Turning Pens into Cash

 

13-year old has the write stuff

Aspiring heart surgeons need steady hands, a delicate touch, mental focus--and a whole lot of money for school. Some quality time at the lathe helps Alex Lesniak, at right address each of those needs as he plans for a career in medicine.

Alex discovered woodturning a month before his 11th birthday during a trip to a woodworking show near his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Fascinated by the lathe from the moment he saw one demonstrated at the show, Alex begged his father, George, for one of his own. "You know how kids can be," George says, "so I challenged him. He had to sell me on the idea of getting a lathe." After that, they both had to convince Alex's mom, Cathleen. "I was kind of skeptical at first," she says. "But then Alex said 'Mom, I can turn pens and sell them and make money for college.' " That moment of entrepeneurial insight sealed the deal.

 

Crafting his first pen

Soon, Alex brought home his brand-new, variable-speed midi-lathe. He watched videos and visited Web sites to learn all he could about turning. Within two months, he was crafting his first pens.

A trip to the North Carolina Woodworker's Club picnic sparked initial demand for Alex's work. Although intended to be just a "show and tell" event, he ended up selling several pens. Then, at a contest sponsored by a woodworking store in Raleigh, Alex won first, second, and Best-of-Show for his age group...and sold more pens. Repeated inquiries prompted Cathleen to put together a Web site (pensforcollege.com), shown at right showcasing Alex's work. A new business was underway.

 

A pen turned from Tru-Stone, a mix
of crushed semiprecious stones and
resin, has contrasting "veins" for a
marbled look.

 

Aluminum gutter flashing laminated
to walnut enhances the over-and-
under weave of a Celtic knot in a
pen of figured maple.

Two sleek designs

Mixed media
Alex turns a variety of materials including resins, acrylic, Tru-stone (top pen above right), and all types of domestic and exotic hardwoods and burls.

One signature Alex Lesniak detail is the Celtic knot (bottom pen, below right). He first saw the technique online. With some experimentation, he elevated it from a simple inlay of a contrasting wood to an eye-catching feature with delicate metal accents. (Learn how to add a Celtic knot to your turnings on page 7.)

 

From catalogs and Web sites, Alex
orders kits with the metal pen parts.
These pens, turned from big-leaf
maple, show a sample of styles.

Stock pens of every style

During the non-holiday season, Alex works about 10 hours a week in his father's shop turning "stock", right, to sell on his Web site and to fill orders. Now, as he enters 8th grade, he's gearing up for full weekends of turning to meet holiday demand.

With hundreds of pens already sold, most in the $75+ range, Alex's college fund is off to a strong start. If he achieves his career goal, every time he fills out a medical chart, he'll be holding a reminder of how he got there.

 

Four Hours to a Lustrous Sheen

Achieving the deep, lustrous sheen on a wood pen can require up to four hours. Alex begins by sanding the barrel to 800 grit. With the lathe spinning at about 1,100 rpm, he applies the first coat of his finish, thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, with a paper towel, then sprays on a CA accelerator to quickly cure the finish.

Quick Tip! Use tape as a finger pad. Alex wears nitrile gloves and wraps several layers of painter's tape around his index finger, as shown at right. As CA bleeding through the paper towel builds up on the tape, he simply peels off a layer to reveal a fresh surface. The tape also insulates his finger from heat buildup.

After three or four coats of CA, Alex steps up the speed to 2,600 rpm and sands lightly with 400-grit sandpaper to reveal low spots in the finish. After filling them with CA and sanding again, he wet-sands with MicroMesh abrasive sheets working up to 12,000 grit. Then he buffs with the No. 1 grade of Novus polish, moves on to Meguiar's Plastx polish, and finally a coat of Renaissance wax. The result is a durable, glass-like finish.

Sources: Find Meguiar's Plastx polish and Novus polish at car-care stores and on these Web sites: meguiars.com, novuspolish.com; Find MicroMesh abrasives and Renaissance wax at Woodcraft, woodcraft.com, 800-225-1153.

