You can use your tool post,? did you know that unimat made a tool rest for woodturning?
Google, unimat wood tool rest and look at the images - it is easier to use this tool rest, but I've turned with the tool bit on cross slide and then switched to the tool rest.
Your Oak and Black pen looks great.? I just did the same thing with my Grandson (who will be 12 tomorrow yesterday) on my jet mini lathe; he choose Purple Heart and we also used black pen parts...I think he had fun yesterday and he came over for dinner today and wants to turn a white pen next...?so I will have to find some 3/4 x 3/4 corian or hard surface cut-offs for his next pen.... or buy Holly (wood) blank as he wants it to be white.
I think running a shop vac is way too noisy to be relaxing, a dust collector is slightly less noisy, but still too much noise, so I use a fan behind me, but I turn in our woodshop, and I don't turn in our home, if I were using a lathe in the basement, I would have the shop vac on, but not in the shop.??
Built in danger when turning a pen with a multi jaw chuck, so watch your left hand, there are lots of accessories for turning on normal size wood lathes, and this is the reason I have lathe acquisition condition; but actually Dear Husband bought my Jet Mini wood lathe in 2010, and then we bought the unimat....? They are such fun pieces of equipment.
Collets are the most wonderful additions for wood holding for smaller diameters; I never chased the collets for the Unimat, much easier to have accessories without the "collectors" expense of chasing collets for a unimat - this was the rationalization for the Taig lathe, much easier to buy all the accessories without the collector pricing.
Tamra
Tamra