Has anybody use Alternative Ivory sold by Crafts Supply USA for pens or segmenting parts??? If so how easy, what precautions to take??? Will it hold its color or will it get crackly??? Its synthetic so not sure.
The demonstrator for Craft Supply (at the Columbus woodworking show) said the alt. ivory should not be micro meshed (almost any noun can be verbified) because the mm leaves black markings on the material.
This is a FP that I made using Alt. Ivory. I was asking some of the same questions you are a while back. Here are the links. I used MM on this pen and everytning turned out alright. But, I would agree that there is probably a chance that the MM would leave some residue. I've never noticed it happening on acrylic, but I think I have on lighter woods.
I've made several pens with the alternate ivory. I treat it like any other acrylic/pr. The only problems I've had were drilling without using a backerboard or drilling too fast so it blows out the bottom. Also, I had one blow apart with the pen mill because it had a catch. I also use MM followed up with a plastic polish. Comes out very nice.
Ditto all of the above. I used MM with plenty of water for lube with no problem. Turned very well w/sharp skew. Sold it last year and it still looks the same.
When sanding with MM use water as the lubricate. I keep mine in water all the time. That way I am not spray water on the turning. MM will leave black marks when it heats up and begins to melt. I do all my MM at the slowest speed until I get to the last three grits. Then I push the lathe speed up to 3750 rpms. Alternative Ivory is not porous so any black marks will only be on the surface.