Well, aside from German class, it has been some time since I took on some new thing, and I have been wanting to learn to make wooden pens on my little lathe. I had attempted to take a class in Roanoke and every date they offered it was on a day I was traveling. But today the planets aligned and I made it!The class was only 3 hours long and I could not imagine how they could get absolute beginners with no experience turning wood to a finished product in that short time. There were four of us and we all finished a very nice pen. There was a box full of wood pieces and I choose a light colored one.
When I asked the teacher what kind of wood I had, he said it was 'tree wood' as he had no idea what it was. I choose it because of the subtle grain pattern to it that I thought wouold be appropriate for a small surface area like a pen.
Anyway, the class covered safety, lathe parts, proper use of the chisel, design considerations and all the steps needed to make a working pen. We drilled, milled, glued and turned, sanded and finished the pen. I am hooked.
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