Swearing off of Inlace

[rblakemore]

My wife and I have decided that blanks made from Inlace Acrylester (and names derived from it) are not worth the effort. Inlace is a 6 letter word for chippy, easily cracked, scratchy, and not easily worked and finished. We have succeeded with Inlace; but, have had blanks blow out on our buffer, chip badly and require major repair on the lathe, and crack months after use.
We just suffered thru making several items with Inlace and all of our blanks are almost gone; and, we do not plan to get any more after the remaining ones are use.

 

[Joe S.]

Inlace sure is interesting like that.

 

[vakmere]

I did one and that experience was enough for me. It turned out well, no chips, sanded like mud, but I'll stick to the regular acrylics. I did trustone and that was not as difficult as the inlace.

 

[George Watkins]

its strange but its still one of my all time favourite types of blanks, I wish i could get larger sizes to make boxes with it.

 

[Timbo]

I love the stuff for its beauty. Working with it is kind of like learning to do a CA finish. It can be a pain at first, but once you get a technique that gives consistently good results, you don't want to go back.

 

[CrimsonKeel]

yeah inlace breaks and chips easy but IMO its worth the pain for the end product

 

[lteton]

I've made several pens using inlace and your right. It is a pain to work with, yet the results are beautiful. One of the prettiest materials I've used. You just have to make up your mind if it's worth it or not.

 

[rblakemore]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone seems to agree that inlace is very difficult to work with. The issue appears to be whether the finished product is worth the difficulties. So, OK, I will probably try inlace again.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

I must be really lucky I had some issues with my first inlace blank but not since after at least a dozen more I use several different tools as well. I don't hesitate to buy them.

 

[ladycop322]

I swore it off last week when I had Mother's Day orders and found cracks in most of my finished pieces aghhhhhh! Alumilite Alumilite Alumilite....

Michelle

 

[Skeleton2014]

I love the stuff but then I'm not a very good turner meaning that I found out early that I couldn't take my blanks down to final dimensions with just my tools no matter how sharp. This was especially true of inlace. I would leave enough "meat" on them and bring them down with sanding (80, 100, 120, etc. through 600, then MM thru 12,000) which presented another issue of not overheating the blank and tube so much that you got glue failure. This method still seems to work and gets out any chipping. Until I got an EZ tool, I do recall some nasty catches that resulted in some blanks exploding off the tubes. They are in a box with all my other "mistakes" to remind me not to be too aggressive.
If anyone who has "swore off" inlace and has some blanks they want to get rid of, let me know. Jeff

 

[mmayo]

Inlace builds patience and requires carbide for me

I too have had my times with inlace, but since I have stopped using my regular lathe tools and exclusively use carbide my successes have increased. The depth of the final result is wonderful to me. I save inlace blanks like molten metal or this gray/silver swirl for days when I have extra patience. Wood and regular acrylic is easy usually compared inlace.

Here is one result that (IMO) looks great.

 

[Rangertrek]

I have done many, not really any problems to speak of. Yes, a little chippy; but, once you know what you are dealing with should not be an issue.

 

[jimm1]

Gave it up for Lent a couple of years ago. Never went back.

 

[76winger]

I've had very little problems with Inlace that weren't attributable to me getting in a hurry turning or using something other than my trusty skew on them.

 

[Smitty37]

Not Worth the trouble to me

I blew the first three acrylister blanks I tried. I have had success with the last two but I stopped with the cutting tool well proud of the bushing and went the rest of the way with sandpaper. I got beautiful pens but since I am really not in the business of selling pens they just aren't worth the trouble to me. If I was selling in a $250 and up market I'd probably use some of it. Still, I like wood better and think it can be just as beautiful.

 

[Wildman]

Never had a problem, using sharp roughing gouge & skew turning, wet sanding & polishing inlace acrylics pen blanks. I go from tool to micromesh easy peasy!

 

[ed4copies]

This thread (and a recent conversation I had about tru-stone) lead to a simple conclusion: Once you have "mastered" making pens from difficult material----PRICE your pens accordingly!!

Even if YOUR very first one was successful, you are making pens that should command a premium---"Blowing up" blanks is a cost of education---but once you have your "masters", you should charge your customers for your expertise!!