I just took up the goofiest hobby of all time

[MichaelHarris]

I got a lathe for Christmas and I started making pens and pencils. They are pretty cool looking and everyone of ya is going to get one for Christmas, or some other cheesy wood turned item. Piss me off and ya get a letter opener.

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Make me a baseball bat at 1/4 size please.

I lost my old one.

[MichaelHarris]

3. see I can do that

and I know what town you live in :)

[Midlodemocrat]

2. I need a new flagpole for the front of my house.

TIA.

[MichaelHarris]

4. well ummm

I could but only 30 inches at a time. A flag pole lathe would have to be like 20 feet long. That's a lot of timber spinning.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. No silly, the four - five foot kind that extends off the front of the hous

...what do you think I am, a Republican?

:hi:

[MichaelHarris]

13. Ohhhhh LOL

anytime I hear flagpole I think of like a 50 footer.

[MichaelHarris]

5. I ordered a DVD

about making pens on a lathe and the guy on the show had half his index finger missing. Do you think it's a good idea for a guy on an instructional lathe DVD to have half a index finger?

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Well, Norm Abrams has all his digits, so I would have to say yes.

[MichaelHarris]

12. I'm looking at my

Norm wall poster right now.

[RadicalMom]

23. No. My mom had a dentist that was missing half of his fingers...

Bitten off maybe? And half of the former coal miners working the coal mine exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago were missing a lot of their fingers. I'm not sure why fingers.

[MichaelHarris]

32. fingers seem the digit of choice for

dental patients and table saws I guess.

[sleepyhead]

25. I saw a video on how to handle pet reptiles

And the guy had two fingers missing on his right hand.

[MichaelHarris]

33. LOL

missing fingers, a good teaching tool

[jmowreader]

28. How to make your own flagpole

Get a hunk of wooden closet rod

Paint gold.

Attach flag so it will fly upside down.

Put other end of pole in your flag holder.

Leave this way until Dipshit is out of the White House.

[Debbi801]

6. Not goofy at all...

:-)

According to my husband, it is addicting. I hear his lathe running while I am posting this.

The pen and pencil kits that are out there now are really cool. Soon, you'll be making lamp bases and candlesticks, too.

Debbi

[MichaelHarris]

10. I just ordered

some real cool wood and pen kits and stuff. I had to research the mandrel and bushing stuff, I'm still a little sketchy on which to use. Any tips would be very appreciated.

[LordLQQK]

20. Oh it is not just the lathe......

....that is only the beginning. Next thing you know you are subscribing to every wood working magazine published from here to Britain, you have bought enough machinery that if you added up the receipts you could pay off your house (and possibly your neighbor's), you have taken over 75% of the basement, you start taping The New Yankee Workshop because you were up until 2am the last night because it's the only "you time" you can find and so the wife (dear Debbi801 in my case) can't complain that she is a wood-widow and the show comes on at the unreal time of 7:30 in the morning.

Then, if you are lucky enough to have a good wood supplier in the area, (mine is great but it is about 80 miles away) you can buy wood from places that you haven't heard of since Jr. High Social Studies. And then you get the smile from hearing your 9 year old daughter point out purple heart to the sales people when you shop for flooring and watching their jaws drop to the floor. Although you also have to hear the moans when you have to stop by Lowe's or Home Depot for a "quick" pick up of glue, screws, sand paper, nails, varnish, paste wax, MDF (good for jigs and fixtures), steel wool, clamps, etc...

You most likely picked up a small midi lathe (don't know why they call it a "midi" lathe). It is a great start and you can even do small table legs, candle sticks, and small plates just to start. It would be good idea for you to spend the extra money on a good set of high speed steel chisels, the cheaper set of high carbon steel doesn't hold an edge for nothing.

If you want some more info on wood working I could give you a massive leg up depending on how much you want to get into it.

[MichaelHarris]

21. LOL

thats funny. In my case I didn't have a basement so I built a shop behind my house. I did buy cheap chisels but replaced them after 2 days. I did get a midi lathe and for some reason got interested in pen turning. The thing I think I need help on is the different madrel sizes and bushings and chucks. I have a MT #1 headstock with 3/4 X 16TPI. I ordered a chuck from PSI but they messed me around and said it was on backorder after I ordered it. I want to cancel the order but I can't find a chuck in the same price range, 80 bucks. Thanks for any tips you may have.

