My old mahogany box salvaged from an old model flying buddy - in this case with some of the current crop of pens. Of note are the two on the right that are made from a 10 mm blank of fairly soft aluminum. Since the bodies are without the center band, a much more gentle shape can be turned. The finish is still eluding me and will require a lot more study and practice.
My current set up with the drawer box to hold the tools and act as a stand. The new additions are the longer dead center with more travel along with a new lever with softer edges and a cute knob on the end - borrowed from my b-in-law's parts drawer. The knob is also on the new tailstock lock lever as well as the new tool post lock.
The tool post is a refurb of the original tool post received with the purchase of the lathe many years ago. The hole was not clean so a new .25 hole was hogged out with a new shoulder recess to fit the new lock as well as new threads for larger hold down bolts for the tool. The anchor for the post is a machined 1/4 -20 bolt with the head milled and slots cut for the "t" to hold the bolt straight. Additional threads were required on the bolt to allow for proper clamping force. It works pretty well and loads into the slot very easily. I need to do a new post with the different anchor to test the process and to put the tool at the correct height without shimming. Later on the old post will be a guinea pig for an adjustable height device or something.
The latest pen turned from one of the rifle blank scraps that I cut last month. The grain of the walnut is just beautiful and is great to work with.
posted at cartertools.com as well.
