Well, I checked out my lathe and found it to be a very cheap one. It
will not take a #1 or even a #2 taper as it is a solid shaft with
threads only. Of course I knew it was cheap when I bought it many many
years ago. Now what I ask myself? Is my new found talent gonna break
my bank? Will I invest fortunes to get all I need to turn pens? Well,
not right away I says to me. I just cannot justify $500plus right now
for a one item setup. Meaning that with as much as I have used my
present lathe, I have barely recooped my investment in it and that was
less than $150. I got nothing but time, more time than money. I will
continue to look at my options and home cooked ideas to full fill my
pen obsession, such as it is.

But all is not lost, this all inspired me to chuck up a chunk of
firewood and turn my wife a lamp base to replace the glass one I broke.
But my greeness to turning green wood has cost me as the nice turning
I made now has cracked pretty bad. I knew it would crack but I never
expected it to crack so much or so fast. Bummer! It maybe salvagable,
time will tell. It would be a real waste of hickory. Nice coloring
and a quarter sized knott in just the right place to make it
interesting. I have not bored the hole all the way from end to end
yet, but not sure that would help any now. Any advice is readily
accepted as I surely don't know what to do now. Other than start over
with dry stock. The piece I used was 16" long and close to 8" across
at the base and only 4" across at the top. A pretty good sized piece
of unbalanced mass spinning in front of me for a long time.

Nuff rabbit chasing.....Thanks for the pointer to the group!!