Acrylic Acetate Cigars

[William Young]

Just finished these three cigar pens .
Lava Flow,
Midnight Shimmer,
Cinnamon Twist

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1620/1718813/4821935/200092168.jpg

[Gunny]

I always thought that acrylics sorta took the "wood" part out of woodturning, but I have to tell you these "crylic" contributions of yours are really nice...
I guess I'm gonna have to try it... Any special tips? :cool:

[William Young]

Gunny;
Like you, I have always believed that real wood was the best thing to use but I have heard so many reports on my own Woodworking Friends discussion boards site as well as others that they sell way more of the acrylic ones compared to wood ones when placed side by side at craft shows.
This is my first attemt a turning acrylics in recent weeks and as I have 4 craft shows coming up before Christmas I will put some side by side with my 100 or so choices of real wood pens and see for myself which ones are the best accepted.
Sometimes we have to offer variety of materials to satisfy the ones that are not wood lovers like us.
The reason we show this sort of thing on turning forums is because , after all, they are turned on a lathe so it properly fits into the turning boards rather than any of the other boards on a particular site.

I sure like the different way and ease of finishing them to a glass like finish compared to wood. A simailar finish can be achieved on wood but takes longer with more effort.

W.Y.

[Gunny]

Bill,
I ordered a half dozen acrylic blanks from the Woodturners Catalog and they just arrived. Any special tips I should know about how to drill them? What cutters work best? Special abrasives?
Or do I just pretend they're cocobolo or redheart...

[William Young]

Gunny;
It's a different but fun experience from turning wood.
I just use the same brad point drill bits as for wood. But acrylics don't like a lot of heat (as in melting :) ) so don't go over half speed on drilling. Be prepared to be pulling long curly shavings off the drill. Squaring the ends is the same as with wood. Turning also makes long curly shavings and you need to stop the lathe occasionally and unwrap them. A sharp skew will give you a good enough surface that you can start wet sanding at about 320 or 400 grit . Then I go progressively to 12000 micromesh and then automotive rubbing compound and then polishing compound and then wax. Can almost do those steps in the time it takes to explain it.
Have fun and hope this helps. There are a lot of guys turning some nice acrylic pens on my own Woodworking Friends discussion boards site and seeing their great work was what got me interested and started .
BTW . The only pens that sold at my craft sale last Saturday were the acryilics and they were displayed right along with the wood ones. Go figure.
W.Y.