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First Acrylic and a saved pen

Project by MarkWilk posted 212 days ago 208 views 0 times favorited 5 comments Add to Favorites
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MarkWilk

99 posts in 317 days


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pen turning

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First Acrylic and a saved pen No-picture-s No-picture-s Click the pictures to enlarge them

I finally got around to turning my first acrylic blank, a tortise shell Polaris pen kit from www.woodturningz.com. They had a great end of season sale, and I bought a bunch of kits and blanks.

Turning the acrylic was a challenge. I found that the chisels needed to be super sharp, and that the lathe needed to be turned down a few notches for finishing. I always use Micromesh, but at my normal speeds for turning wood, I was getting lots of lines in the finish of the blank. It also ripped up my 1500 and 2400 sheets of micro mesh. Acrylic doesn’t like the faster speeds.

The slimline in the picture is a pen that I saved from a blowout with a little CA glue. I’m getting better at salvaging these pens, though I have quite a few new ones that I don’t feel that I can give away because of the cracks.

Overall, the tortise Polaris took three times as long as the Slimline because I had to start over on the finishing several times. It turned out nice in the end.

-- Mark, Florida, http://penturner.wordpress.com/


5 comments so far

View rikkor's profile

rikkor

7076 posts in 315 days


posted 212 days ago

Nice work. I made my wife an acrylic pen last fall. She really likes it. Saving a blow-out always feels good, too. Good job.

-- Maplewood, MN

View Les Hastings's profile

Les Hastings

400 posts in 214 days


posted 212 days ago

Nice work Mark,,,,makes me wanna go turn a few!!

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

8395 posts in 429 days


posted 212 days ago

Nice pens. Good job!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View Scott Bryan's profile

Scott Bryan

8465 posts in 263 days


posted 212 days ago

These are really nice pens. Seeing these make me really want to get a lathe.

Thanks for sharing.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

View Nils's profile

Nils

104 posts in 305 days


posted 211 days ago

Mark – good looking pens. I’ve really been enjoying turning the acrylics, not because they are easy to turn, but because when you do get down to the finest Micromesh, they feel so nice.

-- Nils Davis, Menlo Park, CA

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