A few good Wood turning books for beginers.

I was just asked the question what is a good book to read for a beginning wood turner. I think back to the first two books I read about turning and must say I got lucky and started with very good resources. I found links to these books on amazon and highly recommend them. The Richard Raffin book is focused on turning bowls, but the first few chapters cover many aspects of turning, grinding and lathes that apply to all turning not just making bowls. Richard Raffin is/was an amazing production wood turner from many many year. This book include lots of insight and tricks he used as a professional turner.

Wall Street II Pen making video

I Just got done making and posting this video of the initial step to making a Wall Street II Pen. It is a simple video that shows how to get started turning a fancy Pen. I got through the first 5 steps and plan to make another video showing the final steps of the process.

Here is a video of someone turning a Pen

This is a video of someone on youtube turning a pen. It is a pretty good video but the only thing you hear is music. So I thought I would add some explanation. This guy uses some techniques that are very different from what I do. He uses the Lathe for both roughing, drilling and turning the pen. These techniques work well if the only thing you have is a lathe. I tend to do all my drilling and cutting on a drill press and a band saw. The other thing worth mentioning is the type of pen he is turning is commonly know as a European style. These kits require more work than shown to fit the band that is epoxied to the top or cap portion of the pen. When I assemble a pen I also use a jig I made and a vise. The way shown in the video works but I have had trouble with the tip and end going in at an angle and breaking the blanks. So check it and enjoy.

Wall Street II Pen made with Ancient Kauri Wood.

I made a Wall Street II pen using the Ancient New Zealand Kauri wood. I got the blank from a local Wood craft store. I have the pictures on the link provide. I found the wood I used to be very soft. I had to get out the dreaded "Skew" and cut very carefully. I did not scrape with the skew.

This pen has a CA finish on it. I am not very good with the CA finish but this turned out great in my opinion. If you click on pictures you can see them in huge format.

http://turninground.biz/pens/Kauri/header.php?params=Kauri

Ian
http://www.turninground.biz

March 2010 Wood Turning Events in Utah

Here is a Calendar of events coming up in the next few weeks, These event are based of Wood Turning Clubs in Salt Lake city Utah and the surrounding area.


Club Meetings:

Utah Association of Woodturners – Tuesday, March 1, 7:00 pm, High Mountain Forest Products

Wasatch Penturners – Thursday, April 7, 7:00 pm, Woodcraft Sandy Utah

Demo: Raleigh Lockhart – “Using the Skew”


Utah Woodturning Symposium Events:

Craft Supplies Open House, Wednesday, May 18, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, Craft Supplies,

This is a very Dangerous Day It start out very early as Craft Supplies puts thousands of items on sale at discount price. This is the dangerous part. The rest of the day is wonderful, you will be able to see many different demonstrations using new tools and techniques from many world class demonstrators. The event is free and ends with a big drawing for tools and other prizes. If you have the time this event is worth a trip to Prove.



9th Annual Penturners Rendezvous – Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 pm, UVU

This is a fun event and has a small price tag of about $10.00 Everyone who attends gets a nice door prize from the Drawing.



Utah Woodturning Symposium – Thursday - Saturday, May 19-21, UVU

This is a 3 day event that combines 50+ classes in many different rotations over the 3 days. The format is open and very inviting you will learn from the wood turing masters be able to talk with your wood turning hero's before during and after the classes. The cost of this event it about $245.00 Before March 31st. This is a bargain for 3 days of full time hands on training from many experts.

Lets get back to Basics.

How do you start? Where do you start in Pen Turning? What tools do you need? What supplies do you need? What are the basic steps? What are the some tricks to help you? What do you need to learn? Where do you start? Initially turning a pen seems like a huge project to undertake. It seems like you need a lot of expensive tools and skills. This is and this is not true. The steps and the skills need for basic pen turning are simple and anyone can learn them. You just need to start simple and let your skills and tool collection grow as you get into more advanced projects. I am going to try to explain my journey into pen turning and wood turning and wood working. I hope I am able to provide some help to others who are learning or even skilled professionals who have turned a 1000 pens in the past. Everyone does things differently and everyone can learn if you just open up your mind and enjoy the journey from your first pen to better pens. Or from you most amazing pen ever yo your next most amazing pen.