Yes! Another Pen
I made yet another pen last night. This time I tried my hand at an acrylic material. Specifically a AA Pen blank; Iridescent Blue/Black. I will say that over all the same tools and time was needed to make this pen however the ‘dust’ that came from the acrylic far exceeded the quantity that is generated when making a wooden pen. Mostly because the shavings from the acrylic for the most part peeled off of the blank in a long string rather than just turning into little chips. There were some chips at first until I got the blank rounded. Then it turned into a silly-string fest.
The odor from the acrylic was pretty strong also. And you HAVE to wear a mask without a doubt.
The acrylic was different to drill than wood as well. The blank got quite hot during the drilling which caused the shavings to turn into rubber rather than eject from the hole. Next time I’ll drill a little slower. I was able to polish the pen body using sand paper only to an ultra shiny surface which I really like.
I did notice that the brass core of the pen shows through the acrylic near the ends of the bottom part of the pen which casts a slightly greenish color. Brass (yellow) + Acrylic (blue) = Green. Next time I’ll be sure to use some aluminum tubes so I don’t get end up with color blending.
