Pencils and Pens

Re: Pencils and Pens

Peter Teubel

>Excellent pen/pencils. What is your photography setup? The pics are excellent too!

Re: Pencils and Pens

Ted Calver

>Phil,

I've been wanting to try the pentel pencils for some time but haven't figured out exactly how to do it. Can you point me to some instructions? Thanks

Ted

Re: Pencils and Pens

Phil Smith

>I took a spindle turning class last summer from Nick Cook in Atlanta. One of the things that Nick showed us was how to turn pencils using the pentel mechanism. You will need a step drill to drill the blanks. The drill is available from Craft Supplies USA. Nick has a good description of the process on his web site. Look at the Pencil Pusher article in the link below.

http://www.nickcookwoodturner.com/articles.htm

I turn the pencils entirely with a skew. Use 1 1/4" to turn the blanks into cylinders and then finish with either the large skew or switch to a smaller 1/2" skew.

The turning tools used to make the pencils were all home made. The skews are out of CPM 3V particle steel, Parting tool is out of an 1/8" M2 tool bit for metal working and the Bedan was made out of a peice of 3/8" square piece of tool steel.

Re: Pencils and Pens

Phil Smith

>A friend took the pictures for me. He used one of the new Cannon digital SLR cameras with a indirect flash. I think that it is a 6 mega pixel camera.

Re: Pencils and Pens

Rick Prevett

>Hey Phil,

Like Ted, I'd like to try to turn some of these Pentel pencils. I took a look at Nicks page and like his tutorial. There's a couple things I missed though. Do you purchase the mechanisms separately from somewhere or do you dis-assemble a store bought pentel? And how do assemble the pencil once you have the mechanisms?

Thanks for any input on this subject. I really like the single piece pencil look you have achieved.

rick

Re: Pencils and Pens

Phil Smith

>I buy Pentel pencils from and office supply place such as office depot. I screw the tip off and pull the mechanism out of the plastic barrel and insert into the new wooden barrel and screw the tip on. I throw the orginal plastic barrel away.

I you want to use the clip I file a very small flat on the side of the wooden barrel after sanding to 400 grit with a small triangle file. Then sand with 600 grit on the lathe to smooth out the shoulders on the flats. I slip the clip on after the pencil is finished.

Re: Pencils and Pens

Ted Calver

>Phil,

Thanks for all the help!! My heavy hand seems to snap normal 5 and 7mm leads every other word and Pentel is one of the few makers out there who still make a decent (and cheap) 9mm drafting pencil. Gonna make up a few...but they probably won't be as nice as yours!!