Marble

[rtparso]

I have a request for a marble pen. The requester has the marble. 1 does anyone want to do it? 2 does anyone know of a plastic that looks like marble? And no I don't even want to try marble at this point.

 

[Old Griz]

I have made pens from soapstone, but marble is a whole other ballgame.. very very hard stuff.. I doubt that you could cut it on the lathe... also very brittle.. it will shatter the first time the user accidently drops it on their desk top... not a good choice...
The closest acrylic I have seen to marble is the AA-02 that BB sells http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/Berea_Hardwoods.htm
but it still has a pearlescence to it... and if you do it make sure to paint the tubes opaque white...

 

[DCBluesman]

Ron--I've made a marble pen. Contact me via email.

 

[J. Fred Muggs]

Craft Supplies sells plastic blanks called "Trustone" They seem to be polyester resin - turn the same anyway. They come in very good imitations of Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, Malachite, Red Jasper, and Blanco Nero which is white Italian marble. I've done several of these in each of the five "stones". Don't have a current pic, but they do look very much like the real thing and turn and polish up very well.

 

[J. Fred Muggs]

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper
Link to the Tru Stone blanks mentioned above.

 

[elody21]

Yes, I vote for Tru Stone!!! It is beautiful and is actually made with some ground marble along with resin etc... You will not be dissapointed.

They have the feel and weight of real stone.

 

[jdavis]

I would use Tru-Stone. Tell them that this is as close as you can get.

 

[swm6500]

I agree with Alice, Trustone looks pretty good.

 

[ilikewood]

I too am a Tru-Stone fan. It is heavy and turns fantastic.

 

[driften]

Cool! I have some Malachite Truestone just waiting for a Baron FP kit to show up.

 

[Old Griz]

MMM if that Tru-Stone is really heavy, it should make the El Grande feel a bit more subtantial... how does it turn... I might have to try some..

 

[J. Fred Muggs]

Griz: My experience is that they are harder than the acrylics. But they don't melt or chip like the acrylics can. I sand and finish the same as acrylics using Novus plastic polish for final polishing then a coat of TSW or good wax. You might need to sharpen your tools a bit more often. But not nearly as much as you would think when they say it has real crushed stone in it. The stuff really is beautiful, the Blue lapis is my favorite.

They are a bit pricey at $7.99 (onesy price) but they look like the real thing. Try buying a piece of real turquoise that size!![] So far, (knock on wood), I've sold all I've made. That's more than I can say for wood or acrylics.

 

[JimGo]

Hmmmm...sounds like there is a lot of interest in TruStone. Anyone interested in a bulk buy, assuming CSUSA will go along? I'd be happy to let Daniel take the reins on this, but I'm also happy to try to organize it. I had been looking at it as a possibility, but at basically $8 per 5" blank, it's a bit cost prohibitive. If nothing else, if we can get orders for 100 of them, we can get 25% off, bringing the cost per blank to around $6, which also happens to be the per-blank price if you order the assortment pack (http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-bin/shopper?preadd=action&key=939-9000 ). I don't want to hijack Ron's thread, so if you'll send me an E-mail indicating how many blanks you'd be interested in, I'll get a feel for the actual level of interest.

(or, Nils, if you can convince The Powers That Be to run a sale... [])

 

[rtparso]

Jack away

 

[JimGo]

Well Ron, I figured I'd do one better...added a plug for it in the Group Purchases forum.

 

[woodbutcher]

Corian makes a nice pen. They also have a nice selection of material. Some times it free if you get to the dumpster at the right time.
Jim

 

[atvrules1]

Wow, it that kind of deal shows up in group purchases, I'll be very interested. I'll vote for that.

 

[Daniel]

Jim,
You can run full steam with this one. I don't want to hold a monopoly on group buys. just sort of shine the light down that road for others.