Last week, I asked my son, Ben, if he wanted to learn how to make a pen. He stopped playing his video game, looked up at me, thought a second and said, “sure!”.
We went out to the shop. He has never used any of the tools in the shop before so he was a little nervous. I gave him a slimline pen kit, he picked out the wood. I showed him how to measure and mark the blank, he cut it on my scroll saw (I dont have a band saw yet.). I showed him how to use the drill press, he drilled his blanks. After gluing the tubes in the blanks, I mounted the blanks to the mandrel, and gave a 10 second demo using a roughing gouge. He turned both blanks round. Then I showed him the parting tool and skew. He used both of those, and then the finishing tool. Sanded from 150-600 and finished off with 3 coats of Hut friction polish.
His whole goal was to make a wand pen (he is a fan of wizards and magic). He thinks this captured that pretty well. Got a text from him yesterday after school. Two teachers want to buy pens from him and none of his friends believe that he made the pen. They all think he bought it!
I’ll have to make a video of him turning so he can prove them wrong. I’ve never seen him more excited for something!
The funny thing is, my wife and I have been talking about him getting a little job to make some extra cash like a paper route or something. He wants to make and sell pens!!
I have never been more proud as a father.
Crafty Puzzles
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