I was at my local wood craft on saturday and they were doing demo's. They had a fellow turning pens out of exotic woods. he was using a mandrel designed for turning the parts of pens that are pre drilled. Has anyone used one of these for a reel seat?

I hope it would work because they are only 13 bucks and it would make turning reel seats a lot easier.

They are used by some, but I prefer larger wood turning mandrels in larger diameters as they are much more versatile and are very similar except much longer and can be had in various diameters

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I've used them to turn grips and they work just fine....but, like Mike pointed out in his reply, you're very limited. The larger mandrels give a much greater range of options.

I have one and if you turn both the top and bottom tube at the same time in the mandrel it does not run true. If you shorten it and turn one at a time it is better. they are pretty weak as far as flexibility goes.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Pen mandrels work just fine. Make a set of bushings for the end for the diameter you want the tube to be or just buy a set of big bushings. You can get pretty close to the tube size you want. You don't need a long mandrel to make a reel seat. BTW you can also turn pens which will make rod building look cheap. It is easier to have a short mandrel run true than an 18 inch mandrel. Many folks have found a good 60 deg live center aids in running true. If you are really concerned about the 1/4 mandrel give or take a little depending on the manufacturer (THere are small differences) there is a B mandrel which is .291 as I recall. This is certainly stiff enough. All you need is the mandrel with the nut of course and you can chuck it in a jacobs chuck and tailstock. Right now I use a Beall chuck and collets for holding the mandrels but that is a more expensive way to go.

See that is the problem I am trying to fix with the flexing of my longer mandrels I have used before. If you are only turning three inches why have a 18 inch mandrel.

How are you chucking your mandrels now? Depending on your chuck you can slide the mandrels through the headstock and shorten up.

Hi Sir yes They work well when doing Fly rod reel seats I use them and for a bigger hole you use diff size bushings you can go fom 7mm up to 8mm and 10mm I use them with a small unimat metal lathe and they work the best there are pic in the tool section of this site God Bless Jeff Rhonda and Kaya net pup

Jeff,

If you are chucking your mandrel into a 3 or 4 jaw chuck, you can push any unneeded length right through the head stock on a wood lathe

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Morris Schlessinger did a seminar in High Point that used a friction drive to turn the spindle. Eliminates the need for a mandrel. Was quite interesting. When he was asked about a mandrel his response was what is that?

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)