Pen turning advice needed.

[Joe Tonich]

I bought some red (Corian??) plastic stuff for someone who wants a RED pen for his mom. It turned OK but when I sanded it to get out some imperfections (sorta made a shallow groove in it. :( ) it sorta expanded. Kinda looked like a pen W/ Beer Belly! :eek: Had a heck of a time sanding this stuff (went to 1000 grit) to get it ready for a finish. Any tips????

Also, is there a wood I could try that is RED??

Thanks,

Joe - coming out of SMC withdrawals!

[Rod Torgeson]

Joe ... Craft Supply USA in Provo, Utah sells some Box elder burl that is dyed red. Bloodwood is also an option. Redheart is another option. Hope this helps. Rod Torgeson in Appleton, WA

[John Miliunas]

I bought some red (Corian??) plastic stuff for someone who wants a RED pen for his mom.

Joe - coming out of SMC withdrawals!

Joe, I'm thinking that may not be Corian. I've turned a fair amount of the stuff and, even when sanding, it's pretty stable. As far as a red pen goes, I agree with the choices Rod offered, though I haven't tried the dyed burl. Both, Bloodwood and Redheart are a breeze to turn and finish. :cool:

[Joe Tonich]

Joe, I'm thinking that may not be Corian. I've turned a fair amount of the stuff and, even when sanding, it's pretty stable. As far as a red pen goes, I agree with the choices Rod offered, though I haven't tried the dyed burl. Both, Bloodwood and Redheart are a breeze to turn and finish. :cool:

Rod, John, A question.

Will these woods stay red after they're turned or do they turn brown after time??

Joe

[John Miliunas]

Rod, John, A question.

Will these woods stay red after they're turned or do they turn brown after time??

Joe

Joe, I'm not positive about the Redheart, but I made a Bloodwood pen for a friend at work some time ago and it still looks fine. :cool:

[Rod Torgeson]

Rod, John, A question.

Will these woods stay red after they're turned or do they turn brown after time??

Joe

Joe...I am looking at a redheart pen and pencil set that I turned about 4 or 5 years ago and for the most part it is still red. It is not real red, but since it has been 4 or 5 years I don't remember how red it was when I first made it. Another wood is Curupay, it is about the same color as Redheart, another is Chakte Kok, and of course for a little reddish orange is Padauk. Like John stated, both Redheart and Bloodwood are a breeze to turn and finish. Hope this helps. Rod Torgeson in Appleton, WA

[Scott Greaves]

Hey Joe!

You've received some excellent suggestions so far. I enjoy turning bloodwood - very nice.

I would question whether the plastic you have is Corian. It is pretty stable. As a matter of fact, I can't really imagine what you could be turning that would expand like that.

Somebody mentioned that Craft Supplies has some dyed boxelder burl for sale. I would also recommend Bill Baumbeck (http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/). He sells some of the nicest blanks around. He markets mostly stabilized wood blanks, and the red (or any other color) color is mixed in with the resin at the time of stabilization, so the color goes all the way through.

But, what I would do if I were you is to turn the pen out of some light colored wood, such as maple, get it to where the shape is what you want and go a couple of steps into your sanding, then dye the wood yourself. Go to a craft store and ask for some silk dyes, or if you're lucky and can find some deep red aniline dyes, get those. by using your own dyes you can control the color a lot better. You also don't need to worry about whether it will change color down the road, like you would with redheart or bloodwood. I hope this helps!

Scott.

[Kent Cori]

Joe,

I agree with the others that you must have come upon some type of material that is not really Corian. It sounds to me like whatever it was expanded due to heat from the sandpaper friction.

I wet sand all my plastic blanks after the first rough sanding (usually 220 grit) followed by wet/dry 400, 600 and then micromesh up through 12000. This gives a glass-like finish and no additional steps are needed. Just use water with the finer sandpapers and micromesh.

Also, cover the lathe bed with some plastic. This makes quite a mess and the water will rust your bed. DAMHIKT! :eek:

Good luck!

[Dale Thompson]

Joe,
Line me up in the Bloodwood line. It will stay red and looks real neat from the start.

You don't have Corian. You must have gotten a branch from the rare Pregnium Tree. It bloats when skewed. :eek:

Sorry about the stupid, tasteless joke. I'm a new first-time Grandpa and, by necessity, have gotten back into that baby thing AGAIN!! :D

Dale T.

[Joe Tonich]

Thanks!!

I went out and bought a 3/4"x3"x24" piece of Bloodwood. The guy likes it so I'll try to turn it tomorrow. Never seen this stuff before. Looks nice but EXPENSIVE! $11 for the piece. :( Good thing is I'll have enough left over for when I make one of Kevin G's boxes! :) I'll have to find out what the stuff I bought was so I'll know what NOT to order.

Thanks again,

Joe

[Bill MacLachlan]

Is it possible the red stuff was crushed velvet? I have turned a couple of these and it looks like a marble-like resin. It's hard to turn but polishes up real nice. Have also done some bloodwood and as the oil from the hands wears into them, they turn nice are dark.
Bill

[Ernie Kuhn]

Is it possible the red stuff was crushed velvet? I have turned a couple of these and it looks like a marble-like resin. It's hard to turn but polishes up real nice. Have also done some bloodwood and as the oil from the hands wears into them, they turn nice are dark.
Bill

Bill, Kent, Joe,
I've done crushed velvet, wet sanded up thru 2,000 and stopped there. Bought polish from Nova Windshield, their number 1,2, and 3. One is a scratch remover, fairly thick. Number 2 is the second step and the last one absolutely makes it glisten. Inexpensive polish and absolutely beautiful.