Corian Pen/Etc Experimenting - Very Long

[Ken Salisbury]

I have in the past made quite a few pens/pencils using Corian (several hundred) limited to the classic "slimline" style. Standard Corian comes 1/2" thick which limits the diameter pen barrels that can be turned.

I have a good friend who owns an home appliance business along with a Corian counter top operation. He mentioned to me the other day a Home Improvement show is upcoming this Spring at the large Civic Center here. He wanted to know if I would make some Corian pens to sell at his display there (something to keep his Son busy during the show). He mentioned it would be nice if I could make some larger style pens from Corian along with some other products like bottle stoppers, toothpick holder key rings, etc.

The immediate problem I saw with doing that was being able to laminate ½" thick material so as to have an invisible seam. Last week I picked up an enormous amount of material from his "scrap" pile - lots of different colors.

Yesterday I decided to attack this by experimenting with various adhesives. I quickly discovered the adhesive his shop guys use which is basically a 2 part colored epoxy (to match the Corian) does a great job in adhering the material but did not create an invisible seam mainly because of it's viscosity.

I also tried polyurethane glue, gel CA and thin CA. making some pen blanks and drilling for the tubes. Since a seam intersects the drilled hole, some blowouts occured during the drilling process.

I finally developed a technique to build up blanks using thin CA glue which resulted in blanks which withstood the drilling process and also resulted in a virtual invisible seam even when using a magnifying glass.

I plan to try some different colored Corian this afternoon to see if I can fine tune this process to create usable blanks of varying colors with invisible seams. I may try some other adhesives also.

The photo below shows a Flat Top American pen I made from one of the blanks along with a slimline pencil I had made previously. The larger pen sure does look good - photo does not do justice to it.


The saga continues later today - will report results.

[Keith Outten]

Ken,

Corian comes in a 3/4" thickness which should be just the ticket for the larger pens. I have a few pieces in my shop if you can't find them your welcome to some of mine. All of the 3/4" Corian I have is a solid tan color.

[Ken Salisbury]

Ken,

Corian comes in a 3/4" thickness which should be just the ticket for the larger pens. I have a few pieces in my shop if you can't find them your welcome to some of mine. All of the 3/4" Corian I have is a solid tan color.
Thanks Keith - I am aware you can buy 3/4" Corian, however most countertop operations use ½" stock. The 3/4" stock is really expensive ($30 ft). I prefer to use the brighter colored speckled stuff. Besides I have an unlimited free source for ½" stock :D. I will even send you some if you need it :).

[Ron Smith ... Richmond, VA]

The immediate problem I saw with doing that was being able to laminate ½" thick material so as to have an invisible seam ...

Yesterday I decided to attack this by experimenting with various adhesives. I quickly discovered the adhesive his shop guys use which is basically a 2 part colored epoxy (to match the Corian) does a great job in adhering the material but did not create an invisible seam mainly because of it's viscosity ...

I also tried polyurethane glue, gel CA and thin CA. making some pen blanks and drilling for the tubes. Since a seam intersects the drilled hole, some blowouts occured during the drilling process.



Ken,

I've had a little luck in laminating pieces to get the thicker pieces, but it's been using epoxy that I've mixed paint in to match the color of the corian. Sometimes it looks good, other times, not so good. I'm looking forward to seeing how you like the way you're doing it. Like you, I have an "unlimited" supply and would like to use thicker pieces.

Thanks,
Ron

[George Summers]

I am not a turner nor a pen maker (don't even own a lathe) but just a thought.

From reading the thread it seems that the need is for 3/4" stock and one of the problems with glue up is that the hole goes through the glue seam. Couldn't you do the glue up and then trim the glueup so that the seam is ¼" from one side so the hole goes through the solid ½" side?

George

[Jim Becker]

Have you tried Corian adhesive? It's available in small quanitites from Art Specialties (http://stonewood.safeshopper.com/) . I believe it actually "welds" the materail, unlike CA.

[Mark Singer]

Senuous!
Mark

[Ken Salisbury]

Have you tried Corian adhesive? It's available in small quanitites from Art Specialties (http://stonewood.safeshopper.com/) . I believe it actually "welds" the materail, unlike CA.

Yes - tried that - still see the seam

[John Miliunas]

Ken, FWIW, I have a rather large supply of 1/2" stock, as well. I don't know if it made any difference or not, but I used the thin CA and left it clamped overnight. With a speckled piece, such as you show, even the Pro countertop guy couldn't find the seam of the pen I made him. Obviously, that also means it didn't blow out during the drilling process. :cool:

[Scott Greaves]

Ken,

Nice pen!

What we've found that works with gluing up Corian is first to rough up the surfaces being glued. 120 grit paper should do fine. Then we use medium to thinck CA glue. The only reason we use the thicker CA glue is because of the increased open time. Then the most important part is to clamp, clamp clamp! If there's room for another clamp, use it! And overnight is not too long to clamp it.

I've seen some of your segmented work - why not try a segmented pen out of Corian? Check out the segmented pen on this page, called an Osborne Twist:

http://www.turtlewoodworks.com/pmggallery/kleinhenzrgal3.htm

And here is the instructions on how to do that kind of pen:

http://tinyurl.com/2o9dx

And yes, he has done one out of corian, and it was beautiful!

Have fun!

Scott.

[Ken Salisbury]

Ken,

Nice pen!

What we've found that works with gluing up Corian is first to rough up the surfaces being glued. 120 grit paper should do fine. Then we use medium to thinck CA glue. The only reason we use the thicker CA glue is because of the increased open time. Then the most important part is to clamp, clamp clamp! If there's room for another clamp, use it! And overnight is not too long to clamp it.