Michael

[LordLQQK]

24. Recommendations....

I haven't done pens on the lathe but I do know the set up and I have a book or two on the subject. I thought though that they were all the same sizes or at least standardized for what you were making (one size mandrel and stuff for pens, another for letter openers, another for magnifying classes, etc...).

I have never bought anything from PSI outside of the annual woodworking show so I can't testify to their mail order practices or responsiveness. I generally go through Highland Hardware found at www.tools-for-woodworking.com for tools that I know I am going to need where quality matters. The quality is high but the pricing is about medium, although they do have sales. You could likely find your chuck there and at a decent price. They also have tools to made your own blanks.

There is also Penn State Industries that specializes in pen turning supplies. But I can't vouch for them in any degree other than the assortment in their catalog.

I would also recommend the Delta Sharpening Center. This, together with a buffing wheel (either on a drill or on a grinder) will put a razor edge on high speed steel that will last a good long while. Don't use a standard grinder on high speed steel but they are good for buffing wheels.

Doing your own laminates are a great way to get rid of scraps and get variety in turnings too. Just make sure you use a glue that is rated for exotic oily woods, if you use them (Gorilla Glue is good, as is Tite Bond III), and make sure the wood is well prepped.

If you were on the East Coast I could give you a list of spots to great good prices that are more local.

[MichaelHarris]

27. I'm in the pacific northwest

and it's suprisingly hard to find good wood. I'm beginning to order more and more wood from the net. I've been mostly hand sharpening but I saw that Delta sharpening thing yeterday, I may get that. I used Gorilla glue on my boat then fiberglassed over it that stuff is tough. I may do some laminates today, I have a small bandsaw but I get some drift with the blade so I need to figure that out.

[eyepaddle]

7. My initial thought was

"I doubt it's THAT goofy, let's see what it it is."

I stand corrected that IS one goofy hobby! ;)

Goofy hobbies are the coolest though, and I've always maintained that any hobby worth having is worth taking too far, so keep it up!

:)

[MichaelHarris]

11. I used to do scale

replicas of old 1950's creatures. Won some best of show awards and stuff for those but now all they do is collect dust. I've been thinking of Ebaying them. Want an award winning replica of The Creature of the Black Lagoon? Chicks dig it.

[eyepaddle]

14. Hmmmmm

Well if chicks dig it, then maybe. In truth I'm not much of a collector--except books of course! But just cool stuff? I always forget to look at it and remember how cool it is!

However a personally crafted pencil....well, now yer talkin!

I have a few mechanical pencils, but man you just can't beat a wooden pencil.

[MichaelHarris]

15. I'll hook ya up then

just ordered some rare and exotic wood for pens and pencils. I couldn't say erotic wood as that would have gotten me in trouble.

[BiggJawn]

16. That's not goofy...

You can make cool stuff like bagpipes and flutes with it.

I thought you were going to say Ham Radio.

Now THERE is a "Goofy Hobby" I should know, I been doing it for 34 years...

[vixengrl]

17. Not goofy at all.

Henry David Thoreau was said to have made a damn fine pencil. Making something useful is cool.

[democracyindanger]

18. I need a toilet paper roll holder

Help me out please?

[MichaelHarris]

22. Oak or

rosewood?

[democracyindanger]

19. dupe of a stupid joke

[Bouncy Ball]

26. When I opened this I thought

"I bet it's not THAT goofy, whatever it is."

Then I read it and thought "Yeah, he's right, that is a pretty damn goofy hobby."

Please send me a pencil. I am all out. Thank you.

[MichaelHarris]

30. everyone is getting

pens and pencils, maybe even a letter opener if I can keep my fingers.

[goddess40]

29. I know someone who makes curling stones on his

They're pretty cool too.

[MichaelHarris]

31. I have a little problem

getting things round, so far they all look like eggs or bill oreillys head.

[Elidor]

34. Lathes are so cool!

A great-uncle showed me his, once. He made chair legs with elaborate detail. I was mesmerized.

I've always lusted after a Hoesappfel Lathe (sp?). The coolest lathe ever made. Hundreds upon hundreds of moving parts. A guy named Daniel Brush in NYC collects them and makes amazing things with them. Very few are left.