That is exactly right. You can see the seam but only a bit. The only corian joint adhesive I have is for arctic white, not ivory white, so it shows a bit. There is an adhesive for every color, so it is possible to make the joint completely invisible to the untrained eye. I do not have the adhesive gun, which is $250, so I have to mix by hand which is difficult to get the ratio right and the adhesive begins to set almost instantly so work time is only seconds. If I had the gun, even with the color being slightly off, the seam would be even more invisible than it is currently. Because I have to mix it and apply it, it sets before I can completely clamp it which means I can't squeeze the joint tight enough for the perfect seam. Corian adhesive through the gun actually mixes the two components before it comes out so it can be applied directly to the seam and clamped imediately. There's alot of heat involved which also melts the two corian pieces together, so it's a combo of glue and welding that takes place. Then to stock all the colors of adhesive would cost a fortune as well and it does expire, although refrigerating extends the life. If done professionally, which isn't me, the bond is unbreakable. And if there is alot of pattern in the corian, the seam is actually more invisible.
I made two blanks, sending the other to a friend. he'll have his work cut out. It's not an easy pen to turn and requires alot of touch up to the Kokopelli portion. Best thing to do before touching up the inlace is to wet sand the blank to a super shine. Then pick at any defects like air bubbles or specks of paint that may have got into the inlace. Then apply a thin coat of inlace over top. The inlace won't stick to the corian because the corian will be too smooth. Just wipe it even, let it set and come back and re-wet sand it all. The inlace will be hard when dry and will polish just like corian.
Corian will make better bushings than delrin. It's more ridgid and when polished, CA will not stick to it...er well, it will be there, but when dry it will push right off with no effort at all. Delrin is the same way, but does require a bit of picking action to get the CA off. So, I say it's better in my opinion, but hardly by much.
Otherwise, yes it is not easy to cut a Kokopelli, and it takes two steps to do so or the small piece in the center will fall out. It's a very small picture as you can tell. But, I can cut much smaller, such as tiny 3D animals with ears and legs seperated and a tail so they look like tiny carvings half the size of your baby fingernail by simply holding a small piece of wood to a scroll saw blade between my fingers. Just a lucky, but useless talent of mine.
Thanks for the great comments.