I've seen some of your segmented work - why not try a segmented pen out of Corian? Check out the segmented pen on this page, called an Osborne Twist:

http://www.turtlewoodworks.com/pmggallery/kleinhenzrgal3.htm

And here is the instructions on how to do that kind of pen:

http://tinyurl.com/2o9dx

And yes, he has done one out of corian, and it was beautiful!

Have fun!

Scott.Thanks Scott

I did 4 more yesterday using several methods/adhesives.

I roughed up the surfaces as you suggested - "good tip" - don't know why I didn't think of that since I always rough up my brass tubes.

I used both gel and thin CA.

I also used some moreof the 2 part adhesive I got from the Corian guy diluted slightly with some acetone.

I used many many clamps as I always do on any kind of glue-ups.

All of the above methods worked fine !!

See photo attached hereto.

I let each adhesive set up longer (3 hours) under clamping than I did on the first attempts.

The only problem was the commercial stuff I got from the Corian guy needs to be applied within 10 minutes of mixing. The accelerator comes in a clear tube to which you add the epoxy. The amount is enough to do quite a large amount of material. So I have enough laminated up of 4 different colored material to do about 25 pens.

P.S. - the 2nd URL in you post does not work

[Terry Quiram]

Ken

Good lookin' stuff. I really like the dark pen in the first post. How much longer does it take to make a pen with Corian? Can you use gouges or must everything be scraped?

Terry

[Ken Dolph]

You will find a demonstration onthe following page:
http://www.wnywoodturners.com/workshops/fscoriandemo/fscdemo1.htm
You will probably like the rest of this site.

For light colored Corian we have Tinted CA. It will even do Glacier White with no line. For dark Corian the clear works best. We do have a special prlcedure for use with our industrial wicking CA.

Sand the pieces slightly to remove any mole release.

Dust lightly with baking soda to assure an alkline surface and to absorb some moisture.

clamp the pieces together.

Wick in the CA from the edges.

Leave alond for 24 hours. I know this seems excessive but we have tested and found that the bonds continue improving for a full day.

You will have no seam!

I hope this helps.

Call me

Ken Dolph
1-800-724-4008

[Ken Salisbury]

Ken

Good lookin' stuff. I really like the dark pen in the first post. How much longer does it take to make a pen with Corian? Can you use gouges or must everything be scraped?

Terry

The turning process is slower since you can't remove as much material in a pass like wood. I use the same gouge I use for wooden pens - but for most of the finish turning I use scrapers

[Ken Salisbury]

You will find a demonstration onthe following page:
http://www.wnywoodturners.com/workshops/fscoriandemo/fscdemo1.htm
You will probably like the rest of this site.


Thanks Ken -- very helpful information - especially the demo link and site.

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

Can't remember where I read/heard it but has there been some news lately about CA degrading to the point that the bond fails in about ten years? Just curous.

[Ken Dolph]

Don,

You are absolutely correct, IF the original bond was made in an environment that was too dry. CA requires some humidity to bond properly. If this is missing you will have trouble getting it to bond at all. Then if it does bond the bond will be constantly absorbing moisture as it can untill it degrades completely.

That is one of the reasons I reccomend baking soda. Not only is it alkline but it carries moisture to the joint.

I hope this helps
Ken

[John Dove]

[QUOTE=Scott Greaves]Ken,

Nice pen!

What we've found that works with gluing up Corian is first to rough up the surfaces being glued. 120 grit paper should do fine. Then we use medium to thinck CA glue. The only reason we use the thicker CA glue is because of the increased open time. Then the most important part is to clamp, clamp clamp! If there's room for another clamp, use it! And overnight is not too long to clamp it.

I've seen some of your segmented work - why not try a segmented pen out of Corian? Check out the segmented pen on this page, called an Osborne Twist:

http://www.turtlewoodworks.com/pmggallery/kleinhenzrgal3.htm

And here is the instructions on how to do that kind of pen:

http://tinyurl.com/2o9dx

Scott, the url for the instructions above did'nt work for me. Can you send them to me or redirect? Thanks, John.

[Dennis Peacock]

I'm interested in more info on gluing up corian. I've used medium CA which appears to work pretty well....but wondered if it holds up long term.

[John Dove]

You will find a demonstration onthe following page:
http://www.wnywoodturners.com/workshops/fscoriandemo/fscdemo1.htm
You will probably like the rest of this site.

For light colored Corian we have Tinted CA. It will even do Glacier White with no line. For dark Corian the clear works best. We do have a special prlcedure for use with our industrial wicking CA.

Sand the pieces slightly to remove any mole release.

Dust lightly with baking soda to assure an alkline surface and to absorb some moisture.

clamp the pieces together.

Wick in the CA from the edges.

Leave alond for 24 hours. I know this seems excessive but we have tested and found that the bonds continue improving for a full day.

You will have no seam!

I hope this helps.

Call me

Ken Dolph
1-800-724-4008
great post, the web site was a lot of help. Will the CA glue wick a half inch? Seems like a long way for it to go.

[Mark P. Brown]

I am a newbe and I would like to try to make a few of the pens like I have seen here. If you have some spare scrap corain please contact me at seawolf64@cox.net If you can direct me to a supplier if pen kits that are affordable I would be able to save a little money.
Mark P. Brown

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mark....Welcome to the Creek! Try contacting some of your local cabinet shops/ counter top shops. I contacted one locally and they were more than happy to give me some of their scraps. Often the end cuts, the holes for sinks and such, just get thrown away.