Alternate Ivory

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penmanship

penmanship

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
383
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Quick question for those who have tried this material. It turns very easy, and wet sands great, but I get little dark flecks that I cannot get out.

How does one remedy the "little dark fleck" problem?

TIA for any assistance,

Tim
 
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I haven't noticed any dark flecks but sometimes the material seems to get fragile when it's thin. Anyhoo, You ought to send a blank with black flecks back to Dawn - she'll be interested in rooting out the problem.

Marc
 
I know that dry sandin with MM is a disaster. those little flecks are the melted on MM. you remove them by backing up one grit and sanding again. but right this time.
 
Are you picking up the black flakes from your bushings??? I also noticed if I use wet dry automotive paper which is the black stuff I get this also.
 
Daniel said:
I know that dry sandin with MM is a disaster. those little flecks are the melted on MM. you remove them by backing up one grit and sanding again. but right this time.
Click to expand...

That is not written in stone, Daniel. I never, ever wet sand with MM as I don't like the mess. Used with a light touch and the MM kept moving, dry sanding works fine without any problems. Since he said that he couldn't get the black spots out, I doubt that the problem is the MM. I would consider sanding debris from the bushings, or the black wet/dry automotive sandpaper as likely sources for the problem.
 
As you may guess, I have turned a LOT of alternative ivory.

I don't use MM - I buff and I now take the pen off the mandrel and use a wood dowel, so that the metal "black crap" is no longer on my buffing wheels. The ivory is, get ready for this, whitish!!! ANY color you introduce can stick on it. So try not to introduce any colors.

Having said that, I would think using a good plastic polish (I like Hut liquid) will remove your black marks and restore the ivory to it's natural condition - whitish!!!

Good luck and send me pics if you continue to have problems.
 
I've turned several Alternative Ivory pens, I always wet sand, with wet or dry sandpaper (the black stuff) I do my sanding between delrin bushings, and buff on a jewelry buffer, and I've never seen any black spots, I think most of that comes from the steel bushings, IMNSHO sanding any light colored material near steel bushings is going to bite your rear.
 
IMHO, I would check your sanding techniques as mentioned by John T. When I first started turning wood pens (before wood was invented) I often had black dots near the bushings from sanding. You could try to turn/sand without bushings and check the result.
 
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