Extra-hard malachite trust one blank

[Parson]

It's been a while since I turned malachite trustone. Last time, I was able to get a very nice high shine with MM pads and fine scratch remover.

However, this time the pen parts came out dull no matter what I tried, and frankly, turning the material took twice as long as it did last time, even with frequent tool sharpening. The material heated up real bad too, so I had to stop and let it cool off a number of times.

I think I got a really hard piece of trustone this time around!

Any thoughts about what I can do to buff it to a nice high shine without flooding it with CA glue?

BTW, "trust one" above should have been trustone. Darn that auto-correct feature on my iphone!!!

 

[Parson]

Wow. Not one reply. Hmmmmm.

 

[Brooks803]

Sorry Randall, I've only done the malachite once and it turned like butter. Only thing I can think of is maybe it's a different trustone, possibly on of the jades since they're so much harder.

 

[PenMan1]

I have noticed a "difference" in all of the Tru Stone products since the factory explosion. While they are all still excellent blanks, the Malachite, Black with Gold Web, Red with Gold Web don't turn as smoothly or fiinish as nicely as the old stuff.

At first, I thought it was my imagination. But I came across a "pre explosion" Black with Gold Web hiding in my shop. Using all of the same factors (same lathe, same tools, same finishing methods, etc), The top half of the pen from the old stuff didn't even match the bottom half made from the new stuff.

 

[bitshird]

Randall, If it is the older non-pliable Tru Stone, it will polish pretty well with ZAM which is a Lapidary/Jewelrs polishing compound, it should even polish using white diamond. You really shouldn't need to use CA on any Tru stone. although I did get a piece of Leopard skin jasper, that had no color inside , but it looked great on the outside. I used Tru stone original stuff for a long time and all of it will polish with ZAM or White diamond, even Tripoli will bring a decent shine to it.

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

Mine turned easy but split a couple weeks after making