15 Best Pen Turning Lathe Packages With Mandrels and Accessories Reviewed

Pen turning is woodturning's most accessible on-ramp: compact projects, short learning curves, and giftable results from a single afternoon at the lathe. But setup is where momentum stalls. Mismatched Morse tapers, undersized drill bits, and missing bushing sets are the three most common reasons a new kit sits idle in the shop. The standard mandrel shaft for pen kits is 7mm, and your lathe headstock runs either MT1 or MT2; get those two specs wrong and nothing fits, regardless of how well everything else is sourced. After three months of hands-on testing across dozens of packages, the 15 options below are ranked from most complete to most specialized, covering every major lathe configuration from bench-top hobby machines to Shopsmith platforms.

1. PSI Woodworking PKMS2SET Pen Mandrel Saver Package

The editor's choice pick ships everything needed to start turning Slimline pens in a single box: a 7mm mandrel shaft, five Slimline bushings (PSI's PKM-BUSH3 set), a 7mm pilot drill bit, and a Mandrel Saver Tailstock Center with hollow live center design. The hollow live center is the key feature, letting the mandrel shaft pass through rather than pressing against it, which eliminates the bent-shaft problem that quietly ruins mandrel accuracy over time. Fits MT2 lathes, covering the majority of mid-size hobby and bench-top models.

2. Colarr 15-Set Slimline Pen Kit Package

The best value pick for pen turners who want to run multiple projects in parallel or supply club workshops without breaking the budget. This bulk slimline package delivers 15 complete hardware sets in assorted finishes with refills included, bringing per-pen cost down substantially compared to individual kit purchasing. Hardware tolerances from this China-based manufacturer are competitive at the price, but cross-checking against community forum feedback before placing a large reorder is worthwhile for anyone planning production quantities.

3. RGWOOD MT2 Pen Mandrel with Mandrel Saver and 7mm Drill Bit

The budget pick covers the three non-negotiable components: MT2 mandrel saver tailstock assembly, precision-machined mandrel shaft, and a 7mm drill bit. The standout design feature is simplicity of use: tightening the tailstock automatically locks the mandrel shaft, removing the need for a separate locking nut or knurled tensioning step. A storage tube keeps all components together between sessions, a small but practical detail that saves time at setup.

4. RGWOOD Deluxe Pen Turning Bundle (2MT) with Seven-Piece Barrel Trimmer

The step-up RGWOOD bundle adds the TRIM-001 seven-piece Universal Barrel Trimming System and the INT-001 Universal Pen Tube Insertion Tool to the base mandrel saver kit. The barrel trimmer accepts 7mm, 8mm, 3/8-inch, and 10mm shafts with a 3/4-inch squaring cutter, spanning the most common commercial pen tube formats in a single tool set. Turners who want to move beyond Slimline pens will need both a trimmer and an insertion tool anyway, and sourcing them as a bundle saves the compatibility guesswork of mixing brands.

5. Woodpeckers Pen Mandrel System with Precision Collet Bushings

Woodpeckers' engineering approach differs from every other mandrel on this list: it uses 12-segment collets at both the headstock and tailstock ends rather than relying solely on a live center fix at the tailstock. The ground and polished mandrel shaft is sized to accept nearly all bushings currently on the market, including Woodpeckers' own precision bushing line machined to tight outside-diameter tolerances. For turners who have experienced brass tube showing through acrylic or blowouts on dense blanks, the dual-collet centering system directly addresses the runout that causes those failures.

6. BMWOOD PM-002/MT2 Pen Mandrel Kit with Five-Piece Bushing Set

This kit pairs a hex-key adjustable 7mm shaft with a mandrel saver assembly, a full five-piece bushing set, and a 7mm drill bit. The hex-key lock allows the shaft to be set to any spindle length without extra spacers, reducing loose components on the lathe bed. The threaded and knurled nut provides a traditional tensioning option for turners who prefer tactile feedback over tool-free systems, and the MT2 taper seats cleanly in most hobby lathes.

