* Penmaking
Nothing here this week, I havn’t done any. Sorry.
* Workshop
This is where the action is this week. Only spending 2 days at work this week has had a detrimental effect on my pen making, i.e. nothing has been done. This has pretty much nailed home how much I need a lathe in my shed. So, with that in mind I kicked the workshop project into high gear. Let’s start with the lathe I am looking to get:
[Isn’t she a beauty](https://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-metalworking-lathe-machine/17-wm-250-variable-speed-lathe.html)?
Well I have some pictures to share as I know you guys like your pictures in these updates. So first of all we have the
[door]
(https://i.imgur.com/6TyMcsm.jpg), there are a few things wrong with it. First of all it [opens in](https://i.imgur.com/2KwJi35.jpg) which wastes a hell of a lot of room on the inside of the work space. This has to change as I am already working with a very small space, if you are building your own work space every square inch or cm is valuable, I went through about 3 or four different floor plans before I decided on what I was going to go for, you will probably have more, in this matter squared paper is your friend. What I did was decided on a scale and mapped out the space then drew very basic box shapes and worked out where things would go. There are other ways of doing it, using CAD or other computer programs but I am a simple sort.
Anyway, I managed to pinch a door from work and was able to cut it down to fit the hole. This pretty much involved rebuilding the door frame and the door leaf while turning its opening function around while I was at it. Here is the [frame](https://i.imgur.com/qTDgqCw.jpg) cut down with some ugly as hell
[joints]
(https://i.imgur.com/VuiQ07C.jpg) you will have to forgive me on that I am not a carpenter. But it works and here it is all [together](https://i.imgur.com/t34FXHJ.jpg) , not pretty but it works.
So the door is done and it is being fitted by myself and my dad this weekend. Hooray for bank holidays! So on to the other part. I have a shed which is tucked away in the corner of my
[garden]
(https://i.imgur.com/S3AxgYa.jpg) which is a brick structure with power and lighting. It’s not very big but when you go in on the left is a nice
[space]
(https://i.imgur.com/GhhKLme.jpg) to fit a lathe. But what would the lathe go on, I hear you ask. Well I was aiming for something like the main image of this post. I had the plans in my head and took a few basic measurements and after 45 minutes after work I ended up with [this](https://i.imgur.com/ufPOX47.jpg). It’s level in both directions and pretty stable. It was a bit rough around the edges so I decided to pretty it up a
[bit]
(https://i.imgur.com/WdsnCbO.jpg).
Well that is it really. If anyone wants any more information or if you want plans with measurements for the work bench I can supply them. Might take a little while as most of it is in my noggin at the moment.
* Personal
Just spent a lovely evening at the local pub with my wife and kids, had some nice food and the kids got to play on a bouncy castle. Fun was had by all. Work however is not going well and I have decided I really need to start looking elsewhere which is going to be stressful as I am going to lose access to the lathe if I leave. If I do I will be getting a pay raise so that is not so bad. Getting the lathe funded however is really starting to get to me. I need to make pens to pay for the lathe and at the moment the orders are not coming through, I have 1 order for a barrel that I should be able to do next week, I also have another order to fill the week after. I am starting to think that crowdfunding is a way to go which is something I really didn’t want to go near, I wanted to do this off of my own back really and crowdfunding adds in a lot of complications. Any suggestions? Or better yet, pen orders? 🙂
That is it for this week, next week I might have something better than this dross for you. Something a bit more pen related, you know? Anyway, to those over seas I hope you have a great weekend, to those in the uk I hope you have a great bank holiday.
Anyways as usual you can follow me on instagram @denscustompens
and my website is open for business too
[here]
Den's Pens 
