So my Craft USA order

[Keith Christopher]

came in last week and this weekend I got some turning done. I was using acrylics, which I hated up until now. I really booched the longer tube (drill bit vibrated so I'll have to get another) but instead of stopping I turned the top of the pen and hit it with my new micromesh up to 12000 grit and WOW! I LOVE this stuff. Micro mesh ROX ! I will post the final finished pen (after I get back from woodcraft tomorrow) but here is the top, polished to 12000 grit. Also a pen my son made for a friend in school. His last pen is a hit when he writes with it in school and they didn't believe he turned it himself so he had to prove it. ;) I also spent time showing him the skew chisel, all the round parts he turned in with a skew.

thanks for looking !

The white spots are where the reflection is SO high it overloaded the digital camera !!!!!!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/goyde/Lathe/pencap3.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/goyde/Lathe/pencap2.jpg

This one is kinda big so I didn't include it:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/goyde/Lathe/pencap1.jpg

My son's new pen:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/goyde/Lathe/joshpen2.jpg

[Bob Noles]

Keith,

I see a chip off the ole block in these examples :D

Is acrylic easier or more difficult to turn than wood?

Great work on both accounts and thanks for sharing them with us.

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice work Kieth! Great looking pens! I bought some MM too however I thought it only goes up to 12,000?

corey

[Keith Christopher]

Keith,

I see a chip off the ole block in these examples :D

Is acrylic easier or more difficult to turn than wood?

Great work on both accounts and thanks for sharing them with us.

Bob,

The Acrylic is tougher at first, it is VERY stiff and when you go from square to round it hits pretty hard. My skew is VERY sharp and I couldn't round it with the skew (my favorite way to round pen blanks) using a plane cut. But I put the gouge to it and it works, kinda feels like chattering a little at first, then it gets VERY dull and smooth, it peels off filling the gouge so you have to clean it out often. once you sand it to 1500 grit it starts to get shiny, but man taking it to 12000 grit is WOW ! I know you can go higher but I don't see the need. This kind of shine can be reached with stablized woods as well.

Sure wish I hadn't screwed upt he bottom piece.


Cory: OOPSIE you're right. I was looking at the wrong number.
Keith

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice work Keith. Look really good.

[Bob Noles]

Keith,

Thanks for the details. I will have to give acrylic a try as soon as I can get enough confidence. You sure make some nice pens with it.

[John Hart]

Keith,

Thanks for the details. I will have to give acrylic a try as soon as I can get enough confidence. You sure make some nice pens with it.

Do it now Bob...do it now!!!:D

Nice work Keith! the acrylics can be very addictive. They don't smell as good as wood....but they sure are pretty!!

[Jeremiah Jordan]

Very nice Keith, I have been staying away from some acyrlics, but now will have to try some. Wow, the pen your son did is awesome as well.

Jeremiah

[Bill Stevener]

Keith, you and the boy are doing some fine work, really look great.
Been playing with the acrylic stuff turning mines. No chips, just large masses of annoying cotton candy. The stuff clings to you worse than a cat looking for a treat.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Blake McCully]

Keith,
Micromesh is great. Did you use it wet when you sanded your acrylic? If you didn't, give it a try. When you use it wet, just water, make sure that you keep the blank flooded and wipe off the slurry frequently. Also, don't forget to put a towel or something on your ways to keep them from rusting. You need sunshade when you do that. You might want to look into getting some acrylic polish from CSUSA that puts a nice finishing touch on acrylic. Also, if you get into stabilized blanks, use MM on that too! I use it dry up to 12,000 and don't need anything else to finish it off with.

Can't wait to see the pen assembled.

[Keith Christopher]

Keith,
Micromesh is great. Did you use it wet when you sanded your acrylic? If you didn't, give it a try. When you use it wet, just water, make sure that you keep the blank flooded and wipe off the slurry frequently. Also, don't forget to put a towel or something on your ways to keep them from rusting. You need sunshade when you do that. You might want to look into getting some acrylic polish from CSUSA that puts a nice finishing touch on acrylic. Also, if you get into stabilized blanks, use MM on that too! I use it dry up to 12,000 and don't need anything else to finish it off with.

Can't wait to see the pen assembled.


I'll have to try wet sanding with it. This one is dry and WOWZA.


Well luckily woodcraft had another pearlized red blank so I can finish this pen I was beginning to think that I would have to make it multi colored.

And as john stated it smells awful! like being in a nail salon. (I have a daughter :P )


Keith

[Lars Thomas]

I’m a recent convert to acrylic pens. I love the look of them even better than the wood pens I’ve made (said while ducking and running for cover.) I have found the material to be much ‘harder’ than wood. But I actually found that to be a benefit. It was easier to turn them down to diameter without going past the bushings (even when sanding). The wording in the catalogs had always scared me off (i.e.: ‘must have extremely sharp tools’). Well, I’m sure my tools don’t quality as extremely sharp by any stretch of the imagination and it turned fine for me. Here are a few pens I did, not the greatest picture, but you get the idea. I kept the blue one and gave the other two as gifts These are wet sanded to 6000 then I hit them with the white PPP buffed out with a cotton cloth.

Keith, didn’t mean to hi-jack your thread. I just wanted to join your success in ‘discovering’ the acrylics.

[Keith Christopher]

Well I ruined the other pealized red blank I bought tonight. so I made one out of peruvian walnut until I can get another blank.