Drilling Pen Blanks on the Lathe

My preferred method of drilling pen blanks. You'll notice that I mention several times about keeping my hand on the drill chuck. Early on, I almost had an accident - I was winding the tailstock back and the loaded up bit got stuck in the blank and the jacobs chuck came loose at the taper and flied across the room. This could have been bad had it really hit me in the face.

[@drobb4207]

Excellent detailed video!!!

[@avramw]

The shavings coming out tell me the bit is SHARP! What brand bits do you use?

[@lisburnwoodworks1932]

Hi Ron - I have some different bits but by favorite that I use the most of are the Norseman bits. I also have a drill doctor although I don't use it as much as I should.

[@jonathanfloyd5880]

How do you keep the drillbit from vibrating so much as your are drilling the hole into any pen blank

[@thealejandro]

Wow, I’m not sure which of all the techniques you showed can get your hands and fingers cut of or seriously hurt. Would it be the holding the chuck/drill bit part while turning, or wearing a ring while you change tools with the lathe spinning? Remarkable tutorial.

[@bostonlives2007]

Thanks for the demo. Do you also use the lathe for Acrylic blank and if so would you demo that.

[@lisburnwoodworks1932]

Bryan Boston thanks! Yes I drill all acrylics this way too. Process is identical. Not one thing is different in my method.

[@alfredsmith9727]

noticed you grip the drill chuck, but take your hand off the bit. If it spins it'll slice you up.

[@NothingToSeeHere12345]

I'm very new to this, so please forgive me if this is a very basic question. It looks like you cut the pen blank before drilling. Is there some reason for that? It seems to me that it would be more efficient to drill the blank through, then cut.

[@FairviewBethelChurch]

Hi Matt - thanks for watching and commenting. You could do that IF you have a long enough drill bit. Many would not be long enough. There are a couple of reasons why hardly anybody does though. One is that the chips can clog up the bit more as it gets deeper and need to be backed out more often. Also, you end up having to drill more than needed. Furthermore, some people use the cutoffs for other projects and glueups that you couldn't in a different style with the hold in.

[@JosephBKeen]

You emphasized keeping your hand on the chuck when backing out. What is the reason for that?

[@agg42]

looks like it's just to pull the tailstock faster. Or to keep the drill chuck from spinning but that's a terrible idea.

[@TinselBrute]

That hole is way too big for the blank, a pen sleeve will fall right out of that

[@Bbhokineer1]

What kind of center drill bit please? Thanks