Money Keyring (I hate inlace acrylester!)

[qquake]

A while back I made a pen for my friend Hanna, with an inlace acrylester "money" blank. It's a cool blank, it has shredded U.S. currency embedded in clear resin. The problem is, acrylester blanks are very brittle, and I've always had problems turning them. But I was able to get the pen turned, and it turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

 

[qquake]

Well, Hanna collects keyrings, and I ran across an old 10+ year old kit I had. I had a big enough piece of the money blank leftover from the pen to use for the keyring. I decided to give it a go, I thought it would be easier since it was so much shorter. Ha! I should have known! As with the pen, I tried several gouges, a carbide cutter, and even a coarse crosscut file. Also as before, I had the greatest success shaping it with dry 120 grit sandpaper.

 

[qquake]

With some patience ad perseverance (I have no idea where the patience came from), I was able to get it done. Even though it turned out pretty nice, it'll be a long time before I try inlace acrylester again. But in the end, Hanna is worth it. She's a great friend.

 

[low_48]

You didn't mention trying a freshly honed skew. That's the tool that works well.

 

[Bob Wemm]

You didn't mention trying a freshly honed skew. That's the tool that works well.

Maybe he's like me, my skew chisel is spelled "DISASTER".
I must learn how to use it one day.:redface::redface::redface:

Bob

 

[qquake]

You didn't mention trying a freshly honed skew. That's the tool that works well.

Yep, I'm like Bob. I never did learn to properly use a skew.

 

[low_48]

We had Soren Berger come to our turning club and he had the best example of proper tool selection. He held up a pencil, and asked how many people would sharpen it with a knife by dragging the blade sideways across the wood? Now how many would sharpen it with a knife parallel to the grain? It could be further asked, how many would sharpen the pencil by holding the knife vertical to the wood and then drag it towards the point? How many would lower the knife to a very shallow angle and almost drag the bevel? That's what woodturning is about!