Pen Blank Sled

[wdkits1]

On occasion I go into a pen turning frenzy where I usually turn between 10 and 20 at a stretch. One of the most annoying aspects of pen turning is whittling down a square blank on the lathe to get it to the proper size. Takes up alot of extra time readjusting the tool rest and having to sharpen the tools more often. I have seen other jigs to pre- round the blanks for sale, but being the cheapskate that I am I decided to make my own pre-turning pen blank jig.
I started by putting a dovetail in a scrap piece of walnut to hold the piece that the handle section and the removable tail section slide in. Next make the corresponding dovetail in the handle section stock so that it slides in the sled slot. I then cut the handle section from the tail section and formed the handle. Cut the tail section to allow a thru hole to be drilled for the pen mandrel. Glue the handle section in place on the sled. Glue small pieces of 80 grit sandpaper at each end of the mandrel thru holes to keep the blank from spinning.



The tail section slides in the dovetail to load a pen blank onto the mandrel and the thumb lever (removable) is used to apply pressure to the pen blank to keep it from spinning during the cut.



I also set the jig up to slide in the miter slot of the bandsaw bed by adding a rail under the sled after I determined how far from the blade the jig needed to be.



Once the blank is loaded onto the jig, pressure is applied to the thumb lever and the cut is made . Then I retract the jig ,release the pressure, spin the blank 90 degrees,make the next cut and so on until the blank has been rounded.



Completed blank ready for turning in less than 1 minute

[woodArtz]

Wow, that's cool! You put some serious engineering into that thing, but the time savings are worth it when you're doing a bunch at a time. I may borrow your idea, if you don't mind. Thanks!

[ptt49er]

That's a nifty jig! I can definitely see the time savings it produces.

[RandyJ]

Great idea, Mike. I've been pondering this for some time and even tried a V-notched sled. It was ok but really only allowed 4 cuts before becoming unstable.
Thanks for sharing your idea!

[ScottM]

I need to save this for future use. Seriously you should write/draw this idea up ans submit it for publication. It is a sure winner.

[MikeL]

This is a wonderful idea! How is the thumb lever attached?

You should submit this to all of the magazines. It has to be worthy of a Tip of the Month. Thank you for sharing your project with us.

[wdkits1]

The thumb lever is attached with a pin that drops into a hole that is drilled into the sled. This makes it very simple to remove the lever to load and unload the blank.

[MikeL]

Excellent! So you could bore several holes in line for multiple lever positions and, in conjuntion with the sliding dovetail for the tail piece, have the ability to work with different length blanks (pens, bracelet helpers, etc). I think what I just said makes sense.

[wdkits1]

That's right Mike-- I usually just do slimline pens so I only use one position for the lever but it could easily be modified for other uses. Iv'e made several variations of the jig to do tapered table legs, chair spindles even drum sticks. It really saves time if you go to the lathe with a semi-round blank to start with.

[MikeL]

I am sold on it already. Thanks again!