Texas Turned Custom Pen and Pencil sets, Bowls and more.

Here are a few pictures of the pen turning process from start to finish. 

 I start with blocks of wood, and other material, or by laminating various pieces of material together.  After cutting them to the proper size, I  then drill a 7mm and up to a 13/16th  hole in the center.  After drilling and a little cleaning, I use epoxy resins to fix a brass barrel into the material.  The brass barrel gives the material strength and rigidity.   The mechanical parts of the pen or pencil are press fit into the brass barrels when the pen bodies are turned and finished completely.

I start the turning process by squaring the ends so that the parts fit flush, this process also cleans out any expoxy that might be in the brass tube.  After squaring, I mount the material on the lathe, these particular pens are 7mm in size so I use a 7mm bushing to give me the proper spacing and to use as a guide for thickness.  After rough turning the material with a gouge or fingernail chisel, I start making sizing cuts and turning the material to the shape the blank dictates to me.  This is a difficult process to descirbe, all I can say is as the material is turning( at about 5,000 rpms) I can see the shape that the pen wants to be.  I have tried to ignore this shape and I usually wind up breaking or stripping the material off the barrel.

After the blank has taken the final shape with the chisels,  The sanding process commences.  Begining with a 220 grit paper to knock down any rough edges and to get the blank uniform, I then switch over to a 320 grit.  Always using my fingers to let me monitor the "feel" of the blank.  Next comes a 400 grit paper, followed by 600 and then an 800 grit.  At this point the pens are starting to look "wet".  This comes from the light reflecting from the many tiny scratches in the surface of the blank.  I usually add water at this point so the paper doesn't clog and burn the material.  After rinsing the 800 grit residue off (this seperates good finishes from excellent ones because you have to get rid of the previous grit before going to the next finer one).  1,000 grit paper comes next, with water of course, then a final sanding with 2,000 grit.  Rinsing again(you can't use too much water or the grain of the wood will raise and feel rough again).  I then use a tripoli polish that takes a 2,000 grit finish to somehwere around 6,000 grit, which is super duper fine.  This is what makes the pens "pop" and look like they are wet again.

Once the tripoli polish is thourghly cleaned and polished off I use a finishing wax specially designed for lathe use.

After dismounting the barrels from the lathe I carefully press all the parts into the brass tube and test the length and fit of everything.  I then try out the pens and pencils making sure they are working properly, if they don't function, look or fit the way they should, or just do not look good, I tear it all apart and start over again.

There you have it, a short introduction into the life beginings of a Texas Turned fine writing instrumnet.  The process takes a little over four hours from start to finish for each pen or pencil.

Thanks for looking, reading and caring enough to enrich your life a little more by spending a few minutes with me.

Sincerely,

LaDell Smith

Art Show Photos

The last few pictures above are of my first ART SHOW held during the annual Swiss Avenue Historic District Home Show, held Mother's Day weekend every year.  Come see me next year!