Pen turning is one of the best entry points into woodturning. The projects are small, the material costs are low, you can make a finished piece in an afternoon, and the results make genuinely impressive gifts. Once you have made one pen, you will want to make dozens — and that is when the real fun begins, as you explore different blank materials, pen kits and finishing techniques.
What you need
A wood lathe (even a small midi or mini lathe is fine — pens are only 12-15cm long), a pen mandrel (a shaft that holds the blank on the lathe between bushings), a set of bushings matched to your pen kit, a pen press or clamp for assembly, a barrel trimmer for squaring the blank ends, and a drill press or lathe chuck for drilling the blank.
For the pen itself, you need a pen kit (which includes the mechanism, nib, clip, centre band and end caps) and a pen blank — the raw material you will turn into the pen body. Blanks come in acrylic, resin, wood, Kirinite, and hybrid materials that combine wood with resin. Acrylic and Kirinite blanks produce the most dramatic-looking pens and are slightly easier to turn than wood for beginners because they do not have grain direction to worry about.
Step 1: Preparing the blank
Start by cutting your blank to length. Most pen kits have two tubes (upper and lower barrel) of different lengths — check the kit instructions and cut your blank into two pieces, each about 3mm longer than its corresponding tube. Mark which piece goes with which tube.
Drill a hole through the centre of each blank piece to accept the brass tube. The hole diameter must match the tube's outer diameter exactly — too tight and you risk cracking the blank when you press the tube in; too loose and the glue joint will be weak. Use a brad-point or Forstner bit on a drill press for the cleanest hole. Clamp the blank securely and drill at a moderate speed — acrylic blanks in particular can grab and spin if you drill too aggressively.
Step 2: Gluing the tubes
Rough up the outside of the brass tubes with sandpaper (120 grit) to give the glue something to key into. Apply a thin, even coat of medium-viscosity CA adhesive or polyurethane glue to the tube, then slide it into the drilled blank with a twisting motion to spread the glue evenly. Make sure the tube sits roughly centred with a small amount of blank material protruding at each end.
Let the glue cure completely — 30 minutes for CA, overnight for polyurethane. Then square both ends of each blank piece using a barrel trimmer. This ensures the blank ends are perfectly perpendicular to the tube and flush with the tube ends, which is essential for a tight fit against the bushings and a clean final assembly.
Step 3: Mounting on the lathe
Thread the blank pieces onto the pen mandrel between the appropriate bushings (which match the pen kit's component diameters). Tighten the mandrel nut just enough to hold everything firmly without flexing the mandrel shaft. If you overtighten, the mandrel will bow and you will turn an oval pen instead of a round one.
Check that the blank spins freely without wobble. If it wobbles, check that the barrel trimming was done accurately and that the tubes are properly centred.
Step 4: Turning
Set your lathe to a moderate speed — around 2000-2500 RPM for most blanks. Use a sharp spindle gouge or skew chisel for wood blanks, or a sharp scraper for acrylic and resin blanks. Acrylic turns best with a negative-rake scraper or a very light touch with a skew — it shatters rather than cuts if you are too aggressive.
Turn the blank down gradually until it is close to the diameter of the bushings. The bushings represent the finished diameter of the pen hardware, so when the blank matches the bushing diameter, you have a seamless transition from blank to hardware. Do not turn below the bushing diameter — you cannot add material back.
Shape the profile as you go. A gentle barrel shape (slightly wider in the centre than at the ends) is the most comfortable to hold and the most forgiving for beginners. Some pen designs call for a straight taper or a concave profile — experiment once you are confident with the basics.
Step 5: Sanding and finishing
Sand through the grits on the lathe, starting at 240 and working up to at least 600, ideally 800 or higher. Hold the sandpaper lightly against the spinning blank, moving steadily along the length. Go through each grit completely before moving to the next — skipping grits leaves scratches that show in the final finish.
For wood blanks, a friction finish (applied on the spinning lathe and burnished with the heat of friction) gives a quick, glossy result. CA finish is more durable: apply thin coats of CA adhesive to the spinning blank, let each coat cure, then sand with micro-mesh pads through to 12,000 grit for a glass-like shine. Acrylic and Kirinite blanks just need sanding to a very high grit (up to 12,000 with micro-mesh) followed by polishing with a fine compound — no additional finish is needed as the material is already non-porous.
Step 6: Assembly
Remove the blanks from the mandrel and press the pen components into the tubes using a pen press or a small clamp. Follow the kit instructions carefully — there is a specific order of assembly, and some components press into specific ends of specific barrels. Apply steady, even pressure. If a component feels like it is not going in straight, stop, realign and try again. Forcing a crooked press-fit can crack the blank.
Test the mechanism — the pen should click or twist smoothly. If it feels stiff, the tubes may have been cut slightly too short or the components were not pressed in quite far enough. Small adjustments with the pen press usually fix this.
Choosing blank materials
Once you have the basic process down, the real creative fun is in the blank materials. Acrylic blanks offer the widest range of colours and patterns — from translucent swirls to opaque solids to vivid resin castings with embedded objects. Kirinite blanks are a high-performance acrylic with exceptional depth and chatoyance. Wood blanks let you showcase exotic and figured timbers — spalted maple, cocobolo, olive, snakewood and stabilised burl are all popular choices. Wooden pen blanks are available in a huge range of species.
Hybrid blanks combine wood and resin — the resin fills voids, cracks and bark inclusions in the wood, creating dramatic contrast between natural and man-made materials. These are popular for competition pieces and high-end gifts.
