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Pen Turning: This is a form of wood turning that most anyone can enjoy. The cost of setting up shop to be a pen turner can be much less expensive than that of a bowl or hollow form turner. The lathe need for pen turning is much smaller and tools need are much fewer. If you already have a setup for turning, the extra's need for turning pens is about the same cost as a new lathe chuck. Finding a source for all your pen turning needs that will take great care of you is the best situation you could be in. Fortunately, there is just such a place, Arizona Silhouette. See logo link below. Bill will take care of all your needs and questions.  

Children and Pen Turning:  This is the perfect way to get your children or grandchildren involved in woodturning. They will learn all the basic skills needed on a much smaller scale and can carry over those new skills into other forms of wood art turned. There are a lot of books, videos and online forums where all the needed information to get you started are available. I would suggest that a local turning club is the best way to learn as you can get real hands on instruction which will lead to quicker skill development.

For more information on turning pens, some of the books listed below are a wonderful resource that you can refer to on an as need basis. For more questions and answers about making fine writing instruments, Go to IAP  They have a great forum and an extensive library of help files and videos you can watch from your computer.

Making Pens With Polyester Resin
By Clarrie Snell
Sydney Woodturners Guild
The pens may initially take a while to make, however the finished article is extremely durable with brilliant colours that are striking and pleasing to the eye.


Mixing Equipment
4 flexible plastic containers (bottom half of small round drink containers or drink cups).
6 Stirrers (old hacksaw blades, or wooden sticks).
Eye dropper.
Dessert spoon or measuring cup.

Safety
Wear eye protection during the mixing procedure. The Resin Hardener, MEKP, is a dangerous substance to handle. Safety goggles should be worn during handling, as loss of eyesight is possible if MEKP comes in contact with the eyes.
Read safety instructions before using this substance.
Wear face masks with filters to suit chemicals during the mixing procedure, machining and finishing.
Wear disposable gloves during mixing procedure.

Chemicals
Acetone for cleaning purposes.
Surf Board Resin (Finishing Resin GC3).
Resin Hardener (MEKP)
Resin colours to suit your taste.
Vaseline (petroleum Jelly).

Mold and release equipment
5 pieces 5/8 OD electrical conduit x 120mm long.
Timber moulding jig, to support conduits (see sketch 1).
Timber separation jig with metal drift (see sketch 2).

Preparation
Place small amount of Vaseline onto moulding jig timber pegs and conduit supports.
Locate conduits onto timber pegs.

Mixing Procedure
Place 1 dessertspoon of resin into 3 plastic containers.
Using 3 separate hacksaw blades, place a small amount of each colour into each of the 3 containers and stir thoroughly.
Place 9 dessert spoons of resin into the remaining small plastic container .
With another hacksaw blade, add white colour, slightly more quantity than for the smaller containers and stir thoroughly
Add 4 drops of MEKP Hardener to each of the 3 colour containers,. Stir thoroughly.
Add 36 drops of MEKP Hardener to the white colour container and stir thoroughly.
Pour the contents of the three-colour containers into the white colour container, one at a time, using a circular motion onto the surface of the white resin. DO NOT STIR COLOURS TOGETHER otherwise you will have one solid colour mix and not a colour pattern that you are trying to achieve.
With a clean hacksaw blade, gently pierce or push the colours into the white colour, just a few times, the more you pierce the more you mix the colours into the white base colour.
Gently pour mixture into conduits.
Curing of resin pen blanks may take about 4 hours, depending on temperature. Resin blanks will not stick to the conduits but will shrink away from the sides making it easy to push the blanks out of the conduits.
After the blanks have cured, support conduit in separation jig. Use a steel drift to remove resin blank from conduit, (sketch 2).

Machining
Cut resin blanks to 52mm long.
Set lathe speed to approximately 1200rpm for drilling, turning and finishing operations.
Place Jacob chuck into headstock and place half resin blank into chuck with about 20mm protruding.
Drill through with 6.9mm drill, clearing drill regularly to prevent resin blank from overheating. Note 7.0mm drill will drill oversize hole for the pen brass sleeve.
Repeat above step for other half of resin blank.
Glue brass sleeves into pen blanks, preferably with a 2 pack epoxy glue.
After glue has dried, face ends of resin blanks to suit length of pen brass sleeve.
Place pen blanks onto mandrel.
Rough turning/shaping may be carried out using a one-sided curved skew scraper, (see sketch 3), or by using 80 grit paper.
Turn pen to desired shape with pen clip end turned to 8.1 diameter.

Finishing
Use 240 wet and dry paper with water to remove all marks and imperfections.
Repeat above step using 400 wet and dry paper and water.
Finish polish using metal or car polish.
Repeat above step. The pen should now have a high gloss finish, if not repeat step 3.
Assemble pen.

Getting Started: What equipment and tools you will need to start turning pens.

1. I would recommend a mini lathe. Some of the most common brands are- Jet, Delta, Rikon, Vicmarc. Personally, I like the Jet brand.
2. Tools to get you started would be 3/4 Roughing Gouge, 3/8 Spindle Gouge. As your talent progress, so too will your tool selection but for now, these two tools will sufice. The idea is to keep costs low when starting out.
3. Pen Press. You could get by without one by why make learning harder and more frustrating.
4. Small Drill press in the 9-10 inch range works just fine and are not a big expense.
5. Pen Mandrel. This is what holds your pen while turning it.
6. Barrel Trimer. This trues up the ends of the brass barrels (inside the wood).
7. Specific drill bit for pen turning. Different bit sizes for different style pens. It's a good idea to start with slim line pens untill you progress.
8. Sand Paper and Micro Mesh sanding discs.
9. Friction polish for the beginner is highly recommened as a pen finish. 
10. Bushings for the pen type you will be turning. (Start with Slim Line)
11. CA Glue both Medium and Thin. 

Before you start out with your new kit, make sure you understand shop safety and have the proper safety gear. All of your safety and turning supplies for pen turning can be purchased online or at a nearby woodturning supplier. I recomment Arizona Silhouette for all your pen turning supplies and information. I've known Bill (owner) for years and this man knows pens better than most. 

To learn pen turning, it is highly recommended you have someone actually show you the steps to make your first pen. You can learn from books and videos to prepair for your first lessons, (good idea) but nothing can replace hands on learning from an expert when you actually start turning. You want this to be a pleasant learning expierence not a white knuckle show.

Purchasing good quality tools the first time will actually save you money in the long run and make learning more fun and easier. Check out IAP for a great resource and wealth of pen turning information . Great Forum also.