Originally posted by chay
<br />Beautiful stuff, but it seems a bit pricey even at+/- $7
Nice looking pens. What is the difference between Italian resin and AA, or casting resin anyway?[
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The difference near as I can tell is a: durability, cast resins are fragile, some very fragile. b: exclusivity, there are colors and patterns I haven't seen in AA or Celluloid or Acryluster or Mica Swirl the last two of which are cast poly resins. I have always found AA to be a bit prone to scratching and candidly feel it looks a bit cheaper when finished than a really fine celluloid or now IR.
The blanks these guys sell are oversize and precise. I had no problem drilling for large pens and not even sweating the dimensions. They are 5 3/4 long so a careful trimmer might even be able to get 1.5 pens out of a blank.
I realize that most turners don't do it with sales in mind, so price is a bigger factor but remember I am using these on $50-$70 kits, so a couple of extra $$'s are not really the issue.
I bought 7 1/2" of mammoth ivory (three half blanks) for $225 for special project pens, it is all in the eye of the wallet holder.
Steve