I would never speak for the group, but a metal lathe is not good at
curves, and all but the simplest pens require curves on the body to
look right. If you really want to make only the "slim line" pens,
then just make a special tool - like a mini horzontal mill - spin the
mandril over a belt sander and repeat - you don't need a lathe and you
don't need any lathe chisels to do that
'
but, you won't have a lot of fun either. The whole point is to make
by hand, to shape by hand, and to have a shape (of the pen) that feels
good in the hand. Machine made uniformity is not the goal - I can buy
machine made pens by the thousands, made of wood, for a few dollars
each.

oh, and I started in turning by making pens on a Nova Comet, which is
like a jet mini but (in my opinion) with better bearings

On 23 Nov 2005 15:12:16 -0800, "Makin Sawdust in So. FLA."
wrote:

For small items like pens and stuff ... what does the group prefer ....
the high precision mini metal lathes or the mini wood lathes (ala Jet
and the Delta midi) ???

Thanks in advance.