Acrylester Crushed Gold Help

[reddwil]

Bought some Acrylester Crushed Gold blanks from Penn St, To make a shaving kit for my Son. The 1 1/2 blank turned fair with some chipping that I was able to work out. The 3/4 was a nightmare. I had good sharp tools and tried a gouge, skew and scraped, and could not get a good cut. It would only chip out and It finally shattered. I have never turned this stuff, has anyone had similar problems. What am I doing wrong? I got the brush made and now I'm without a blank or the time to get another one

 

[ed4copies]

Redd,

That material IS chippy. BEAUTIFUL colors, but tricky to turn.

Hints: Take the corners off on a belt sander, before turning (make the blank round-ish).

When turning-turn down the ends of the blank first--so if it does "shatter" it is less likely to make a divot deeper than the finished pen.

Turn until you are about a sixteenth larger than you want and finish up with 220 grit (or so) sandpaper.

 

[Spats139]

I've done about 80 inlace acrylester blanks recently, and only had problems with two; and those happened before the blanks even reached the lathe. I determined that I had drilled a little too aggressively, and the blanks had probably overheated and started to fracture from the inside out. Could this be a possibility in your case?

Other than that I haven't had any issues. Turn all blanks from square to final using a skew only.

Good luck on solving the problem because they are beautiful when you get them right.

 

[thewishman]

That stuff is chippy but has a very nice, almost grippy feel when polished.

You can repair some divots with a bit of the tiny chips and thin CA glue. You can also, on some blanks, fill with sanding dust from the blank like a slurry. Get some dust on a strip of sandpaper and add a drop of CA - sand back and forth over the chipped area and that will fill in the smaller divots.

We've all been there with a destroyed blank and no time to get a replacement. Got a silver blank? You could make a "Yukon Cornelius" Silver and Gold set.:wink: