What type of "plastic" is best for new turner? (I.e. Acrylic, etc...)

[Jeff Mohr]

Howdy,

I've searched around a bit but can't seem to find the specifics to my question. I have a small pen lathe and have turned many wooden pen blanks with little problem. I've also cast some of my own acrylics with snake skin and had a decent level of success there as well. Even corian hasn't posed much of a problem.....

HOWEVER, this past Christmas my wife wanted me to turn pens for all the females in the family and wanted them to be pretty plastic colors...pink, purple, etc... Well, I turned her loose with a Penn State catalog and she picked out what she wanted. I wrongly assumed all plastics were created equal......oops!!! She ended up getting acrylester blanks and they were HARD to turn and I did not have much luck. I had sharp tools and tried both slow and fast speeds and still lost several blanks due to chip out and blow out.

Is there a better (i.e. easier) plastic out there? There seem to be so many different types...lava, lava crush, aqua bright, acrylic, etc. Are they all the same or is there some that are easier than others. I'm looking to go back to easy so I can refine my skills....these acrylester blanks had me wanting to never leave wood again!!! (But the LOML likes the pretty colors!)

I know there are knowledgeable people around here and I hope I can get a few tips and hints.

My rambling is done.... :rolleyes:

[Jeff Mohr]

Okay, can someone point out a good book or website?

[Todd Burch]

The best kind of "plastic" for someone just getting into turning is a small flat one that says "VISA" on it.

[Tim Cleveland]

I have had great succes with the celluloid blanks from Craft Supplies. They have a good selection too. Are you using a skew or a scraper? I have found that it takes a little while to get the hang of turning acrylics with a skew, but in the long run you will get much less chipping than if you use a scraper (you don't want an aggresive bevel on your skew when you're turning acrylics).

Tim

[Jeff Mohr]

The best kind of "plastic" for someone just getting into turning is a small flat one that says "VISA" on it.

So I've heard....


I have had great succes with the celluloid blanks from Craft Supplies. They have a good selection too. Are you using a skew or a scraper? I have found that it takes a little while to get the hang of turning acrylics with a skew, but in the long run you will get much less chipping than if you use a scraper (you don't want an aggresive bevel on your skew when you're turning acrylics).

Tim

Tim,
I've been using both. Not quite mastered the skew but I hope too...hence the reason I'm looking for something a little easier than the inlace acrylester. I'll look into the celluloid. Thanks!


Keep the suggestions coming!

[Jack Gaskins]

Most of the acrylic blanks I have ordered from PSI do not turn well and here is why,,,,,,,,some blanks sold by PSI have to much hardner in the mixture. You can not tell the condition of the pen blank by looking at the web site photos. Blanks that have a proper balance of hardner are more flexible therefore when you drill them and turn them you do not get dust, you instead get nice smooth plastic ribbons.

Perfect example is to go to a Rockler store (no picking on Rockler, just an example) and pick out a acrylic blank, if the blanks are chiped on the corners and do not have a smooth "texture", then there is to much hardner in the blank and it will be troublesome to turn, if you get it to turn at all. Rockler is supplied by PSI for acrylic pen blanks. If you look at Woodcraft's acrylic blanks you will find that they are smooth on the edges and turn well, their blanks are purchased from Bear Tooth Woods.

This is not to say that all acrylic blanks from PSI are bad, problem is you just dont know until you get them. For me, I purchase blanks from Bear Tooth simply because I have never had a bad blank from them or Woodturningz.

[Jeff Mohr]

I'll take a look at Bear Tooth. Thanks.

[Burt Alcantara]

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc.

[Ben Brown27]

I've turned several different acrylics, and all the commercial acrylics I've used have had the same brittle issues. They tend to chip out when you are roughing them out and they take some practice. Custom blanks made with allumilite are easier to turn, but there's no good commercial source for those. I'm new here, so hopefully I'm not breaking TOS by saying this, but penturners has several members that sale custom cast blanks in various combinations of colors. exoticblanks also has some good blanks.

The best way I've found to turn acrylics is to use a good sharp skew, then when you get close to size, lay the skew on its side and use it like a negative rake scraper. My first couple of acrylic pens were the same as yours. I couldn't see why anybody would want to turn splintery stinky plastic when they could turn beautiful wood. Don't let the acrylics get to you, they just take a little different approach for the standard wood blanks. Check my profile for my web site url. I've got pics of several different acrylic pens posted in my gallery.

[Ed Davidson]

For all those who believe plastic resin pen blanks are too brittle, have too much hardener, experience chip-out (shattered glass effect), blow-ups, blow-outs, have drilling problems, and are skew-challenged...please watch this how-to video (all the way through): http://content.penturners.org/video/epr_sierra_high_res.wmv

[Jack Gaskins]

If you notice that a pen blank has a rough texture, has chips along it edges and/or has pitting then this means the blank is very brittle and will need extra precautions while turning.

Can you turn a brittle pen blank,,,,,,,,,,YES. But, why would you want to unless you had already purchased a number of them and did not want to waste them I suppose. Sure you can use good tool control and very sharp tools. IMO,,,,,,,why bother.:cool:

[Ben Brown27]

Sure you can use good tool control and very sharp tools. IMO,,,,,,,why bother.:cool:

I'm not sure I follow the logic here. There are many blanks that are just brittle, but they are also very nice blanks with very cool effects. Here are a couple of pens that make use of acrylics. The colored translucent blanks were brittle, but I couldn't make that pen without using them. On the other pen, the white is alternate ivory. Very nice material but also brittle.