I picked up a pen mandrel at woodcraft about two weeks ago, and it is a pretty nice setup for turning reel seat fillers. It has a morse taper (1 or 2), a 1/4 inch shaft, and a knurled knob for quick on and offs. Before, I used a threaded rod, and it was a pain to get the things on an off for sanding or buffing. The other interesting thing about this tool is that if you need to put the wood back on the lathe for a touchup it seems to allow you to retain concentricity pretty well,  at least much better than the old method. There are two drawbacks: you need to buy bushings for whatever inside diameter you are boring, and the bushings don't hold a raw block as tight as a threaded rod. Occasionally the block will hang up during rough turning if you don't first cut the corners off with a rasp or bandsaw. But it is a dream for final finishing. Which makes the ones you ruin while mortising even more painful.

And yes, I guess it would do pens.  (Jeff Schaeffer)

Does anyone use a router to shape reel seats instead of a lathe?  Tony's article in Power Fibers got me thinking (dangerous) if this could be done.  Thanks Bill Harms for your input.  Should be an interesting topic to bat around.  (Mike Brown)

I use a lathe. However, I remember reading an article several years ago in a wood magazine of how to turn table legs with a router. Basically you attached a round wheel to each end of the stock. Position a fence so that the center of the stock is directly over the router bit with the wheels touching the fence. Adjust the router bit depth of cut and turn the setup over the bit keeping the wheels against the fence. If you use wheels of different diameters you end up with a tapered leg. Never tried it, seemed to dangerous to me.  (Don Schneider)

You could use a bullnose router bit and cut a half-round down one side.  Then flip the blank and half-round the other side to get a full-round dowel.  Never tried this, but shouldn't be too tough.  Just be sure to grip the block safely and correctly.  Like Don said, be careful.  Puree'd fingers can make a real mess of a perfectly good shirt.  (Tim Preusch)

Sears used to sell a gismo called a "router crafter."  It was similar to a lathe, but had no motor.  There was a hand crank at the "headstock" and the "toolpost" was a platform to attach a router.  Steel cables connected the

platform to the crank such that the platform would move as you turned the stock.  You could vary the ratio of travel to cut a spiral  or  a  cylinder  into  square  stock  mounted  in  the "router-crafter."  I remember thinking what a neat idea that was, but I had a hard time believing that it would work well.  They no longer sell it ... I wonder why.  (Grayson Davis)

I have seen several recently on eBay.  Some were even unused, still in the original box.  Memory is that they ran $75-100.  (Carey Mitchell)

Does anyone turn their inserts on a mini wood lathe? I've got one now and need to  know what would be the most useful tools to buy, to go with it? What type of chuck would be a good idea for this?  (Bill Walters)

I turn mine on a Jet Midi lathe.  I found that turning them on a pen mandrel works really well for me.  I drill out the hole (size determined by size of bushings available, or make/have a buddy make a set of custom bushings)  in a  squared up  blank that  is 3.75" long.  Mount the blank on the mandrel with appropriate size bushings (I have some bushings that I made, but I found that the American Classic pen style has 3/8" bushings that work pretty good) and turn away.  Once I have it turned out the way I like, I take it to the routing table  to route the groove a la Spezio.

I like the mandrel idea because I've never been to confident in my boring technique.  This way I know that my hole is well centered in the spacer when I am done turning it.

Oh, yeah, I use the mandrel with a MT2 lathe mount.  You can use a straight mandrel with a three/four jaw chuck, as well (I like the Barracuda multi-chuck from Penn Industries).  (Jason Swan)

I read Tony Spezio's rather informative article concerning making reel seat inserts, and have personally been considering a metal lathe such as Homier's 7x12 for awhile to possibly make other components as well.  However, what other items would also need to be purchased to be adequately equipped to make inserts initially? I am a novice when it comes to metal lathes and require a "shopping list" if you will.  (Ron Delesky)

You would need tooling for the lathe, including a live center for the tail stock, a suitable cutting bit, a Jacobs chuck for the tail stock and various sizes of drill bits.  You would probably want some sort of mandrel on which  to turn the insert after it is drilled.  I use one my friend David Chin had made, and another that Andy Dear sells.

