Scrap Alabaster (stone)

[Skie_M]

Looking for various colors and smallish sizes to make into pen blanks. Don't ask me why I think it's possible to make a pen out of stone, I just got this crazy thought in my head that I wanna try it.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

It's not crazy. Many pens have been made out of alabaster. Theire are many different kinds of alabaster with some being easier to work with than others. I have personally of turned some that hails from our Canadian Prairies and is rich in colour and appearance.

 

[jallan]

check out Albuquerque Exotic Woods. On their site go to shop on line. There you will fine Alabaster stone pen blanks. I get mine from them and they have nice color in then. You will need very sharp carbide tools and slow turning speed. Hope this helped and good luck.

 

[mtassie]

New Mexico stone supply also have them. GW pens does a lot in alabaster and granite.

 

[Skie_M]

Granite, I have ..... tools for working it? not so much lol ...


I can get it for free by going to a local hard surface countertop fabrication shop and pulling it out of their scrap pile.

I have a very nice 28 inch by 40 inch piece that I got recently ... I can't believe they were tossing it! It's perfect table size for like ... a center island!

I grabbed a cold chisel and a carbide hacksaw blade and tried to cut me a granite blank off a small chunk .... managed to get it to manageable size, but when I tried to drill it, my bit wandered a bit too close to one side and it blew out on me.

I'll have to invest in a wet-cutting tile saw with a diamond blade if I really wanna get into this. It took me nearly an hour to cut that piece of granite!


Alabaster and Soapstone I just can't find anywhere in town, what with a Hobby Lobby, JoAnne's Fabrics, 3 other arts and crafts stores, and 2 granite/marble carving businesses... but they mostly just do grave markers.

I'm thinking I'll have to go online. I'm checking Colorado Alabaster out, cuz they've got some really nice pinks in, and I'm also looking for blues for myself.



edit: Looked at Albuquerque Exotic Woods selection ... apparently, they only have that one color, which is an off cream with a tinge orange. It might be pretty, but not what I'm looking for.

Tried looking at NM Stone Supply .... there's a link that says it's for pen blanks, but all it does is go to some facebook page with a lot of gemstones. In fact, ALL the links go to that facebook page, cept for the cabking links

 

[Skie_M]

Still looking round for scrap pieces of alabaster and soapstone to get started with...

I get paid wednesday, so I'll be ordering a small supply from Colorado Alabaster ...

 

[Skie_M]

Alright, I got some alabaster on the way, thanks James!