My second decent acrylic pen

[Matt Ranum]

I haven't dabbled with acrylics much, and they have a whole different learning curve than wood. I've done 3 so far, 1 a few weeks ago and then 2 today.

The first today has some problems I'm going to try and fix, and a word of advice to you that are new to this as am I, get a caliper and measure the fit of the pieces to be pressed in. On my cigar pen this morning when I got the pen clip bushing seated right where it needed to be I heard an unpleasant "pop". Too tight a fit caused it to put two small cracks at the top of the pen. Acrylic doesn't have much forgiveness.

Anyway...back to the show.....

This is a Majestic Squire kit from Penn State with a blank from Exotic blanks.

[John Keeton]

Nice work, Matt! There are actually very few of the pen styles that seem attractive to me, and this one does. Beautiful wood.

[Matt Ranum]

No wood in this one John, acrylic. http://exoticblanks.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=8&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=56&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=60

But I thought it was a cool looking material.;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Matt that is a pretty pen. I guess I haven't tried a cigar with acrylic yet. Have had no problem with wood on the half dozen cigars I have turned.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Matt - looks pretty good to me! Nice work!

[Robert Parrish]

Matt - Looks great! Penn State has a new Civil War Pen out, I ordered a couple just to see how they look.

[Matt Ranum]

I saw those, was curious myself but haven't ordered any. Yet.:rolleyes:

[Mark Hix]

Nice looking pen. I really like the color. Dawn and Ed sell some nice blanks.

One of the common culprits for cracking during assembly is if the blank is not flush with the tube. The tiniest little bit longer and you get pressure on the acrylic instead of the tube just when you press in the part.

[Wayne Hendrix]

Do you use the regular tools (gouge and skew) with acrylic blanks or do use a scraper. I just picked up a few acrylic blanks and want to try them later this week.

[Jim Slovik]

I don't know anything about turning pens, but I know what I like and I sure like that pen. Very elegant. Nice job.
Jim

[Paul Douglass]

Very nice pen. Fact beautiful. Maybe you do this but if not give it a try, before pressing in the parts I use a countersink I mounted a handle on to ream out the tubes just a little before pressing the parts in. Just a little on each end.

As for the Civil War pens here are a couple I did. Used elk antler. They are not pretty pens but unique. I gave the first one to a black powder friend. He seemed very pleased.

[Matt Ranum]

"Do you use the regular tools (gouge and skew) with acrylic blanks or do use a scraper."

I use 2 skews, a 1" and 1/2". The 1" for roughing to a cylinder and the 1/2" after that. Its just what works for me so far, but I'm no expert and have lots to learn.

Paul on your Civil War pens did you make the decals? I like the choice of the antler for the blank. Seems just as appropriate as wood for the blank given the era. I may have to try some of those.