I have planned on making my own pen with the GF using scraps and stacking discs, then doing some sanding on a drill or drill press, but I hadn’t made it that far yet.
but
my father-in-law turns pens as his retirement gig. so i went ahead and made a few blanks with some scraps and gave them to him in his father’s day package. about a week ago, we got a package back from him and he sent us one of the pens he made.
just keep a “pen scraps” box somewhere for when you do use hardwood and even if you don’t use hardwood a lot, eventually you’ll have enough. i’m going to try doing an acrylic one, too. maybe a mixed wood/acrylic (but not sure how much those might bleed on each other).
Love it! I’ve been wanting to try this, but I’m busy building a house, so hadn’t gotten around to it.
I did try, some time back, making a turning tool handle from stacked discs of Baltic birch, but inserted acrylic discs to make it “fancy” and the glue between them and the wood didn’t hold up to turning. sigh
I used the same Gorilla wood glue I used for the rest of it. It held up quite well on the swords I made for my grandkids so I didn’t really give it much thought. Apparently lathes put a lot more stress on things than grandchildren do!
