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I bought a Jet wood lathe at the AAW Symposium in Kansas City a few months ago. With my new lathe acquired I started watching Rob Austin's pen turning videos and became hooked. I'm having a lot of fun based on Rob's teaching. I wish my shop was as clean, well lit and organized as his. I am now a Rob Austin student for life.

Below is the first pen I ever turned:

I have now made some 15 pens based on Rob's video. Below are some pens made of cedar and walnut (both Missouri woods from downed trees on a relative's dairy farm), oak, and my first "acrylic" pen.


In the photo below, the upper left hand corner pen is olive wood. Upper right hand corner is Walnut. Bottom left hand corner is a wood I salvaged from some old wood projects, I don't know what kind it is, I just burned it with some wire. Bottom right hand corner is my wife's seam ripper, which I made out of acrylic.

Jesse can be reached directly via email at jbassford48@gmail.com .

Woodturning Submissions

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Woodturning Gallery Archives

Want to see more woodturning projects? Check out our most recent Woodturning Project Columns from The Highland Woodturner.

Jack Lipkin's turning projects
Bill Kaufman's turning projects
Chuck Lively's turning projects
Randy Mitchell's pen turnings
Bob Heckathorn's turned yarn bowls
Paul Santone's segmented wood projects
Mark Heatwole's natural wood projects
Dan Navarra's spalted maple bowls