chewed up the end grain on my pen blank.
It was far from a nice clean cut. What's the best way to prevent this
from happening?

--Scott

Scott

I like to chuck my pen mill in my drill press and usually simply hold
the blank tightly by hand and slowly lower the mill until it has done
the job. Does a great job, wouldn't be without it.

Recently bought one of those centering vises and now use it instead of
holding by hand. Does a great job too and you can ensure same
alignment as when you drilled the blank.

If you need a larger diameter pen mill try using the centering vise
again and use a Forstner bit to do the squaring of the end.

Works great.

Bob,
London, Ont, Canada