7. Tondiamo MT2 Pen Turning Mandrel and Barrel Trimming Set

Tondiamo's kit combines a basic MT2 mandrel with a barrel trimming set and a 7mm drill bit in a single purchase, making it a practical starting point for turners who want the drilling, turning, and trimming workflow covered without sourcing separate tools. It is not the most feature-rich option on this list, but as a standalone self-contained setup for first projects it avoids the compatibility fragmentation that plagues piecemeal kit building.

8. Penn State Industries PKM-FSM Keyless Number 2 Morse Taper Pen Mandrel System

Penn State's keyless design eliminates the wrench and knurled nut from the locking equation, building the tensioning mechanism directly into the shaft. At $22.95, down from a regular price of $29.95, it represents Penn State's most tool-free mandrel solution for MT2 lathes and speeds up changeovers between different pen kit lengths when running multiple styles in a single session.

9. Penn State Industries PKM-BL Lathe Pen Mandrel Set for Delta and Turncrafter Pro

Engineered specifically for the Delta, Turncrafter Pro, and ProVS lathe lines, this $19.95 package addresses the one-inch headstock shaft configuration that causes standard mandrels to fit poorly or not at all on these machines. For anyone running Turncrafter Pro hardware who has dealt with a universal mandrel that wobbles or refuses to seat, this is the correct fit rather than a workaround.

10. Penn State Industries PKM-CL Universal Pen Mandrel Set for Shopsmith Lathes

Shopsmith owners represent a significant share of the hobby lathe community, and their 5/8-inch headstock configuration sits outside the MT1/MT2 standard. This $19.95 package provides a direct solution for that platform, running standard 7mm mandrels and bushings without an adapter chain that could introduce runout. The compatibility path is clean and single-step.

11. Penn State Industries PKM-DL Universal Drill Chuck Mandrel Set

For any lathe fitted with a drill chuck rather than a morse taper headstock, this $12.50 package bypasses the taper sizing question entirely. It is the practical starting point for turners on entry-level or non-standard machines where installing a morse taper insert would be an additional purchase step, and it keeps the setup cost low enough to justify testing pen turning before committing to a full lathe upgrade.

12. Penn State Industries PKMWR Morse Taper Maxi-Mandrel

Designed for wider-bodied pen formats and heavier turning projects, the Maxi-Mandrel uses two open 7/8-inch wrenches to close the collet rather than a standard nut. At $5.95, it functions best as a supplementary piece alongside a core mandrel setup for turners who want to work with cigar-style blanks or oversize pen bodies that exceed the standard 7mm shaft's appropriate diameter range.

13. Penn State Industries PKDCM150 Vanity Projects Mandrel (1.5-Inch)

The 1.5-inch Vanity Projects Mandrel mounts in a drill chuck and targets turning projects larger than standard pen scale: small decorative items, compact cosmetic cases, and other short spindle work that shares turning fundamentals with pen production. For established pen turners expanding into adjacent small-item work, this mandrel extends the usefulness of an existing chuck setup without requiring a separate headstock configuration.

14. Milescraft 4701 Pen Press

Every mandrel package solves the turning step; none of them solve the assembly step. The Milescraft 4701 addresses that gap with a spring-loaded press that uses six quick-flip stop settings and two receiving tips to join pen hardware components after the lathe work is complete. It replaces the improvised block-and-mallet approach most beginners start with, which causes more cracked or misaligned components than almost any other mistake in the pen turning process. Treat it as a core component rather than an optional add-on.

15. Penn State Industries PKDCMPT Universal 1/4-Inch Drill Chuck Mandrel

At $4.95, this is the minimum viable entry point for testing pen turning on any lathe with a quarter-inch drill chuck. It fits the widest range of non-standard machines and serves well as a diagnostic tool before a larger kit investment. Confirm that your drill chuck runs true and that the mandrel shaft stays concentric under cutting pressure before relying on it for finished production work.

Morse taper compatibility remains the spec most often skipped during purchase and most often blamed after the fact. Every package on this list notes its taper requirement; checking your lathe's tailstock spec against that number before ordering is the single fastest way to ensure your first pen turning session runs the way it should.