Swirled Acrylics

[jimbo5576]

I've only done a few acrylic pens. Did one tonight with very thin colored swirl lines throughout the colored blank. In the final stage of polishing I noticed that the thin swirls extended above the surface of the rest of the pen. Is this normal or did I do an "oops"?It appears that the thin swirls may be harder than the rest of the pen material. Is there some method to prevent this from happening again? I sanded through 400 grit and went through 12000 MM and finished with a polish.

 

[gketell]

Sand using a hard backer-board (I use an over-sized blank) so the sandpaper is supported across the harder material and can't dive into the soft wood/acrylic.

I've never had it happen but I've never turned a "ribbon" acrylic yet either.

GK

 

[tnilmerl]

I have had it happen on a couple of pens. I believe is is caused by the heat generated by the sanding/finishing process. I think the thin ribbons absorb heat and expand at a different rate than the larger base color, thus the ribbons rise up slightly. I also notice when examining a pen with light reflection. Since I have switched over to wet sanding with micromesh, I haven't seen the problem anymore. I have tried actually recreating the effect a couple of times with mixed results. The effect was not totally undesireable.

 

[Tuba707]

I just finished two acrylic acetate pens tonight. To finish them, I turned them, lightly sanded with Norton 3X 400 grit, then wetsanded MM through 3200. I then used HUT Plastic Polish and both finishes are flawless. Maybe just something to try.