gemstone pens question

[hugh lonner]

Hi all, I'm getting ready to turn a "gemstone" blank for a pen for the first time this week and am wondering about how it will be different from wood. I've turned wood enough times that I feel like I know how that goes, but figrure this will be a little different. Is there anything major I need to look out for that I wouldn't expect drilling it or cutting it, etc? Sharpening the tools more often and the finishing I assumed would be a little different.

I was planning to sand with sand paper up through 400 grit and then take over with some micro mesh - which I also have never used before. I know it can be done wet or dry. Is it better to do it wet (and if so is there a place to read up on this)?

Finally, can I just conclude with something like Johnson's pastewax or do I need something more expensive such as renaisssance wax?

[David E Keller]

I've turned only a few of those blanks(at the request of my wife). I wouldn't say I enjoyed the process, but the end result is very nice. I think some of them are harder than others from what I remember.

I would wet sand with the micromesh then buff. No finish necessary, but I tend to use Ren wax.

Go slow when drilling to keep things cool.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have did a few and didn't care for them. When drilling cut your blank slightly longer and don't drill all the way thru.The first one I drilled and I went slow it still blew out. Then you cut it to length. Mine I sanded to 600 with 400 & 600 wet sanded then wet sanded with micromesh. I buffed and the applied Ren wax. It dries almost instantly and then buffed again.

[Jim McFarland]

I've turned several gemstone or tru-stone pens and really like the material. As David mentioned, some are much harder than others and IMO require using a carbide insert tool to turn. Turning the Red Dino bone or Black with gold web Tru-stone is very difficult with conventional tools -- on the Red Dino bone, I had to re-sharpen a skew after 3 or 4 passes. Others like banded malachite or rhodonite are almost as easy to turn as wood. This site is a great source for Tru-stone IMO and degree of turning difficulty indicated is accurate in my experience.

http://randbcrafts.com/main_page.html

I finish just like acrylics -- wet sand to 1200 grit and polish with Novus #3 and #2 -- here are a couple of Tru-stone pens I've done...Black with gold web on a Jr Statesman and Red with Gold web on a Cambridge Hybrid

Edit to add -- I did have trouble getting a polish on the Imperial Jade gemstone and actually applied a CA finish to get a better gloss -- CA hasn't lifted in the month or so since I finished

Also recommend you join the IAP group and you'll find several tips there for turning Tru-stone blanks

[Gordon Thompson]

Jim, what pen kit is that! It's beautiful.

Thanks.

[Jim McFarland]

Jim, what pen kit is that! It's beautiful.

Thanks.

Gordon, thanks. The black pen is a Rhodium with Gold Accents Jr Statesman II from Craft Supplies. The red pen is a Cambridge Ultra (sometimes called Hybrid) from either Woodcraft, Bear Tooth Woods or Arizona Silhouette. The Cambridge would be really nice if they had left out or plated the black coupler band showing at the center -- putting the black blank on that kit would disguise the band, too.

[hugh lonner]

Thanks for all the advice and any more that comes in the future as I can use all I can get.

Jim, those are indeed stunning! I ordered a "statesmen pen kit", so that is roughly what I was aiming for and I'll be very happy if I can have close to that kind of success.

[hugh lonner]

Is a facemask necessary with a tru-stone pen blank?