Ladypen Haul!

Stuart Ablett

Member
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15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
The last FEWS workshop we had, one of the members, Yamashita san, brought a really nice "Ladypen" that he made from two pieces of wood, that was very interesting. Turns out that he does a LOT of pens. I told him that I had more pen blanks than I could ever turn, and a lot of stuff from the US etc, as I've been so very lucky to be able to swap boxes of blanks with other turners from overseas :thumb: I offered to give him some of these blanks, as he turns a LOT of pens.

I sent him a box of wood last week, he lives just South of me in Yokohama. He called me the other day and he was just simply so very pleased to get the box of wood. He said he would send me some ladypen blanks etc, that box arrived today!

ladypen_haul.jpg
Here is an over view of the haul, I have to say he stuffed the box :thumb:

ladypen_white_blanks.jpg
The white wood is "Holly" I think, the use it here to make the Kokeshi dolls, it is very white and straight grained, good for this kind of pen.

ladypens_blanks.jpg
I want to learn how to make these pens, so he sent me some completed pens, one partially turned pen, and three blanks with the two pieces joined at 22.5 degrees.

ladypens_lineup.jpg
A close up of the lady pens he sent, nice eh? :D

ladypen_orange_wood.jpg ladypen_orange_pink_wood.jpg I'm not exactly sure what the other wood is, I'll have to ask him.

Just goes to show how being generous is a good thing! :wave:
 
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Very nice Stu.:thumb: Those pens look like they would be a challenge. looks like some offset turning with maybe some hand carving involved.
 
Very nice Stu.:thumb: Those pens look like they would be a challenge. looks like some offset turning with maybe some hand carving involved.

Eccentric turning, no carving :thumb:

I don't recall seeing "ladypens" before. Very cool. I'm assuming it uses the innards from a regular Bic pen?
You sir are correct, the innards of a BIC pen:D

Kewel Stu. Pens look great and a nice looking haul on the wood.
Yeah, I'm pleased for sure!

Those pens are way cool, Stu. Looking forward to seeing your version of them. :wave: ;) :)
Me too, once I figure it out :eek:

Nice looking wood Stu. It would be interesting to see a tutorial of making one of those pens after you learn how.:thumb:
If I can figure it out, you bet, lots of pics too. I have a video here, somewhere, of Eli Avisera and John Francois Escolen turning lady pens, I have to edit it and put it up on youtube I guess.

cool haul Stu. the pens that you have there are very special I would say.

I'd agree with you Wayne! :thumb:
 
Stu, yes very neat idea and pen! Showed it to my students yesterday, we offset some pieces and did some turning, the problem we ran into was the opposite cut cutting into the head or body part:eek:. This morning while thinking about it, maybe had our eccentric to eccentric. Meaning, we set our angle at the headstock right of center and at the tailstock to the left of center. Maybe we only needed to move the headstock off of center and leave the tailstock at center. :huh::dunno: Clear as mud?
Anxiously await the utube version, please post the address then I can get the computer guru at our school to download that and send to me so students can watch it!!
 
Johnathan, I bet the kids would like to do this pen, but be forewarned it is a bit of an advanced technique, but worth a shot or two :thumb:

I'll try to get the video up soon, but I did fine >> THESE << instructions on the web, no idea if they are worth the paper I printed them on, but between the instructions, the video, and the samples I have on hand, I should :rolleyes: be able to figure it out.

Cheers!
 
No Barry, these ones are not, they are made from several types of wood, glued up, but yeah, I can see how a simple maple pen could be given to kids with just a light sanding sealer on them, then get the kids to decorate them, I think that would be fun!

Here are the first two attempts, no sanding and I was not that worried about perfect cuts, I was mostly trying to get the angles right..........
1st_two_front.JPG 1st_two_side.JPG
........... as you can see, I need more practice :D


Here is how they should look........
lady_pen_front.JPG lady_pen_left.JPG lady_pen_right.JPG lady_pen_back.JPG
Nicely done!

More practice tomorrow! :wave:
 
You've got enough blanks there to be busy turning for quite time.
Now, with those and the step by step pen he sent you, there are no excuses to make them!

Good haul Stu! Enjoy it:thumb::thumb:
 
I spent the better part of the day in the Dungeon turning Lady Pens, I think I have the process down pat :thumb:

The video is in the works from the demo last year, my video camera was set to good quality, so rendering it down to something reasonable is giving my older PC fits (the format is NOT compatible with my Mac :doh:) but it is coming for YouTube................ eventually.

lady_pen_3a.JPG lady_pen_3b.JPG
This is #3, I was still doing this the way the instructions showed on the web, and I figured it out that while a lot more stable and less prone to vibration, but, the angles I could get were just not to my liking.

lady_pen_blanks.JPG
I decided that the way to learn how to do this is to turn a bunch, I had some wood left over from building the back bench, not the best wood for this, the elm is some what brittle and splinters easy, plus it is small pieces all joined together with them finger joints, but I had the wood so I figured I'd rip a bunch up and go to town and get some practice.

lady_pen_blanks_round.JPG
Here are all the blanks turned round, with the ball on the end you need for the pin chuck method.

lady_pen_one_to_11.JPG
Here are my practice turnings #1 to #11, getting there, but still not how I want.

lady_pen_13_14_15.JPG
The one on the left is from my friend, but the others are #13 to #15, #12 went BOOM :rolleyes: :D

lady_pen_mine_his.JPG
Here are my best ones compared to his samples. You will notice that heads are different, I found I like my way better, this is the way that Jean Francois Escoulen shows to make them, I guess it is all up to taste :dunno:

That was a long day at the lathe, as tomorrow I'm supposed to start the Aparto II, I spent the day turning.

I did all of these on my new little Gee Tech lathe, I have to say, I really am liking it, a lot. :thumb:

g0657_lathe.jpg >> LINK <<
It is the same as this one by Grizzly (Gee Tech makes this lathe for Grizzly). I know the tool rest hole is on the wrong side of the banjo, but for this kind of stuff, it works well, and it runs very smooth, and is just a great little lathe.

Cheers!
 
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