# RhinoPlastic Pen Blanks



## jimm1

anyone work with these *RhinoPlastic* Blanks? Opinions please?


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## hewunch

Yep, they are nice. Simlar blanks. I am friends with the guy who makes them. I have done a couple and have a 1/2 dozen or so waiting to be turned. They shine up nice.


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## bitshird

Jim I saw something frightning, it says Inlace Acrylester, That stuff loves to chip out It's real pretty but it cuts best with 60 grit sand paper.


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## hewunch

He also sells Inlace blanks (like from woodturningz), but I do not think there is inlace in the rhinoplastic ones. I reserve the right to be incorrect. I will say that the ones I did, did not chip out like inlace.


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## bitshird

Hans Inlace is beautiful, but maybe the Rhino Plastic is different. I love the Acrylester, I just hate trying to turn it, this Rhino stuff looks great.


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## hewunch

Woodzone is where we have our monthly IAP chapter meeting for  Carolina. They have been really good to us, giving us shop space, promotion on their newsletter/email and even some door prizes from time to time. I highly encourage folks to buy from Karl. He is a great guy.


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## jimm1

I am not a fan of that Inlace Acrylester stuff. I won't turn it anymore. This RhinoPlastic sure looks great, but if it's acrylester, I'm going to pass.


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## its_virgil

The information about the blanks states they are polyester resin which turns and polishes quite nicely. Stick with polyresin blanks....I'm no fan of inlace acrylester blanks.  Life is too short and there are too many good materials to use so I don't buy materials I don;t like turning....just my thoughts.
Do a good turn daily!
Don



jimm1 said:


> anyone work with these *RhinoPlastic* Blanks? Opinions please?


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## jchurch

*paint the insides!*

I just turned up my first Rhino on Friday and they are much more translucent than the Inlace Acrylesters I'm used to. Any bubbles in the glue will show through to the surface, so I'm painting the inside of my next test blank with testors model glue. I painted the tube on the first set, but it didn't really matter.
Good Luck!
Jim


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## ed4copies

its_virgil said:


> The information about the blanks states they are polyester resin which turns and polishes quite nicely. _Stick with polyresin blanks....I'm no fan of inlace acrylester blanks._  Life is too short and there are too many good materials to use so I don't buy materials I don;t like turning....just my thoughts.
> Do a good turn daily!
> Don
> 
> 
> 
> jimm1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> anyone work with these *RhinoPlastic* Blanks? Opinions please?
Click to expand...


Hey Don!
I thought that inlace acrylester was just a "branding" of a type of polyresin, that uses a larger "dose" of catalyst---making it more brittle, but easier to get the desired color mixes.

Is there a difference, chemically?  I can always learn something new!!!!

Thanks


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## Brooks803

I can tell you for sure that they are made with silmar 41....seeing as how I showed him how I make my blanks (still pondering if that was such a great idea though :redface. So they are PR blanks and he uses either mixol or mica powders or a combonation of both.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, Karl is a great guy. I buy nearly all my turning supplies from him. He actually has a plastics background so he's pretty knowledgeable with it, I just showed him the process I go through to make my swirls and he got addicted to it. Heck, I even have a few of his!


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## maxwell_smart007

When you said 'rhinoplastic' pen blanks, I was trying to envision how a nose-job has anything to do with penturning!


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## ed4copies

maxwell_smart007 said:


> When you said 'rhinoplastic' pen blanks, I was trying to envision how a nose-job has anything to do with penturning!



From a "branding" point of view, I was also amused:  "Rhino" implies nose---are we being told the blanks STINK???:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## hewunch

I think the idea was when we turn them we are doing plastic surgery :biggrin:


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## GregHight

I work for Rhino and have turned a lot of RhinoPlastic blanks. They definately are NOT acrylester! There are currently 80 diffent colors made and some offer more translucence than others which may painting the tube if you turn it thin.

On top of a great product, they are MADE IN THE USA!


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## 76winger

I turned a few Rhinoplastic blanks back in December and liked the material really well. I thought it had a decent color depth like the Inlace Acrylester, and it definitely was less brittle and easier to turn. I would place it somewhere between Inlace Acrylester and Acrylic Acetate on the east of turning and "brittleness" scale. Quite happy with the results I got as well as they polished up VERY nice.


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## Chasper

I'd like to put in a good word for the Inlace Acrylester blanks.  I've turned 100s of them, it took a while to get the feel for turning them but I've never had any more problems.  They will chip if you are too aggressive, but that is managable.  The nice colors they come in make it worth taking the time to learn the technique. 

The RhinoPlastic blanks are also in some nice colors and I don't have any problems turning them either.


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## GregHight

You can check out all the new RhinoPlastic colors at www.rhinoplasticblanks.com

We are going to be offering some free blanks to IAP members probably nest week


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## DurocShark

Those look good!


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## hewunch

Rhinoplastic is a little different than simlar 41.


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## witz1976

Chasper said:


> I'd like to put in a good word for the Inlace Acrylester blanks.  I've turned 100s of them, it took a while to get the feel for turning them but I've never had any more problems.  They will chip if you are too aggressive, but that is managable.  The nice colors they come in make it worth taking the time to learn the technique.
> 
> The RhinoPlastic blanks are also in some nice colors and I don't have any problems turning them either.



