Thanks, Tom. I drill down the length using the lathe. Get a chuck with jaws like this:
That holds the pen blank centered. Then a chuck in the tailstock with the proper drill bit, and Bob’s your Uncle. Drilling right down the middle is pretty easy. What ends up being tricky now is when I get a piece like that juniper, where I want the hole off-center to get the prettier grain, I have to head to the post-drill and think hard about how to hold it right. So much more complicated…
