GSteer
Registered
Hey there folks, my names Greg and I'm an early thirties IT engineer who's looking for more than just turning ones into zeros and vice versa. That's the easy bit outta the way :)
I've been a fountain pen user since my school days and in recent years have acquired a variety of pens, inks and papers. I'd say my first introduction to a turned pen, that wasn't made by a major manufacturer, was an Edison Pearl via a group buy on the Fountain Pen Network back in 2012. I was highly impressed with the fit and finish. After that I got stuck into looking at the different materials people were using, other people that were making custom pens and a general kernel of interest formed.
A couple of things struck me a few weeks back:
1- There are more materials out there that I'd love a pen made from than I can afford to have others produce.
2- I have some friends getting married early next year and a hand made pen would make an awesome gift. Luckily they have expressed an interest in a nice pen but don't know I'm intending to make one for them.
So I decided to have a chat with my dad who restores vintage and classic bikes as his hobby and has a workshop to support this including a lathe and mill. One conversation turned into another and I was on the receiving end of a lathing lesson on how to make swarf. Turns out I'm not bad at making nothing from something so far!
As it happened he had heard of a friend who'd recently upgrading their wood lathe and who might have their old one knocking around. With a handy conversation between my father and said friend it turned out that his old lathe had already been passed onto his son... but... he'd acquired another one in a package with some chisels that he wasn't expecting and also that his wife wanted it moved outta the shed before they move house next month. Well, what a spot of luck. This then lead to me being the recipient of a wood lathe that, with a bit of spit n polish, has cleaned up ok. I think it's a little large but I ain't going to turn down a freebie like this.
It's a 1986 Elektra HDM 1000 with an odd M20x1.5 thread on the, er, headstock section, so I'm looking into the options for adaptors and chucks to allow me to mount a mandrel. The only option I think I've seen so far is to get a parallel mandrel and a chuck/jaws that will grip it ok. I'll make a post in the relevant section asking for some advice shortly.
Not wanting to stand still I've booked myself on a one day pen making course with Turners Retreat in the UK in a couple of weeks. as it's relatively close to me up here in the North end of the county (Cumbria).
Now to clear a space in the garage to fit the beast and watch even more videos on turning. Let the adventure being, I'm looking forward to this one :)
I've been a fountain pen user since my school days and in recent years have acquired a variety of pens, inks and papers. I'd say my first introduction to a turned pen, that wasn't made by a major manufacturer, was an Edison Pearl via a group buy on the Fountain Pen Network back in 2012. I was highly impressed with the fit and finish. After that I got stuck into looking at the different materials people were using, other people that were making custom pens and a general kernel of interest formed.
A couple of things struck me a few weeks back:
1- There are more materials out there that I'd love a pen made from than I can afford to have others produce.
2- I have some friends getting married early next year and a hand made pen would make an awesome gift. Luckily they have expressed an interest in a nice pen but don't know I'm intending to make one for them.
So I decided to have a chat with my dad who restores vintage and classic bikes as his hobby and has a workshop to support this including a lathe and mill. One conversation turned into another and I was on the receiving end of a lathing lesson on how to make swarf. Turns out I'm not bad at making nothing from something so far!
As it happened he had heard of a friend who'd recently upgrading their wood lathe and who might have their old one knocking around. With a handy conversation between my father and said friend it turned out that his old lathe had already been passed onto his son... but... he'd acquired another one in a package with some chisels that he wasn't expecting and also that his wife wanted it moved outta the shed before they move house next month. Well, what a spot of luck. This then lead to me being the recipient of a wood lathe that, with a bit of spit n polish, has cleaned up ok. I think it's a little large but I ain't going to turn down a freebie like this.
It's a 1986 Elektra HDM 1000 with an odd M20x1.5 thread on the, er, headstock section, so I'm looking into the options for adaptors and chucks to allow me to mount a mandrel. The only option I think I've seen so far is to get a parallel mandrel and a chuck/jaws that will grip it ok. I'll make a post in the relevant section asking for some advice shortly.
Not wanting to stand still I've booked myself on a one day pen making course with Turners Retreat in the UK in a couple of weeks. as it's relatively close to me up here in the North end of the county (Cumbria).
Now to clear a space in the garage to fit the beast and watch even more videos on turning. Let the adventure being, I'm looking forward to this one :)