# Turning to the lathe... pun intended



## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

I have been watching all the great turning projects members have submitted with interest. The "Turning for the Troops" pen project got my wife interested in turning and I am pleased to announce that our joint Christmas present is a Delta midi lathe. I have an old Wholesale Tool wood lathe from 1969 that I had acquired in a trade and had been collecting dust on a table. This lathe has a very unusual shaft with a 3/4"-10 thread and very long centering point for the drive. Thanks to my friends at Stirnemann Tool in Clawson, MI I now have a custom adaptor allowing me to use #2 MT spindles with this beastie. I have been quietly accumulating pen kits, ornament kits and other items for a few weeks. Today is the day I finally start turning. I will post photo's of the machines and results asap.


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## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

That midi is a nice lathe, basically identical to the PSI lathe and the Jet mini as well. I believe they are made from the same castings. Bernie had the Delta as his first lathe and turned bowls and what not on it and has now turned it over to his nephew and he has used the heck out of it. Nice pick up, looking forward to seeing some of your projects.

Core y


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Congrats on the new Christmas present. You are going to like it. I had one for a year I bought used off ebay. My nephew fell in love with turning when he came to my house to turn with me. So last Christmas I made it a present to him. He has made about a 200 pens and what not that he gives away to his friends and his professors at the college. Good lathe. Have fun.


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## mit-ch (Oct 1, 2007)

Mike
Congratulations on getting the lathe. Looking forward to seeing some of your pens. Mitch


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Okay that was at almost 1pm where are the pics of the pens.


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

ROFLOL. Glenmore that was a good one.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Congrats on the "JOINT" Christmas present Mike. BUT will the SWMBO let you use the lathe now that she has a DELTA?


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Sure Dave, as soon as I get a second pen mandrel. As a side note I wanted to mention something I forgot about in my first post. As you all know I just love hunting for and finding deals. I got my Delta for $199 locally.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Hmm all talk and not a pic of a pen yet.  Well we are waiting look at Harry go he can't keep enough kits around now.  I am a equal oppertunist on pushing up and coming pen turners.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Glenmore, as I mentioned in another thread after running my kerosene heater for 5 hours my garage was a balmy 40º F and not suitable to work in. I hooked up the 100K BTU propane torpedo heater and am ready to make the chips fly. Photos will be up asap.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Mike said:


> Glenmore, as I mentioned in another thread after running my kerosene heater for 5 hours my garage was a balmy 40º F and not suitable to work in. I hooked up the 100K BTU propane torpedo heater and am ready to make the chips fly. Photos will be up asap.



Ha ha just picking. I know the feeling can't turn to well wearing gloves and wearing a parka.


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## chippypah (Dec 24, 2007)

Wow you guys dont like the cold do you, Glenmore is allways saying it is to cold to work.
Cheers
Pete


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Pete, when your breath leaves a coating of ice on your tools... it tends to take the joy out of woodworking. Toasty warm in the shop today. As promised here are photo's of my old Wholesale Tool lathe and my first turning projects. I had two pen blanks blow apart on me but finished the other sections for practice. Left to right they are tulipwood, Bocote, an Olivewood ornament, and the first successful pen made at home.


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Very nice Mike the egg came out really nice. Pen looks great to really like the color of the wood. Would go good with gun metal or black enamal also. Would bring them out with that style kit. Great job.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I really was beginning to wonder if you really did have a lathe Mike, very nice indeed, especially for starters! well worth the long wait.Are the finials turned or screwed in brass?
As you know, I was catching up with the gardening today as it was a lot cooler, but this afternoon managed to spend some time in the shed experimenting with the new kits and will show a couple of shots in a separate post.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

BrianS was over today and we attacked some more poor defenseless blanks. Brian made his first pen and proceeded to make a pendant pen for his wife. The second photo is Brian giving me a break on turning my ornaments. The bell is olivewood and the other is tulipwood. Both were cross cut and no fun to turn, but I am pleased with the results.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

They sure are nice Mike, my first reaction was to put something similar on the agenda for next week, but I quickly decided to learn to walk properly before I try to run, so I broke off from cleaning my shed and had a go at something else, shown in separate post.


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## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

Looks great guys I really like the Ornaments. Doesn't olive wood smell great when you turn it?

Corey


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

I never got to enjoy the smell of olive wood... my sense of smell is so nonfunctional right now for some reason that I missed it. I'm pretty impressed with the pen making process, if I ever get my shop sorted out I might invest in a starter kit. Already got an old lathe which should be adequate for this. I'm going to give both pens to my wife for an upcoming birthday. 

As always Mike, it was an enjoyable, altho a bit long, day. 11 hours from the time I left the house until I got back home... and we only live 15 miles from each other!! 

Brian


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## Glenmore (Sep 10, 2004)

Mike and Brian the pens and ornaments look great. Must have had a blast. Sure wish I was closer to where you 2 live I'd love to joy in. Bell ornament is espcially nice.


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Here is a pic of the first pen that I made, and also one of Mike hard at work. If you will look closely, you will just see the corner of the heater behind him.. and not where I was at. Can't understand why he didn't want to give up the "hot seat".

Brian


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## oldnewbie (Sep 18, 2006)

Really nice work, Mike and Brian. Sorry I missed it. Didn't get your call until late, and had to work that day, anyway. Looks like you had a great time. Hopefully, in the near future, we can get together for another sawdust day. I'm still trying to gain skills on my router, and am afraid to try turning for fear it may make my routers feel lonely!! I'm in the process now of trying to mount that GMC router to my table with the fixed base. I have some plexiglass that I'm trying to make into a plate to fit where the OP plate is now. Having a hard time finding the time to do anything in that cold garage. My kerosene heater does alright, but I need to leave it running too long to get warm enough to heat the tools up so my arthritic fingers can enjoy it. 

Neal


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## challagan (Feb 7, 2006)

I think you guys will get a lot better cut if you get that lathe up about 6 inches. Your being forced to turn with the nose down and you can't ride the bevel of the gouge very well like that and that is probably why you blew up a couple blanks. Not to mention your neck and back will feel much better. Get a couple plastic saw horses and put a 2 x 12 or an old door or something like that on it and you will be cooking. 

Corey


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Corey has raised an interesting question regarding height,in MY very unskilled opinion, it looks like it would be difficult to have complete control of the chisel, but then again my turning experience does cover a little more than one week!

Brian, would you please explain the blanks you used, were they purchased or did you make them, if the latter, HOW? The pen looks fab.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Corey: What you see is the quick solution allowing the lathe to be used. It is comfortable for me, but I am sure I will experiment with other set ups.

Harry, that is a cherry blank out of the bargin bin at Woodcraft... a 50 cent special. The interesting pattern you see is created by holding the edge of the small cut off portion not used for the tubes against the wood to actually create a friction burn.


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Harry, what Mike said. I'm a bit disappointed in that I didn't space them evenly when I was makikng the marks on the pen, but I'll get over it. I also, altho it doesn't show, "blew out" a chunk of the tip doing the marking process. If anyone else attempts this, be VERY careful at the tip due to the thinness of stock at that point. 

Brian


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