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About two months ago, my new lathe was delivered. It took me a little while to get it to the basement and set up, but now I'm operational. After turning beads and coves, I decided I was ready for something real. My kids wanted to get in on the fun, so we went to Woodcraft and bought some pen kits. We had turned some pens before, but they were much younger. Since they are 21, 18, and 17 now, we were able to do some nice pens. A couple of these I actually turned (the two dyed burls above are mine), but most were done by my 17 yr old and 21 yr old daughters. We've got 30 more kits to complete as work, college and band camp allow.

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This is an ebony fountain pen that my 18 yr old son did. My main role is turning advice and assembly, except my son is trying to take the assembly job away from me.

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These are two bloodwood pens done by my 17 yr old daughter. We had a bit of a problem with tear out until this daughter took on the challenge.

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My oldest daughter did the chrome ebony slim line pen and I turned the gold one.

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This is purpleheart, the youngest child's favorite wood and color, and turned by her, too.

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These are also the handiwork of the 17 yr old daughter. I had to steal them so I could get these pictues since the green one now belongs to my wife and it goes to work and the blue is the official band camp pen.

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These are my pens, mahogany on the top and cherry on the bottom. Nobody else wanted to turn this style altho' they were the ones who picked them out, go figure, huh?

Gallery

Comments

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796 Posts
Nice looking pens Kenn. What a great way to spend family time. Thanks for sharing.

What kind of lathe did you get?
 

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I bought a Laguna 18/47 lathe and am working on posting a review, but I'll tip my hand and say that I love it. Plenty of power and quiet, lots of room. Thanks for looking.
 

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Great job by all. The pens look very nice.
 

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the family that turns together, stays together.

these are wonderful.
 

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A fine collection of pens! How do you choose who's turn it is on the lathe? :)
 

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that's great that your kids want to get involved. my 7 year old has turned a couple of pens and wants to do some more. it's fun working with the kids.

that purpleheart has some really great color to it too! wow.
 

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Nice collection, it must be great to have your grown kids share your interest in turning. What's your secret, I've been trying to get my daughter to turn with me but she has no interest in it.
 

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Great job!!! How much do you charge for your pens? You and your kids working to gether is priceless. Thanks for sharing.
 

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Great job!

Thanks for the post

Callum
 

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Thanks everybody. I get my kids to come to the shop by specifically inviting one of them with a project in mind. Each of them is different, one has no patience and wants something done, NOW!, so turning is great for her. Another one wants to do something together so we alternate on her projects until she doesn't need constant supervision. The third wants to do it himself, even if he's not sure what he wants to do, so knowing what to do before he gets going is helpful. It's kind of like inviting them into my space and sharing. Plus we started when they were much younger so its a nice memory for all of us now.

TedM, it seems I'm the one not getting all of my lathe time.
 

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The Laguna looks like a nice lathe. I look forward to reading your review.
 

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I think what Dennis said is right on the money. Family sharing a passion for woodworking is priceless.
 
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