Vikki,
That mandrel looks too big for pens. A pen mandrel is 7mm I believe.
You'll also need specific size bushings for the mandrel too. Your pen
kits are probably "American classic" or "Slimline".
I have been helping a guy teach pen turning for the last month and a
half. There is a procedure for drilling the wood blank for a pen if
you want it to look right. You can use most any wood.
Rance
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "wrlabs" <wrlabs@...> wrote:
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "John" <jgrounds@> wrote:
I purchased the wood rest package from LMS also. Most of the
time I
put a round bar in the tool post since it is quick and most of the
time I am just putting the final contours on the piece being worked
on. Here is a photo:
In sharing that pix with a friend of mine and after looking over the
chisels Barry pointed me at, the same place had pen kits, something
of
casual interest to me.
I was just wondering if the threaded rod in the chuck was a mandrel
for something like that? If not, I'll bet it would work!
Not sure how to drill out the blanks though, a three jaw chuck I
don't
think would work.
Jenny gave me a couple pen kits (no wood, but I have some that would
do nicely) and I still have them in the back pocket of my suitcase,
which is sorta the motivation here :).
Thanks for stirring up the gray matter!
Take care, Vikki.
