First Woodworking Video Of 2026 - Turning And Assembling A Gatsby Pen

Greetings, and welcome back to DEA Your Woodworking. Today in the shop, I'm going to show you how to turn a pin on a lathe. More specifically, this Gatsby pin. With some practice and the proper tools, this is a project that can be completed in about 15-20 minutes and can be very profitable if woodworking is a part of your income, or you are planning to make it a part of your income. While there are many ways to perform the various operations of turning a pin, I find this the easiest and quickest method for me. So, let's get started. At one point, I purchased a box of around 50 pin blanks of various species of woods. The blank I'm using for this project is persimmon. To begin, I'm going to cut one end of the pin blank so that I know I have a square edge. Since I'm using a Gatsby pin kit for this project, I need to measure the metal barrel of the kit so I know how long to cut the pin blank. Here you can see the barrel is right at 2 3 16 inches. I make a mark on the pin blank and cut it to size. Now that I have the length of my pin blank, I need to drill the proper size hole for the metal barrel. Now this process can be done in a number of different ways, but I find that using my lathe drill chuck to be the easiest and most efficient way to accomplish this process. I'll start by placing the newly cut pin blank into my pin jaw turning chuck and tighten it firmly. Next, I'll seat the drill chuck into the tailstock and chuck the drill bit tightly. The Gatsby pin kit I'm using requires a 27 64th inch drill bit. I'll slide the tailstock so that the tip of the drill bit rests against the pin blank and secure the tailstock lock. I'll start the lathe at a slow rotation speed and begin turning the tailstock hand wheel to advance the drill bit into the blank. After about an inch, I'll withdraw the bit, move the tailstock and bit into the blank, and advance the drill bit another inch. I'll do this a few times and clean the debris from the bit until it's completely through. With the newly drilled hole, I can now glue the metal barrel inside the pin blank. Using some medium CA glue, I twist the barrel as I'm inserting it and make sure it's seated completely to the other end of the pin blank. To help the glue cure, I'll spray a little activator on both ends of the pin blank. We can now proceed to set up the blank for turning. I'll remove the drill chuck and the pin jaw chuck at opposite ends of the lathe and replace them with a pin mandrel and live mandrel saver. I place a few spacers on the pin mandrel and one of the Gatsby bushings. One end of the bushing fits inside the metal barrel. The second Gatsby bushing goes on the opposite end and inside the metal barrel as well. Finally, I'll add the remaining spacers. After sliding the tailstock against the last spacer, I'll lock it in place, then give the tailstock handwheel a few turns to tighten up the assembly. I now need to position the banjo and adjust my tool rest. I'm using a six inch tool rest since this is a small piece to turn. After making a few final adjustments and checking for clearance, I'm ready to begin. I'm using carbide tip turning tools for this small pin blank which easily removes the material. I'll first concentrate on getting the piece round. Once round, I'll remove the bulk of the material from the center of the pin blank. After a few minutes, I now start to work on shaping the barrel of the pin. I'll work from the center towards each end and begin tapering the ends near the bushings. Ultimately, I want the surface of the pin blank ends to match the diameter of the bushings. Now that I'm happy with the shape of the turned pin blank, I'll remove the tool rest and begin sanding. I start with 150 grit sanding strip and continue up to 600 grit. After the last round of sanding, I'll use the 600 grit strip and sand in the direction of the wood grain to make sure that there aren't any cylindrical marks running around the body of the pin blank. When I'm happy with the sanded surface, I'll give the pin blank a few applications of cutting board conditioner. There are a host of finishes you could use from CA glue to lacquer to oils, wood polishes, waxes, and so on. It really depends on the type of finished surface you're going for. I want this pin to be smooth to the touch but not necessarily shiny so the conditioner works well for this application. Now that I've achieved the desired finish, I'm ready to remove the finish blank and begin the assembly. As you can see, a pin kit contains several components. Typically, you'll find a pin tip, cap, and clip along with the twisting mechanism, spring, and the pin refill. After unbagging the kit, I turned off the camera for some reason and missed recording the assembling of the pin. Kind of an important part of this project, don't you think? So that you get an idea of how the assembly was supposed to go, I've inserted the assembly from another pin I recently turned. While the wood in the type of pin kit is a little different, you'll at least understand how the pin goes together. And here's what the final pin assembly looks like. When I make pins for sale, I typically offer the customer several options for presenting and storing the pin, such as a decorative box like this one. Another option I offer is a velvet pouch. I like the color of the brown velvet pouch for this pin. It really complements the color of the wood. Considering the beginning piece of wood was likely less than a dollar, and the Gatsby pin kit was between three and five dollars, I barely have six dollars in materials in this pin. I sell these pins for $35 to $50 depending on the type of pin kit. Once I'm in a groove, I can easily turn five or six pins an hour, maybe more, so you can see that there are some good profit margins in turning pins. Plus, the whole process is satisfying and relaxing, or at least it is for me. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on turning a pin. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. If you found this video helpful and or enjoyable, please give it a like. For more woodworking content, please subscribe to my channel and turn on notifications so you'll know when new content is released. As always, thanks for watching!