galoot_loves_tools
Member
A good friend has given me one of her husband's old urethane 'Hammer' bowling balls and the pens from that turned out pretty well. So, she called me recently and asked if I could make some pens from a ball that once belonged to her husband's (deceased) grandfather. I said, "Sure! No problem!"
Well, the ball turned out to be ebonite and after laboriously cutting some blanks, I tried to turn it. The stuff almost instantly dulled any lathe tool I put on it (not to mention the smell). Unbelievable. A friend I know at Gore told me those old rubber compositions for uses such as bowling balls were often filled with stuff like marble dust. So, I decided to try the old ebonite as an accent ring with some sort of black acrylic. This prototype is a chrome Sierra with a Woodcraft acrylic and a slice of ebonite segmented with aluminum (from a diskette shutter). Even that bit of bowling ball ebonite was a stubborn little nub on the end of the blank, turning-wise. Jeez.
Well, the ball turned out to be ebonite and after laboriously cutting some blanks, I tried to turn it. The stuff almost instantly dulled any lathe tool I put on it (not to mention the smell). Unbelievable. A friend I know at Gore told me those old rubber compositions for uses such as bowling balls were often filled with stuff like marble dust. So, I decided to try the old ebonite as an accent ring with some sort of black acrylic. This prototype is a chrome Sierra with a Woodcraft acrylic and a slice of ebonite segmented with aluminum (from a diskette shutter). Even that bit of bowling ball ebonite was a stubborn little nub on the end of the blank, turning-wise. Jeez.