If you will use reel seat hardware with a morticed cutout, you will need a router table and suitable bit.  Bob Venneri sells a good bit.

Of course you'll need various grits of sandpaper, sanding blocks, and some sort of finish for the wooden inserts.

I'm sure I have forgotten something, but you get the idea.  (Harry Boyd)

One more thing that comes to mind is some sort of fixture to hold the reel seat while routing.  It doesn't have to be real fancy though.  (Neil Savage)

Check out Tony Spezio's jigs.  They were profiled in Power Fibers a ways back.  I've been using 'em for a long time, and they work pretty darned good.  (Mark Wendt)

I don't know about the Homier lathe, but I purchased a Cummins 7X12 and found that in order to make the cap and rings from a solid bar I needed to replace the 3 inch chuck with a 4 inch. Although the through hole through the head was 3/4 inch the 3 inch chuck was too small for the bar to go through it. I paid around $450 with shipping and spent at least that much or more on tooling. After you get the lathe you will start looking at things like knurls (80 TPI, rope, etc.), quick change tool posts, live center, reamers, and a lot of other enticing items. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again though. The lathe is not limited to just reel seats either. The first thing I made was the seat insert mandrel.  (Floyd Burkett)

You had asked about what extra tools you will need to make the inserts.

Here is the List

Cutting bit: Can be bought for less than a dollar. I get the high speed blanks and grind them as shown in the article, takes about five minuets. You can use the standard shaped bits but you get a better cut with a rounded bit.

Arbor: Can be made from threaded rod, two washers and two nuts. about 3.00. I used 3/8" "Drill Rod and threaded the ends.

Long Drill Bit: About 5.00 Can be done with a standard bit by flipping the insert and drilling from both ends.

Live Center: short stub From LMS:. Less than 15.00. This is not a "have to have" You can use the "Dead Center" that comes with the lathe. I like the live center.

Router: I was using the 20.00 "on sale" router from Harbor Freight. I have found the same routers for 10.00 from Homier Truck sales, the same people that sell the Lathes. These are small Trim Routers, Blue in color. The Harbor Freight Routers are Orange. I still have the original setup. It is a trim router mounted on a 12X12" piece of 3/8" plywood with a hole in the center for the router bit. A 3/4x3/4" strip of pine clamped on for the fence. I can send photos. I lucked on to a shaper base with built in motor, it is now dedicated for cutting mortise on the inserts.

Router Bit: I have the modified bit but I prefer the Fingernail bit from Grizzly 15.00. I like the way it shapes the edges better than the modified bit. Personal Preference.

Center Drill: Set from HF "on sale" for less than 4.00

You can spend a lot more for special tools but this will do just fine. Will be glad to send any photos of the "low cost setup". I made all of my first inserts with these tools before I did the article, I have upgraded a bit since then. The Router setup photos in the article is one of the upgrades.

The article will cover the insert holder for cutting the mortise if you are using that type of hardware. Hope this is of some help in getting you started.  (Tony Spezio)

OK, after checking out Gary's articles at Brookside I now need to now how to turn eccentric pieces (earlier book suggestion on order).  How do you chuck up a spacer off center without a special piece like Gary has made.  If I could turn an oval spacer on my lathe I might just cry or something.  (Lee Orr)

The most common method of turning eccentric work in a lathe uses a four-jaw independent chuck.  You center punch the work where you want the eccentric center and adjust the chuck accordingly.

This is completely described in "The Amateur's Lathe" by L.H. Sparey.

Incidentally, oval is different from eccentric. In eccentric pieces each section is round, they just have different centers.  (Ron Larsen)

Can someone help me with shapes and angles for turning wood inserts in my 7X10 metal lathe? I managed with a wood chisel for a bit but I would like to make a few better bits with the right shapes and angles.  (Barry Janzen)

Just a simple round bit with a good relief, this way you can cut in both directions and it gives you a good finish.  (Joe Arguello)

Order up some 5/16" tool blanks (MoMax, etc.) from MSC or McMaster-Carr. If you have a bench grinder tilt the table down about 10 degrees and grind a smooth radius on the tool. If you don't have a bench grinder a belt sander will work too.  (Mark Shamburg)