Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
pen mandrel
Bill Buck
>Hello;
I lost some of my e-mails. I would like some advice on mandrels. Not wanting to re-invent the wheel what would be the best all around pen mandrel to get, one or two piece adjustable??
and will the spacers take a lot of sanding and should one buy a lot of extra spacers because of fiton the shaft.
Thanks,
Bill
Re: pen mandrel
Greg W. in NC
>Bill,
I think the Berea is the best on the market, hands down! It's slightly thicker than the others, and as a consequence, you get less 'whip' when using it. However, since it is slightly larger in diameter, you might have to reem out other manufacturer's bushings when using them on the Berea mandrel. Note that Berea has two mandrel sizes, too - a smaller one ("A"), which is comparable to the other mandrels. They also make a larger one ("B") which is great for the larger pens that Berea sales. If you wanted to use the "B" mandrel with other manufacturer's kits, you would need a way to reem those other bushings to fit.
I also recommend the "drill driver" that Berea sells, too. I think it does the best job of centering the mandrel at the headstock.
Re: pen mandrel
Larry G.
>I Agree with Greg. The Berea mandrel with the drill driver is very accurate.
As far as sanding bushings-this is not optimum. You would eventually decrease the bushing size and with light colored wood there would be staining of the ends due to the metal.
I have adopted the technique of replacing the bushing with short segments of the brass tubes after I have turned to size.
I am careful to not sand the ends of the blank excessively so there is not significant reduction in size.
Larry
Hand Turned Pens at http://pws.chartermi.net/~lgottlieb2/