Microwave drying wood pen blanks

The method I use to dry green pen blanks is microwave drying of the pen blanks.

When I need to dry pens blanks in a very short time, I use the following method.

I have a small Microwave oven I use only for drying wood. I do not use the microwave in the kitchen. I don't think my wife would be very happy if I did.

1. I cut the blanks into blank size usually 3/4" X 5" long.

2. I stack these in a way the air will flow freely around the blank.

3. I weight each blank and write the weight on the side of the blank. I use a digital postal scale. I picked up a scale off ebay for about $25

4. I place 8-9 blanks in the microwave in this fashion.

5. I microwave the blanks on low heat for 2 1/2 minutes.

6. I remove the blanks and the set on top of the microwave to cool.

7. They need to cool for 7-10 minutes.

8. I then weight the blanks again and write new weight on side

9. I go through this process a minimum of 3 times or until these is no longer a weight lost.

10. At this point I let set over night before processing the pen blanks.

Note; the microwave will set the blanks on fire, from the inside.

As you can see from the picture at the right. This blank caught on fire from the inside. I cut it apart and you can see how it burned.

Microwave drying will work must be done with care.

I used this to dry wood for 200 pens. I used this on maple wood blanks that had just been cut.

Please visit my web site for more woodworking infromation. http://nokeswoodworks.com

Pen Project with Cross Clip for Church

I just finished doing a project for a church. The church was expanding and had to cut down a Maple tree. They contacted me and wanted me to make 200 pens for them.

I used a slimline kit for the base. I added a fancy center band and a cross clip from Woodcraft.

I made a sample and we agreed on a price, the church shipped the wood to me. It arrived on a banded pallet, which consisted mainly of cut up logs. I had to take the logs and cut the logs into pen blanks.

As you can see from the picture at the right, the shipment basically looked like a load of fire wood. Some of the logs were pretty big. I split the logs and then used my band saw to cut the wood into rough pen blanks.

The rough pen blanks were dried by stacking them and air drying along with the use of a micro wave oven to air dry the blanks.

Once the blanks were dry, there were cut, drilled and turned to shape. There were sanded and finished with a protective coating.

The pens were assembled and packed in plastic pen cases and shipped to the church.

The church was very please upon receipt of the pens. There was a lot of work involved in making 200 pens at one time but I enjoyed the project.

If you have a project you would like made from a special piece of wood or any custom project, please contact me.

Also visit my web site at http://nokeswoodworks.com/

Sedona Pen Kit made with Gemstone Blank

Sedona Rollerball Pen Kit

This is a silver plated rollerball pen kit. I used a Turquoise with black web Gemstone blank. I am please with how it turn

ed out. The Gemstome black was easy to drill and easy to turn. There are a little on the expensive side $8.99 per blank, but in this case well worth the

money. The blank was finished using micro mesh sanding pads up to 32000 grit. I then used a light coat of wax. This makes a great pen.
Please visit my web site : http://nokeswoodworks.com/

Mini lathe project, Garden Dibble

GARDEN DIBBLE

This is an easy spindle turning project. A dibble is a tool used by a gardener to make holes to plant seeds, bulbs or small plants. I started with a pieces of white oak. You could use maple, ash or any hardwood.

I started with a piece of wood 1 1/2" square and 12" long. I used a roughing gouge to get the piece round.

I them used my skew to finish the project. I turned 1" knob on the end, then a 4" handle. The pointed end is marked at 1" intervals to show how deep you are making the hole.

This one can make up to a 4" deep hole. One I completed the turning, I used sand paper to smooth out the project, them completed it with a couple of coats of wipe on poly.

This is a quick easy project, any gardener would love.

Please visit my web site at http://nokeswoodworks.com

Pen Blank Drilling Jig Basic Homemade

Here is a basic homemade pen blank drilling jig I made. Its not fancy but it gets the job done.

I took two pieces of 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" wood 8" long. I joined them using a 1"X 1" hinge. To form a vise. I then marked two sets of vee notches in the wood. Using my bandsaw I cut out the notches.

The 1st vee notch is slightly smaller than 5/8" and the 2nd is slightly smaller than 3/4". These are the normal size for pen blanks. Using the notched to center and the vise like hinge to hold, I can drill a pen blank in no time at all and it will be straight and square. You can buy pen blanks and pen kits at woodcraft by clicking on the link to the right.

