Lapis Lazuli Pens

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jacobrts

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My lathe broke and it took awhile to get another, but here's a couple pens I made with a slab of Lapis Lazuli stone and Graduate Twist Pen Kits.
The edges are delicate and I generally get too nervous to get them thin enough to match the diameter of the bushing.
One has a CA finish, the other a friction polish. I still struggle with the CA finish. I like how it gives a protective shell and fills in imperfections, but if it gets dinged or separates from the stone, it ruins it for me. Also think the glossy shine can be a bit much and can take away from the character of the stone underneath, and have been leaning more towards friction polish.

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Maybe a dumb question, and I don't work with stone, but... why not just polish the stone itself?
 
d_bondi said:
Maybe a dumb question, and I don't work with stone, but... why not just polish the stone itself?
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I imagine same reasons that you would choose a CA finish for wood. Even though I prefer friction polish, I still think the CA finish can look amazing, and I like that it instantly fills in some of the surface imperfections and smooths everything out.

Apart from making a handful pens to gift to friends and family, I have no experience with lathes or lapidary work so I'm sure there are techniques to polish that would give a glossier finish. Next time I want to experiment with a vibratory tumbler to finish and see what that looks like.

The harder the stone, the better it can polish. But the hardness can also make it harder to work with (for example turquoise is so soft it usually needs to get stabilized to work with like spalted wood, while obsidian is very hard, it can also chip easily).
 
jacobrts said:
I imagine same reasons that you would choose a CA finish for wood. Even though I prefer friction polish, I still think the CA finish can look amazing, and I like that it instantly fills in some of the surface imperfections and smooths everything out.

Apart from making a handful pens to gift to friends and family, I have no experience with lathes or lapidary work so I'm sure there are techniques to polish that would give a glossier finish. Next time I want to experiment with a vibratory tumbler to finish and see what that looks like.

The harder the stone, the better it can polish. But the hardness can also make it harder to work with (for example turquoise is so soft it usually needs to get stabilized to work with like spalted wood, while obsidian is very hard, it can also chip easily).
Click to expand...
I will humbly disagree with you and agree with d_bondi. I would love for you to just work the stone through wet grades/Mcguires polish and see the results. I admire you being able to turn the Lazuli to approximate dimensions. An awesome achievement.
 
Well. I did use diamond polishing discs with grits 100-10k before friction polish or CA finish. I think it turned out well, but maybe had the RPMs up too high. Got a much glossier polish with the rhodonite. Will continue to experiment when I get more time.
 
sorcerertd said:
I love the material, but I can see where you would be scared to turn that down too thin. Did you use a masonry bit to drill it?
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yeah, some cheap diamond hole saws from Amazon on a little drill press. They aren't always long enough to drill through from one side, and surprisingly difficult to meet the hole precisely from the other side.
I have looked through a lot of pen blank kits to see which allowed for the thickest material (bushing OD - inner hole OD) as they are more forgiving when drilling the holes.
 
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