Turning acrylic is a new endeavor in the woodworking shop this week. Kelly and I have been reading up, watching videos, and attending live classes - all in preparation to turn acrylic. Turning acrylic is different than turning wood and oh how much we have learned about it in a short time frame. I'll start with a few adjectives and then explain as I go......slow, messy, fingers stuck together, slow, did I say messy?, and then wow!
First, turning acrylic is a two-day process (turning a wood pen can be done in 30 minutes if you're Kelly, and an hour or so if you're me). Acrylic takes detailed preparation from drilling the blank to cutting it on the band saw so the ends are both pristine and not chipped. Then we paint the inside of the acrylic blank with enamel paint using a Q-tip (first run in with being messy). Painting the inside of the drilled hole through the blank is done so the pen tube doesn't show through the acrylic blank when the pen is assembled.
After 24 hours the paint is cured and you're ready to glue the tubes into the blank - and if you're me, you get CA glue (like superglue) on your fingers and now you're stuck to the acrylic blank and vigorously shaking your hand to get the blank loose or grabbing the blank with the other hand and now both hands are stuck to the blank. Have I painted a vivid image for you? Once we get through the glue shenanigans, then we sand the ends of the blanks to trim the acrylic. Then it's finally time to put the blank on the lathe and turn the pen's body.
It seems to take twice as long to turn acrylic as wood because we have to take shallow passes so the acrylic doesn't chip or crack. Turning acrylic is like watching paint dry...but slow and steady wins the race and in what feels like six hours later (I exaggerate), you have a beautiful blank. Well, that is if you can find the blank through the streams and streams of acrylic ribbon that flow off the blank while you turn it.
I don't really feel like a woodworker when I'm turning acrylic. As the ribbons of acrylic peel off the blank, I feel more like a kid playing with silly string or like I am trying to spin cotton candy and it's going out of control all over. I've had that experience once and turning acrylic takes me back there. But wow! - the finished product is worth the wait and worth the long drawn-out process.
That's my experience - overall it's been good so far. But I started with the easy type of acrylic. Kelly did not. But I'll let her tell that story if she chooses to share someday. Let's just say it was a trying day when she turned inlace acrylic. All is well today though - success in the shop with turning acrylic blanks and hybrid (wood-acrylic combination) blanks. The lathes have been cleaned, the floors swept, and we're ready to turn more acrylic tomorrow (and hopefully some wood too). Look out acrylic, here we come! --Donette