# what tool to use on wood or acrylic turning



## steamshovel (Nov 14, 2011)

I am going to try my luck at acrylic pen turning. What tool do I need to turn the pen. I have some of the carbide tools, do they work better than the ones designed for wood?

Thank You


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## Ruby pen turning (Nov 14, 2011)

Use the same ones you use for wood and all will be good.


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## Jim Smith (Nov 14, 2011)

Just keep your tools sharp and you'll do fine.

Jim Smith


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## Bree (Nov 15, 2011)

There is no single thing that is "acrylic".  There are many different resins which have different turning properties.  Some will respond well to almost any reasonably sharp turning tool including scrapers.  Others won't.  Use a scraper on Inlace Acrylester and you run a huge risk of pitting or even blowing up the blank.  That kind of brittle material wants to be cut with a skew or a shear cutting tool of some kind.

You will never go wrong learning how to use a skew chisel.  It is my preferred tool for all non-wood blanks.  Carbide tools like a Hunter tool are also good but they are not sharpenable to the degree that a skew is and if you start scraping instead of cutting with it, you can mess up a nice blank.  I have two carbide tools but I still use the skew.  I like having the bevel rubbing for support.  Best tool for plastic blanks IMHO is the scary sharp skew no matter what kind of plastic resin.


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## Gilrock (Nov 15, 2011)

I think part of it depends on whether you will be able to sharpen you're tools to a "scary" sharp edge.  I use the carbide tools because they are so sharp I've accidentally cut my fingers when accidentally letting the round tip slide over a finger.  I've never cut myself on any tool that I've sharpened myself.  I have the slow speed grinder from Woodcraft and the Wolverine sharpening jigs and I'm not capable to putting a better egde on my tools than the carbide tools have.  So when I have material I'm worried about blowing up...I use the carbide tool with a round tip.  And just loosen a screw and rotate it if it doesn't seem to be cutting well.  For a while I was using the round carbide tip to handle the entire blank...they call it a finishing tool but if I only had one tool I'd use that for everything.


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## toyotaman (Nov 15, 2011)

I use a 3/8 spindle gouge and it needs to be sharp and go slow. Acrylic will get catches alot easier. If you go slow you should not have a problem.


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## steamshovel (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies. I guess now I have to get busy.


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## PenMan1 (Nov 15, 2011)

I use strictly carbide tools on acrylic, PR and Alumalite. With HSS, I always get tool marks that are difficult to remove.

If you plan to make many acrylic products, You would be well served to purchase a Woodchuck Pen Pro. My acrylic blanks are ready to go straight to MM after using the pen pro.


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## PenMan1 (Nov 15, 2011)

toyotaman said:


> I use a 3/8 spindle gouge and it needs to be sharp and go slow. Acrylic will get catches alot easier. If you go slow you should not have a problem.


 
Conversely, on acrylic, with carbide tools, I turn the lathe as fast as it will run. It decreases "catches", provides a smoother finish, and keeps me behind the lathe for a shorter period of time.


FASTER is NOT the definitive answer, simply what works best in my shop.

Respectfully submitted.


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## randyrls (Nov 15, 2011)

No matter which you use, a shear cut is a clean cut, but a scrap isn't as good a surface.  You want to get long ribbons of material.  If you get hard gritty shards, you will have a rough surface.

Much depends on the tool sharpness and hardness/brittleness of the particular acrylic.  Some Trustones and M3 blanks are very hard and only a carbide tipped tool will work well.


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