I have to agree with Gerry on this one, I started turning plastics with Inlace and it was a royal PAIN.  However once I figured out the feel of the material I found it got easier and easier.  Plus I think it shines up better than the other plastics out there.


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## Manny

I got my shipment of Rhino blanks last week. Compared to Dawns spectacular pr blanks these feel a little more brittle. As such they polish up fantastically.

I am having some issues threading this material with my die set.
When I am externally threading the tenon is shearing off in the die. 
i bought a bunch of blanks so I am going to keep on it. 

I can thread Dawns blanks and Alumilite and the Italian plastics Exotic sells without issue.

These blanks seem to be more problematic for me. I am going to try to single point thread them this weekend. 

I bought black and white to use as accents in my kitless pens. If you are just making a kit pen I think this material works well and looks incredible. Drilling and turning were not an issue at all.  The price is awesome too. 

My work around so far is instead of threading joins I am doing tenon joins. I have also changed my cap/clip design to have a male thread on my pen body and a female thread on the finale at the end. 

The Rhino blanks are holding up to internal threading without issue. 

Manny


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## Brooks803

The guy who makes Rhinoplastic is a friend of mine, and I did say earlier in this post (back in November) that he used silmar. Well, at some point he switched to a custom formula that is somewhat similar but not the same. He gifted me 5 gallons to play with but haven't used any yet. It works with the same catalyst as silmar, so maybe I can play with the catalyst amount and see if that will make them more machinable. I'm just getting into threading so I might not be a good candidate for this but we'll see.


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## Pepsi

Ken, you and do it pretty much alike, I turn it down some then cut most of it 
with the 60 grit then smooth it down close to the shape I want then ease it
down with my turning tools. That seems to make it work better.

                                                                                             Al


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## ToddMR

I just got my first 3 of those blanks from exotics last week.  I haven't had a chance to turn them yet.  I don't like inlace myself, but ever since I bought my woodchuck pro, I have less failures than I used to.  I love that tool and not sure how I ever got along without it.  I might have to get my rhino blanks out tonight and get some ready to turn now.  You guys are making me want to get turning during the week which I rarely do lol.


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## workinforwood

There is a big difference between inlace and PR. I'm no scientist, so I can't tell you much more than that..I just know I own both products, I use inlace a lot, but as a filler, not to make the entire blanks, and it fills and sets much better than PR.

Far as Rhinoplastics...whatever it is..if it's just PR, whatever, I say kudos to him for his determination and business plan. Coming up with a product name is not genius in any way, but at the same time, most people don't even make that effort let alone put in the money to run a solid line of inventory. So I wish him much success. You have to be a Rhino to succeed in business these days.


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## GregHight

Manny, I will check with Karl in a bit to see if I can get an answer to solve your problem. We tap and thread bottle stoppers all the time and never have issues with that.  I have never tried cutting an outside thread on it but my first guess would be to heat the material to about 250 degrees or so first, which will make it more maleable. I will consult with Karl and get back to you shortly!

Thanks,
Greg Hight
RhinoPlastics LLC
greghight@gmail.com


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## alinc100

I turned my first RhinoPlastic blank this weekend.the color is called Tiger Swirl(Go Clemson!!).It turned as easy as any other acrylic I have turned.I have only turned about 12 pens in acrylic so far.This did not seem any different.It does take me longer to turn an acrylic pen than a wood pen but the difference in time is made up by just polishing and not having to apply a CA finish.
  The RhinoPlastic sanded/polished well with micromesh and Novus2 plastic polish.
I bought a half dozen of various color blanks and I am looking forward to turning them soon.
My tooling is a mix of carbide insert tools and a HSS round nosed scraper.

Andy


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## Manny

GregHight said:


> Manny, I will check with Karl in a bit to see if I can get an answer to solve your problem. We tap and thread bottle stoppers all the time and never have issues with that.  I have never tried cutting an outside thread on it but my first guess would be to heat the material to about 250 degrees or so first, which will make it more maleable. I will consult with Karl and get back to you shortly!
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg Hight
> RhinoPlastics LLC
> greghight@gmail.com




awesome

thanks


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## GregHight

Karl fell asleep before I could ask him about your question. His wife said he was exhausted so I asked her not to disturb him tonight. I will speak with him in the morning and I will let you know.

Thanks ! 
Greg


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## 76winger

Chasper said:


> I'd like to put in a good word for the Inlace Acrylester blanks.  I've turned 100s of them, it took a while to get the feel for turning them but I've never had any more problems.  They will chip if you are too aggressive, but that is managable.  The nice colors they come in make it worth taking the time to learn the technique.
> 
> The RhinoPlastic blanks are also in some nice colors and I don't have any problems turning them either.



I agree with you on this. As I learned to "slice" the turning stock with the cutting edge of the gouge or skew (I prefer skew), I found I had a lot less chips and a lot more strings coming off the stock. Keeping the tool extra sharp helps with this also!


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