Inlace acrylic pen blanks

[Bud Duffy]

The other day i was in woodcraft with LOML and she saw some inlace acrylic blanks and wanted me to get some to make her a pen with,so being the obedient husband i got three of diffrent colors. Yesterday i put one on the lathe and turned it but, while i was turning it the pieces that came off were like little flint chips and leaving little pits in the blank. Icould not get them all sanded out. Is it just me/my technic ? It was fairly cold out could that affect them ,should i put them on the wood srove to warm them up a little first or is this just one of the charictristics of this stuff. My tools were just as sharp as when i do corian, i even stopped midway and did a touchup thinking that was the problem but no diffrence. Please help i have two more of these i am not tookig forward to doing!

[Chris Johnson]

1. Sand the corners off to avoid chip-out
2. Keep the blank cool to avoid blowout
3. Inlace is about the most fragile stuff to turn
4. Keep your tools SHARP
5. Remember #4
6. Live by #5
7. Did I mention keep your tools SHARP?

When in doubt, turn reasonably close and sand longer until you get the desired finish. If it help your situation...I blew up 7 pieces trying to turn one pen/pencil set. You are already worlds ahead of me!



The other day i was in woodcraft with LOML and she saw some inlace acrylic blanks and wanted me to get some to make her a pen with,so being the obedient husband i got three of diffrent colors. Yesterday i put one on the lathe and turned it but, while i was turning it the pieces that came off were like little flint chips and leaving little pits in the blank. Icould not get them all sanded out. Is it just me/my technic ? It was fairly cold out could that affect them ,should i put them on the wood srove to warm them up a little first or is this just one of the charictristics of this stuff. My tools were just as sharp as when i do corian, i even stopped midway and did a touchup thinking that was the problem but no diffrence. Please help i have two more of these i am not tookig forward to doing!

[Ken Salisbury]

1. Sand the corners off to avoid chip-out
2. Keep the blank cool to avoid blowout
3. Inlace is about the most fragile stuff to turn
4. Keep your tools SHARP
5. Remember #4
6. Live by #5
7. Did I mention keep your tools SHARP?

When in doubt, turn reasonably close and sand longer until you get the desired finish. If it help your situation...I blew up 7 pieces trying to turn one pen/pencil set. You are already worlds ahead of me!

I agree with Chris and would add one thing - I use a really sharp scraper for final light cuts on both acrylics and corian - which then requires very little sanding.

[Greg Heppeard]

I turned some of that stuff yesterday and found that if I turn it close then use the smoothest side of the wood rasp to finish the final sizing...then start sanding...came out pretty good. I did trash my first couple of attempts at inlace.

[Scott Greaves]

Hi Bud,

Nothing much to add. I have trashed a couple of those in my time! I generally don't mess with them now, unless somebody really wants one.

Good Luck! Keep your tools sharp!

Scott.