interesting day today

Dan Noren

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falcon heights, minnesota
roughly a week ago, after i had turned new yellowheart barrels, my 11 year old nephew asked me to show him how i turned a pen. so we went through the whole process of selecting a blank, drilling, turning, finishing, and finally assembling the pen. he asked if he could give it a try, and i told him that on my next days off we would do that. well, today was the day, and we had a good time going through the process. we picked the blank, he did the drilling, and turning. i did a little, showing how to hold the tool, how to take shavings off. when he had shaved it down to about a shade from the bushings, he asked me to handle that. after that, i showed him how much pressure to use while sanding, and he took it from 100 to 12000 grit. then he cleaned, finished, and polished the blank. then following my instructions, he assembled his first pen. i think he's about to be hooked on the spinny side....:D:thumb::rofl:
 
It is a great feeling. I get to do that two-three hours a day with 20 students at the same time!!! :eek: Good job Dan, it is a great feeling to connect with a kid on a level you know no one else ever has in his/her life! :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
Now that really is a heartwarming story...

I'm looking forward to getting that pendant mandrel in the mail, going to have Sharon do a little turning on it!
 
sorry don, spur of the moment thing, and i didn't have the camera with me. :(

it was funny watching him use the big tools for the first time. when he was drilling it out, he asked how far to go before clearing out the bit. i said, when you feel some resistance, back out and clear the bit. the first time, he barely made a dent in the end grain. i told him he could go a little farther than that. he asked how he could tell he passed the end of the blank, i told him that when you feel the resistance give real quick, you're past the bottom. even our dad got into the act. telling him to just go in slowly and real light. this from a guy who had never touched a lathe in his life....
 
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