 

For more Information

We want to hear about other youngsters doing cool things with wood. Send an e-mail to woodmail@woodmagazine.com or write to WOOD® magazine, 1716 Locust LS221, Des Moines, IA 50309.

FREE VIDEO
Watch Alex's self-produced video making a Celtic knot, "The Homework Ultimatum," at woodmagazine.com/homework.

woodmagazine.com/homework

 

 

Create a Celtic Knot

Don't let the curves or fine lines of this eye-catching inlay fool you. To make your own, simply cut kerfs in a squared turning blank, glue in splines built up from contrasting veneers, then shape it on the lathe.

To demonstrate the process, we incorporated a Celtic knot in the Table Lamp from issue 177 (July 2007). The procedure adapts easily to a variety of turnings.

Turned Lamp Woodworking Plan

Fill the Kerf

To determine the thickness of the splines, use your tablesaw to cut a kerf through a piece of scrap. Stack layers of veneer to fit snugly in the kerf [Photo A]. Cut a 3x12" strip of veneer for each layer and true up one long edge of each strip.

Make a veneer press out of two pieces of 3/4"-thick plywood, covering one face of each piece with painter's tape to prevent glue from adhering to the plywood. Any wood glue will work for this step, but for speed we chose five-minute epoxy to laminate the veneers [Photos B, C]. After the epoxy cures, unclamp the press, scrape away any tape sticking to the lamination, and true up one edge.

 

Stack veneers to determine how
many layers will fit. Maple veneers
on the outside will contrast with the
walnut turning blank.

 

Tape a layer of veneer to the
press, spread five-minute epoxy,
and tape the next layer down.
Work quickly before the epoxy sets.

 

With epoxy applied between all the
veneer layers, clamp the press to
your bench. Wait for the epoxy to
cure fully.

For the knot to appear balanced and even, your turning blank must be square in profile. After squaring it up and cutting it to length, rotate it and number adjacent faces in this order: 1-3-2-4.

Tilt your tablesaw blade to 45° and raise the blade so that it stops 1/8" short of cutting all the way through the blank. (A 2 1/4"-square blank was the thickest we could use, as our blade reaches 2 1/8" above the table.) Attach an extension to your miter gauge and cut a kerf through it. Clamp a stopblock to the extension to position the knot in the desired position on your blank. (For the lamp, we set the stopblock 8 1/2" from the bottom of the kerf.)

 

Position the blank with its top
against the stopblock and with
the "1" label facing up. The cut
leaves about 1/8" of material at the top.

 

Place the trued-up edge of the
spline against the kerf bottom.
Clamp the blank as shown. The
veneer press catches any epoxy
drips.

Make the First Cut

With the face numbered "1" up, cut a kerf through the turning blank [Photo D]. Mix up a small amount of five-minute epoxy, and glue and clamp the laminated spline blank into the kerf [Photo E]. After the epoxy cures, bandsaw away the excess spline and sand the spline flush with the faces of the blank.

Repeat this process on the remaining three faces, cutting in numerical order.

 

To lay out the shape of the
lamp shaft, align the "2" diam."
mark on the pattern with the middle
intersection of two rings.

Layout the Shaft Shape

Turning the blank round reveals the Celtic knot. (Follow the instructions in issue 177 for turning the lamp [Photo F]. Aligning the pattern as shown above centers the knot where the shaft tapers away evenly in both directions, keeping the knot symmetrical.)

RELATED ARTICLE
To buy the complete plan and patterns for the Turned Lamp, go to woodmagazine.com/plans and type "turned lamp" in the search box.

FREE VIDEO
Watch a Celtic knot being created in a pen blank using a bandsaw instead of a tablesaw at woodmagazine.com/homework

© Copyright Meredith Corporation 2004, 2010

Turned Lamp Woodworking Plan

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Turning Project Plans