# Woodpecker's Pen blank centre finder



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Folks,

Posting in case some of you feel this is the type of "must have" aid to your pen work.

http://www.woodpeck.com/ottpbcenterfinder.html

Woodpeckers has been doing a lot of "one off" items. Customers have to pre-order.

This pen blank centre finder may be of interest to some of you.

I appreciate there are other ways and other tools.

I think Woodpeckers will lose some potential orders since this will not ship until the New Year.

The usual, no affiliation. I am just a Woodpeckers customer who gets the emails.


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

Very nifty tool, but $29 is kinda spendy,


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

RusDemka said:


> Very nifty tool, but $29 is kinda spendy,


True.

Now if somebody with scrap steel and a milling machine were able to cut at a 45 degree angle, he could probably make himself something similar :shifty:


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

duncsuss said:


> True.
> 
> Now if somebody with scrap steel and a milling machine were able to cut at a 45 degree angle, he could probably make himself something similar :shifty:


:thumbsup:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

RusDemka said:


> Very nifty tool, but $29 is kinda spendy,


I agree. If they were able to sell for the $10 price mark they would get more customers. This is why I referred to this as a "must have" aid in the original post.

I have not got into turning pens, but if I did, I do not expect I would splurge for this.

I have purchased other Woodpecker "one off" projects which were easier to justify the expenditure.

With Xmas coming up, someone may feel this is a good Xmas gift.


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## nblasa (Nov 29, 2011)

Well I've got a plastic center finder from Rockler that was pretty cheap and I'm content with that. Even if the Woodpecker were slightly more accurate I doubt it'd be enough to make a difference. Besides it seems like the wood grain often has a mind of its own when I make an indention with my punch anyway.


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

Dave Paine said:


> I agree. If they were able to sell for the $10 price mark they would get more customers. This is why I referred to this as a "must have" aid in the original post.
> 
> I have not got into turning pens, but if I did, I do not expect I would splurge for this.
> 
> ...


Well if a member is here is thinking if sending me a Xmas gift, this would be nice hahaha.


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

duncsuss said:


> True.
> 
> Now if somebody with scrap steel and a milling machine were able to cut at a 45 degree angle, he could probably make himself something similar :shifty:


Like this?


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

Yes, just like that ... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Nice work!



RusDemka said:


> Like this?
> 
> View attachment 55040
> 
> ...


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

awesome rus :thumbsup:


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

robert421960 said:


> awesome rus :thumbsup:


I think I'm about to loose my machine shop privaliges lol,,,


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

RusDemka said:


> I think I'm about to loose my machine shop privaliges lol,,,


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:thumbdown::thumbdown:


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

robert421960 said:


> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:thumbdown::thumbdown:


Thats exactly what i said...


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Very nice work on the pen centre finder. :thumbsup:

Bummer if they are going to stop the shop privilege though. :thumbdown:

No more Rus Demka tools. The apocalypse may be upon us. :laughing:


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

Dave Paine said:


> Very nice work on the pen centre finder. :thumbsup:
> 
> Bummer if they are going to stop the shop privilege though. :thumbdown:
> 
> No more Rus Demka tools. The apocalypse may be upon us. :laughing:


Turns out that they are not taking our privilages away but moving the machine shop to a different building about 25 miles away. It will be a lot more difficult to make more tools and keep the cost down. So I have a couple weeks of access left 
That's ok, I think there are alot of my tools out there already..


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Pen blanks are typically much larger than they need to be to actually make the pen. I just mark them by eye. Here's how. hold your pencil so your finger is acting like a guide. Draw 4 straight lines with the tip being near the center and using your finger as the depth setting. When you finish where the 4 lines intersect creates a very small square. It's very simply to then find the center of this square.


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## RusDemka (Jun 9, 2012)

john lucas said:


> Pen blanks are typically much larger than they need to be to actually make the pen. I just mark them by eye. Here's how. hold your pencil so your finger is acting like a guide. Draw 4 straight lines with the tip being near the center and using your finger as the depth setting. When you finish where the 4 lines intersect creates a very small square. It's very simply to then find the center of this square.


John that's exactly what I do, but I like making my own tools even if I never use it, plus duncsuss challenged me lol 
It is a little quicker with this tool, but I wouldn't spend the $30 they charge for it...


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