Well, the weekend gone was a washout in terms of turning. I did however manage to decorate hall, stair & landing, and lay a new stair carpet. I made a DIY pen mandrel, which will be put through its paces as soon as I have some blanks to test on it. Not horrendously expensive either. Enough bits & bobs to make 3 mandrels for under a tenner. Nothing ventured, nothing gained eh?
I also eagerly await delivery of 2 new chisels to replace more of the terrible cheapo starter set ones. If anyone happens to be reading this, and is about to take first steps in turning, don’t buy the carbon steel sets of chisels. They are of really poor quality, on the verge of dangerous. I can highly recommend the Axminster “Perform” range as starter chisels.
Only a few quid more, but night and day quality wise. I would also recommend buying a copy of the Keith Rowley book, “Woodturning: A Foundation Course.”
No photos for this update I’m afraid. I won’t take my DSLR to the shed, and the batteries died in my point and shoot camera. Next time
Adventures in Turning 
Can you update on your shop made pen mandrel please? There is a discussion going on in my local club about which mandrels are better and I would like to hear about shop made ones also.
Cheers,
Dan
Sure can. I’ll take some photos at the weekend and hopefully get them posted early next week.