What did you do in your shop today?

duncsuss said:
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Three years two months and one week, to be precise :sarcastic:

That looks like you've made a great start, Matt -- guessing it's a JoWo #6 nib unit based on the drill letters and depths in your sketch, your section looks good. If you have an ER32 collet chuck and a full set of metric collets, you can get by without making mandrels for the most part (at least, I found that I am able to) -- just means you end up turning the parts end-for-end into a smaller collet. I used Delrin to make a holder that I could screw the cap onto (tapped the same as the pen barrel) for final sanding, and another that I could screw the barrel onto (threaded the same as the nib section). Works fine at slow speeds, even though there is some runout.
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Funny thing is, I went back and found that message thread earlier today to reference it. :sarcastic:

Yup, a JoWo #6 it is. I did give thought to skipping the mandrels - I do have a full set of metric collets. But I have a Taig Micro Lathe that was handed down to me (it was my late uncle's and my father gave it to me since he already had one and didn't see needing two) that I've only recently started to actually use, despite having it for several years now. It's fun to use it and it won't take me much to make a pair of mandrels from aluminum rod stock. I've already made a mandrel to hold the section for shaping/sanding/polishing.
 
Sprung said:
... it won't take me much to make a pair of mandrels from aluminum rod stock. I've already made a mandrel to hold the section for shaping/sanding/polishing.
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Just be aware that aluminum has a nasty habit of staining light materials with gray schmutz -- if you can turn steel on that Taig, I believe you'll be much happier with mandrels made from that. (There is one stainless variety considered easier to machine than others -- type 302 perhaps?)

Also -- I advise sanding/polishing the section with it screwed into a holding block (natural acetal/Delrin is perfect) the same external diameter as your pen barrels. It helps keep the corner that butts up against the barrel nice and crisp instead of rounding over. The pattern of light in your first photo suggests there's a small radius at the section/barrel interface which I prefer to avoid if possible.
 
duncsuss said:
Just be aware that aluminum has a nasty habit of staining light materials with gray schmutz -- if you can turn steel on that Taig, I believe you'll be much happier with mandrels made from that. (There is one stainless variety considered easier to machine than others -- type 302 perhaps?)

Also -- I advise sanding/polishing the section with it screwed into a holding block (natural acetal/Delrin is perfect) the same external diameter as your pen barrels. It helps keep the corner that butts up against the barrel nice and crisp instead of rounding over. The pattern of light in your first photo suggests there's a small radius at the section/barrel interface which I prefer to avoid if possible.
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I should be able to work steel on it, with light passes, so I'll look into that. It is fairly crisp there at the section to barrel connection - the light shows it worse than it actually is - but that is something I will keep in mind and will look at probably making a new mandrel. (Only took maybe 10 minutes to make the one I already made.)
 
Didn't get any projects done today. I was busy taking pictures, boxing up wood and tools and taking almost 200 pounds of wood to the post office today
 
Finished up my first Groomsman's gifts. 6 "Goblets" with a spotted gum frame and brown or red Mallee burl swells on maple spacers. Maple fork tips and some brass pinning finishes them off. The back is laser engraved with the date and location of the wedding.

Cameron's Catties - 3.webp

Cameron's Catties - 1.webp
 
More boxing of stuff in my shop today. Also found out that I'm out of bandaids in my first aid kit, but I do have duct tape that works just as well.
 
Electrician's tape and blue shop towels. Better than band-aids! Won't come off, isn't as gooey as duct tape.
 
Just utilitarian stuff.

Worked on a box joint jig. Rewatched a William Ng video that explains it very well.

I had finished a cross cut sled and was 0.002 over 28" without adjustment (using 5 cut method) so I quickly fastened it down and didn't touch it. The box joint jig is a jig for the CCS so I had to finish that first.
 
Yesterday's first go at making a turned lidded box got me on the hook for making some more for teacher appreciation gifts. And I'd like a few to display around here and to have some for gifts - probably Christmas gifts. So enough for 13 boxes rough turned round and lids parted from bottoms. Will continue work sometime after I get a new 1 1/2" forstner bit, which will take care of a good portion of the work of hollowing these out.

Boxes.webp
 
As good as you are at turning, Matt, you might consider joining Etsy.com as a seller and set up a shop on their site. There's a good demand for items like you're making.
I do well there and my shop is growing and expanding as fast as I can keep up.
 
FranklinWorkshops said:
As good as you are at turning, Matt, you might consider joining Etsy.com as a seller and set up a shop on their site. There's a good demand for items like you're making.
I do well there and my shop is growing and expanding as fast as I can keep up.
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I've given thought to Etsy off and on for several years now. What has kept me from really giving it a go is that the general consensus is that to do well on Etsy, you really have to be able to dedicate time to it. The more time you put into it, the better success you will have with it. Unfortunately time is something I'm almost always in short supply of and time on Etsy would almost certainly take away from what little time I get in the shop. But, who knows, maybe when things slow down for me this summer (summer is usually a slow time for me), maybe I'll take some time and try to figure it out.
 
Sprung said:
I've given thought to Etsy off and on for several years now. What has kept me from really giving it a go is that the general consensus is that to do well on Etsy, you really have to be able to dedicate time to it. The more time you put into it, the better success you will have with it. Unfortunately time is something I'm almost always in short supply of and time on Etsy would almost certainly take away from what little time I get in the shop. But, who knows, maybe when things slow down for me this summer (summer is usually a slow time for me), maybe I'll take some time and try to figure it out.
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I understand. I've been on it for 18 months and have learned a lot. If you ever want to talk about it, send me a PM and we can talk on the phone. There are many tricks of the trade there and I've spent quite a bit of time to learn them.
 
I pulled out a piece of walnut, its a graft of english walnut and black walnut that was given to me last month. I was told that if I returned a platter I could keep the cutoff. So I pulled it out today, drew a circle and went back to bed. Its a start but I'll have to do it when I get over this flu.

P4130500.webp
 
I worked on putting together and painted a couple of deep supers for my bees who will be here in a couple weeks. Purchased them from a local Amish man. Paid him $9.00 for a deep super unassembled.
 
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