Please visit my web site for more information and tips on pen making, bowl turning and woodworking in general. http://nokeswoodworks.com

Bowl Turning , Turning a green Pecan wood bowl

BOWL TURNING BASICS

This morning I rough turned a bowl from a green pecan bowl blank. This is how I turn a bowl blank. This blank is made of Pecan, it is green and waxed sealed. I mount the bowl using 1" screws.

This bowl blank is 8"X 3"

The bowl blank is then mounted to the lathe. I used a 3/8" bowl gouge to turn the bowl to a true round.

Once the bowl is round, I then square up the face. I have more pictures on my web site that also shows how I hold a bowl gouge.

Once everything is square. I use my Teknatool dovetail scraper to cut a dovetail recess in the bottom of the blank. This will be used to hold the blank using my Nova dovetail chuck. The recess is cut to about 2 1/2" circle. At this point I switch and mount my bowl on the Nova expanding dovetail chuck.

This picture show how I have used my bowl gouge to cut away the inside of the bowl. The lathe speed I used during this entire process was 684 RPM's. Now that the bowl has been roughed out to about a 3/4-1" thickness, I will date it and write pecan on the bottom. The bowl will be set aside for 4-6 months or until dry. Once it is dry, I will finish turn the bowl.

You can find more pictures and more information on my web site.

http://nokeswoodworks.com/

Garden, flower, vegetable and plant seeds

Its the time of year when I start to think about plants seeds to get plants ready for my garden. As I was searching for see catalogs, I decided to assemble a web page to list all of the sites I found in one place. I added this to my website and you can get there by clicking here.

http://nokeswoodworks.com/Gardenstore.html

If you are just looking for catalogs or looking for seeds, plants, bulbs, trees or just information, these are great places to start. This year I'm doing blueberries and heirloom tomatoes.

Wood Turning Tool Dovetail Chisel

The Teknatool Dovetail Chisel

The dovetail chisel is a special tool for wood turning. I use it in conjunction with my Nova G3 chuck. The dovetail chisel that I use is a Teknatool chisel and was purchased at Woodcraft.

I use this chisel on the bottom of bowls to make a cut which will fit my Nova chuck jaws. See pictures for the type of cut I make in the bowl bottom and the jaws on my chuck. This chisel is made of HSS, which will stay sharp longer. Although this is a special chisel and not one I would pick as a beginning tool, a beginner could make good use of this tool. The tool cuts cleanly and fast making it easy to mount my bowl to the chuck securely. I don't worry about the bowl flying off the chuck.

Please visit my web site which I have updated to include a garden and seed store. http://nokeswoodworks.com/

Basic Wood Turning Tools for Spindles and Bowls

I have been asked a couple of times what tools should I buy. The answer depends on what you want to turn. I have put together a list for bowls, spindle turning, pens turns and a couple of extras.

The picture to the right are my basic tools for bowl turning.
I use a 3/8" Deep fluted bowl gouge, a 3/4" Bowl scraper and a 1/16" parting tool. These are the basic tools I use to turn bowls.
Some people use a 1/2 bowl gouge but I find the a 3/8" gouge is easier to control and works better in tight places.

Spindle turning and pen turning almost the same. I use spindle gouges in the 1/4" and 3/8" size.

These are the main tools used in spindle turning, also in pen turning. Spindle gouges can be used on the outside of bowls but not on the inside. I also have a 3/4" roughing gouge use to rough pieces to the round. Another good tool to have is the skew chisel , I use a 1/2" chisel the most but also have a 1"chisel I have the oval design, I get better control with it. Last but not least is the 1/8" diamond parting tool. I use the 1/4" gouge and the skew for pen making and sometimes I need the parting tool.

I also have two other tools I want to mention. One is the spindlemaster, it is a cross between a skew and a spindle gouge. I love this tool and use it alot. The other tool is a dovetail tool used to make the recess in the bottom of bowls, so they can be held in the chuck properly.

One last note on tools, Make sure you buy tools that are made of HSS high speed steel or better. Anything less will not hold an edge. In wood turning you will need sharp tools and tools which hold there edge longer wont have to be sharpened as much.

Please visit my web site for more information on turning and woodworking.
http://nokeswoodworks.com