should everyone try turning acrylics?

[jumps]

having ordered some Empress Pen kits from Ax when they were on 'sale', but not getting the bushes, I ended up collecting the bushes from Sittingbourne on a day they had a demo for 'jewellery turning'.

this demo was basically using up the spare bits of acrylic left over from pen turning...

... and looked very interesting.

So, for the first time, I picked up some acrylic blanks for both the larger, Empress, and normal slimlines.

Given the weather today I thought I might take advantage of the less dusty messy elements of these acrylics as well, and actually turn in the 'shop rather than outside under the leantoo as I normally do In the event I turned outside anyway but I really enjoyed the turning experience - you get to see the full picture of your tool control in the 'shavings' as they happen =D> Small changes to angles giving clear feedback all the time.

So should everyone 'play with plastic'? Especially skew and spindle gouge. Or are the issues with grain in wood to inherent in turning that this would be pointless?

Anyhow - one finished pen snapped with the camera phone.....

will post a comparison pic when I turn another in wood!

 

[Paul Hannaby]

Personally I hate turning the acrylic stuff! It sticks to everything and gets everywhere. Give me wood shavings any day! :wink:
I don't think there is a lot to be learnt from turning acrylic that can be translated to wood. Yes it might improve your acrylic turning abilities but the best way to learn to turn wood is by turning wood.

 

[paulm]

Looks a lovely pen, striking pattern and colouring to the acrylic =D>

Cheers, Paul

 

[jumps]

Looks a lovely pen, striking pattern and colouring to the acrylic =D>

Cheers, Paul

thank you Paul - I ended up surpised at how striking it looked too.