Icon Red Russet

[qquake]

My second Icon pen from PSI, this one in aluminum. Not sure I like the white grips, as opposed to black. The blank is an inlace acrylester called Red Russet, from Woodturningz. It was chippy, but polished well. Overall not too bad.

 

[qquake]

Did I mention it was chippy? Okay, in its defense, I was probably being too aggressive, as I'm wont to do. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep.

 

[egnald]

Hi Jim,

I have the Icon starter set in one of my drawers but I haven't turned any of them into pens yet. I didn't realize that the aluminum one didn't have black grips like the other ones. Yikes! Wicked chip! I'll bet you were glad as it slowly vanished as you turned. It turned out great.

Dave

 

[sorcerertd]

I just made that same kit with a blue rhino plastic blank. I do think the whitish grips look better with the blue than the brown, but it's not a super impressive kit. Probably look cool with some fancy blank work, but there isn't much meat left after turning it down. I was just playing around to test it out, but I do wish I had painted the inside of the blank. Yours definitely looks better without the tube showing through.

I saw a suggestion (I think from John U?) about warming the blank up a little to lessen the chipping. I just held it in my hand while browsing the IAP forums for a while and it did make some difference, but I am pretty aggressive also.

 

[qquake]

I just made that same kit with a blue rhino plastic blank. I do think the whitish grips look better with the blue than the brown, but it's not a super impressive kit. Probably look cool with some fancy blank work, but there isn't much meat left after turning it down. I was just playing around to test it out, but I do wish I had painted the inside of the blank. Yours definitely looks better without the tube showing through.

I saw a suggestion (I think from John U?) about warming the blank up a little to lessen the chipping. I just held it in my hand while browsing the IAP forums for a while and it did make some difference, but I am pretty aggressive also.

I have turned a lot of Rhino blanks, and found that inlace acrylester is even more brittle. I used to avoid inlace at all costs, until I discovered the shearing cut with a carbide chisel. Since then, I've had much greater success turning it. But even with carbide, I'm still aggressive.

I didn't back paint this one because it's so long and the hole is so small. I should have at least painted the tube. I did color the epoxy, but that's all.

 

[qquake]

Hi Jim,

I have the Icon starter set in one of my drawers but I haven't turned any of them into pens yet. I didn't realize that the aluminum one didn't have black grips like the other ones. Yikes! Wicked chip! I'll bet you were glad as it slowly vanished as you turned. It turned out great.

Dave

Only the aluminum Icon has the white grips. The chrome and all the rest have black.

 

[MPVic]

Did I mention it was chippy? Okay, in its defense, I was probably being too aggressive, as I'm wont to do. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep.

That was a close call - nice recovery!