Tell me (and everyone else) about Corian.

I don’t know how durable it is – as far as withstanding the elements or dropping – but I do know that it works, very well, using your regular woodworking tools. I’ve turned several pens on my lathe, with Corian, and the results were excellent – using only my standard lathe gouges. It is a bit dusty when cutting and I would only use the micro mesh (or very fine grits, starting at about 220) sand paper on it, but it takes an excellent finish. You can pretty much do anything with it that you can with wood, using your standard woodworking tools.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Hi Dadoo,

I don’t use corian too much, as I prefer granite for counters etc…, but we have used it when reqiured.

It’s the fastest way I know of to have everything in your shop covered with dust.

It does machine well, using standard woodworking tools, but it will shatter if dropped. As far as dealing with exterior conditions, I can’t see why it wouldn’t hold up.

Finishing and polishing is no problem, and you can achieve quite a shine on it.

Hope this helps.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Better have on earmuffs when running it through a planer. It’s obnoxious, and I suspect somewhat hard on cutters.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I will back Bill up. Some of my favorite pens are made of turned corian.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Corian works really well on the lathe. I’ve turned several pens, keyrings, and a padauk bowl with a white corian rim. The pens and keyrings turned out quite nice; the bowl with rim, not so much. It turned out OK when I first finished but as the temp and humidity changed, so did the shape of the wood. The rim, not so much – at least not at the same rate as the wood. You know, it’s surprising how loud a gluejoint failure can be when it cracks all at once.

Your tools need to be sharp because it will crack if you try to bludgeon the material into submission on the lathe.

As far as the exterior conditions, it does OK but it will grow and shrink with temperature changes – particularly if the sun hits it while it’s still cool from an overnight temperature drop. If you have to drill any holes in it, make them slightly oversized and don’t put the screws in all the way; leave them just a hair loose. If you’re screwing into the corian, make your clearance holes in your support structure oversized. Either way, you have to give it room to move. And . . . if you are trying to use it as a surround near a heat-producing appliance (as in a grill or outdoor burner sitting in a cutout), you will want to reinforce the inside corners with double layers of the material. A single layer will crack at inside corners if you leave it a single thickness.

I’m not a professional (isn’t this where I say “Don’t try this at home”?) but I was fortunate enough to have received a supply of castoffs from a cabinet maker and have had a ball playing with it. But I have made these mistakes. You might as well learn from others’ mistakes; you don’t have time to make them all yourself.

By the way, it is VERY LOUD when you are cutting it with a table or radial arm saw and INCREDIBLY LOUD when you run it through the planer. Made that mistake, too.

-- Even if to be nothing more than a bad example, everything serves a purpose. cippotus

OK, Thanx so far. What do you finish it with to get it shiny again?

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I bought some sink cutouts over the web and made some sundials with them. So it was just a router experiment. I remember it needed sharp tools, it was loud, and it kind of smelled when you work it. I know of some guys that made jig parts out of it.

It used to be that you could not buy it unless you were an ‘approved’ installer. Not sure if that is true anymore.

Steve

-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Dadoo…....just like stated above, its a dirty material, mask is a must, get your thickness with matching color adhesive, and woodworking tools will work, although having gone through a period of solid surface, I dedicated cutting edges to the material. If you are doing inserts (sinks), rubber coated bearings on the router bits exist and prevent inside gouging. WilsonArts Gibraltar series is softer that Corian so I found it to work a bit easier and thought the aesthetic depth was better. Like the Cajunpen says, start at 220 and work up through the “microns, then finish it off with the automotive compound “white lightning” and a buffer. That will get your high gloss.

I aquired a 30”x12’ peice of corian from a local countertop manufacturing company (it was discontinued color…white actually). I used half of it as a compoter table top, and I’ve used the other peice for various things around the shop. It is messy and smelly but works well with regular wood working tools.

-- Brad,--"The way to eat an eliphant is one bite at a time"