a bomber pilot in WWII, B-24s I think, North Africa and Italy missions.

I went ahead and did the BLO with every coat. The theory, as you know, is that the BLO is a mild accelerator. I haven't really looked into the WHY of that yet (but I will). I work as an electrical engineer designing instrumentation for the researchers in the college of Arts and Sciences (chemistry, physics, biology, etc) at KU so I bet I can find somebody that might have an idea about what is happening with the BLO/CA...

I went really sparingly with both the BLO and the CA so the coats are pretty thin. Pretty much just one drop of BLO and of medium CA for each coat. The exception is the first coat which got two drops because I wanted to be sure to get full coverage across the pen on the first try. The William O. Young (no relation although I have a cousin named William P. Young) method, apply thin, fast and burnish hard between coats.

Just because I can, I used a 30x microscope to look at the finish on the Wall Street II and on my first BLO/CA pen. Both are black walnut (although not the same board). The WS-II we made in class was finished with Mylands Cellulose Sanding Sealer followed by HUT liquid and finally their PPP waxes. Used MM as provided and instructed in class. My pen with BLO/CA sanded to 600 and burnished with shaving before the CA. Except for grain pattern and color difference you would expect, I found no other visible difference in the finish. Doesn't prove much and I don't have a way of taking pictures with the microscope (yet). 

You bring up a good point about durability. Since I turned some extra barrels I can use them for "torture testing" by carrying one around in my pocket with some change for a week and see what happens.  And maybe leave one on a window-sill for a while to let the UV beat it up. I think on that one I'll wrap one side in some layers of blue-tape so I can look at fading.

None-the-less it is fun isn't it? I've started the list of small turning projects to use for gifts this year. It gets tacked onto the other list with puzzles (Soma cubes and the like), desk clocks and cheese boards.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Rob my biggest sellers at Christmas and give away gifts are mini acorn birdhouses, lidded boxes, pens and bottle stoppers. Along with a couple of vases this last Christmas I sold over $1400 worth. Look in my gallery and you will see some cheese trays or some say chip and dip trays I made. They sell well for around $65. They have a marble center so you can cut the cheese.

On the CA it may be I was getting things to thick. I use thin CA for the first coat and then 3 of the medium CA. These have held up well. Yep they are fun in any case. I am trying some new finish from Bear Tooth Woods. It is enduro sanding sealer and enduro poly. Seems to hold up pretty well so far but takes a lot longer to put on.

The guy that was at Dodge City when I first started 27 yrs ago was Dick Goodnough. Not sure I spelled his last name right. Of course he was a electronic tech. Then Jim Law was there and now Alan Miller. 

Have a great weekend Rob.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Bernie -

While I recognize the names, they aren't the guy I'm thinking of. It could also be that I've got my wires crossed as to his specific job. I'll ask my Dad when I talk with him next.

I spent the afternoon fighting with some Carribean Rosewood. Very colorful stuff. I think the color comes from mineral deposits sucked up by the tree. It is mildly oily and wicked tough on the tool edges! Once I got it rounded it turned OK. Made one pen. And a couple extra little test bobbins. 

The idea is that the test bobbins get the same finish process and I'll start torture testing them. I have one black walnut test blank setting in front of a window, 1/2 wrapped in about a foot of blue tape to block the UV. And another that I'll carry in my pocket for a week, also 1/2 covered with blue tape. I also have a rosewood, white oak and another blackwalnut one that I'll temperature cycle by putting them in ziplocs in the freezer at night and in my car during the day. Not quite 120F in the car during the day but at least I can see what a series of freeze/thaw cycles will do to the finish.

I didn't take before pictures but in all cases, the finish looks and feels good and under 30X magnification I could not see cracks, scales, etc. 

While working on the rosewood pen today, I tried a couple of coats of CA (always medium, don't have the brand name at hand though) without first applying a drop of BLO to the towel and blank. In both cases, it felt like the CA did not apply as evenly and I had problems with the towel catching. Interestingly, with the BLO which is touted to be an accelerant, I did not have this phenomenon. I'm slowly forming a theory that the BLO is not specifically an accelerant but rather acts more as a lubricant (very short lived) for the CA and is letting me get it spread even and thin before it starts to set from the friction heating.

I really need to go talk to some of the faculty at work and see if any of them can give me a pointer to specifically HOW CA glue cures.

All good fun!


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Yea I know about wood. Paduk is one that gives me fits. I always seem to either blow one out drilling or on the lathe. I am not sure that BLO is a accelerant either. I think you are right that it is a lube. When I put on the medium CA I just go from one end to the other just once. Anyway you are right it is great fun learning and experimenting. 

I did not know any of the air traffic boys in Dodge. Most of the air traffic offices were closed just about the time I came in. First they put them all in Wichita and now they are in Columbus, MO. as they shut down Wichita. Oh well 291 days I am not going to worry about it.

Have a good weekend.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Rob they look great. Keep it up.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Bernie, I discovered while making some cribage boards that padauk likes lower speeds. I turned one cigar pen at normal speed with no problems but I did make very light cuts.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

Rob - some of us are waiting for a photo of your new lathe, too. You know, the whole baby-picture thing?


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Ralph Barker said:


> Rob - some of us are waiting for a photo of your new lathe, too. You know, the whole baby-picture thing?


Like this, only now it is has a coat of sawdust to keep it warm... 

(Picture from Penn State Industries web page http://www.pennstateind.com/store/mini-lathes.html)


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