Lazerlinez New Stabilized Blanks

DCBluesman · May 31, 2010

Constant sent a couple of blanks from his new eco-friendly stabilizing process. I'll leave it to him to give the story behind the stabilizing.

First, the blanks are large enough to make any pen. The exterior coloring is very nice and consistent. There is no noticeable odor with these blanks.

Cutting and drilling went smoothly, although the blanks seem to be a bit denser than average...a good thing in stabilizing. Again, there is no noticeable odor.

Turning went smoothly and, for me, relatively effortlessly. The density may have cause me to touch up my skew one extra time.

Sanding is interesting. It produces a lot of very fine, powdery dust...almost like drywall dust. Fortunately, my DC and air filter seemed to handle it with ease.

The picture below shows two halves of the same blank, one which was simply sanded to 600 grit and the other which was given a light buffing. You can see from the shine lines that the process clearly penetrates the wood thoroughly and that the dye is evenly disbursed.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed working with these blanks and they produce some beautiful results.

wolftat · Jun 1, 2010

I have to agree that these blanks turned well. I used a Buckeye Burl and only had time to turn half of it today but it went great. The blanks seem very solid all the way through and turned into a powder for me as well.
There was no noticable odor while turning this blank which made it a bit more pleasant too. I sanded mine to 600 and then hit it with the buffer quickly and it took a great shine without any other finish applied. The pen is a full sized Gent. I'm looking forward to turning more of these.

Edit: I turned this with a carbide tipped tool so no sharpening was done during the turning but it was ready for sanding right from the carbide tool.

Mark · Jun 1, 2010

Nice. Thanks for the review.

Pioneerpens · Jun 1, 2010

Thanks for sharing!

Constant Laubscher · Jun 1, 2010

I shall give some more details on this product after the all reviews have been posted.
For those who are testing if you have a black light you should be able to see the distribution and penetration of the resin.
The greatest for me is that I do not need any safety gear like respirators, super ventilation systems...., it does not smell much and the resin contains no VOC's.

wolftat · Jun 1, 2010

I'm looking forward to more information on this product, I'm assuming you will start using this if most of the reviews are favorable.

Constant Laubscher · Jun 1, 2010

I am switching over already. I love it and it is great to work with.

MarkHix · Jun 1, 2010

my blanks arrived in the mail today. I am looking forward to turning them.

hewunch · Jun 1, 2010

I got my blanks today. I have drilled one and there is no odor like the other stuff. I am very impressed so far.

seawolf · Jun 2, 2010

Are you only going to sell blanks or are you going to be able to recieve, treat and return blanks?
Mark

Constant Laubscher · Jun 2, 2010

seawolf said:
Are you only going to sell blanks or are you going to be able to recieve, treat and return blanks?
Mark

I am stabilizing the blanks, so yes I would receive, stabilize and return.

hewunch · Jun 2, 2010

My clear (non-dyed) blank is turned and the finish has been applied. I think it will look great. I should be able to post it tomorrow. I will say that I have "relearned" something. If you are one who tries to fill in cracks and holes with sanding dust it doesn't turn out as well with stabilized blanks (and that is all of the ones I have tried this with not just Constant's). The dust is more white due to the stabilizing material.

hewunch · Jun 4, 2010

Ok here are a couple of pictures. The first is side by side of the New style and the old style stabilized buckeye burl. The second is of the Gent that I made with the new style. I will say it appears that the new blanks have less of an amber appearance than the old way.

Constant Laubscher · Jun 4, 2010

hewunch said:
I will say it appears that the new blanks have less of an amber appearance than the old way.

That would all depend on the buckeye. Some is more clear and others would be a more amber color and also depends on how contaminated the resin is.

DurocShark · Jun 5, 2010

I turned the curly maple blank. I don't know that I like the negative grain effect. And there were white "smears" at the ends as well. It didn't seem happy with CA for gluing in the tubes, but a CA finish worked fine.

The burl blank is waiting for Gorilla glue to cure so I don't chase uncured tubes!

Smells like urethane to me. Turns a bit like ebonite, but more powder off the tool.

DurocShark · Jun 5, 2010

Whoops, forgot pics. I didn't finish trimming and cleaning up the barrels. This guy won't be going on a pen.

DurocShark · Jun 5, 2010

And no jokes about using a mandrel. My daughter is learning how to turn a pen, and I don't want her working between centers yet. So when she's watching, I'm using a mandrel.

MarkHix · Jun 5, 2010

my results

I finished my blanks this morning. Attached are a few photos. Both were cut to size on my band saw, no problem. I drill on the lathe and again no problem. The blue blank seemed harder to drill than the buckeye and I had the same impression when I squared the ends. I turned the corners off of both with a small gouge and then switched to the skew. Both produced fine dust-like shaving and had no smell. As you can see, the color penetration was good on the blue blank. Both were sanded to 600, CA, then buffed w/ EEE and WD.

I had a problem w/ the buckey but it was me, not the blank. I had a catch and tore out a chunk of the cap. You can see the repair line in the 4th photo. It is on Jr. Gent tubes. I have not decided if I will assemble it or not.

I made a kit change after I glued in the tubes on the blue blank. It was originally going to be 2 Sierras. The difference between the hole sizes on the lower barrell on the Sierra and the Sedona were 2/64ths so I glued in a Sedona tube on one blank and drilled out the other one for the cap. The point of tellin you this is that the wood on lower barrell on the Sedona is thinner than normal. In addition, I dissassembled it once and put it back together. It held up well under a stressfull process. Maybe the double layer of brass tube helped too.

the big question: yes, I liked them both very much.

The main question is: Would I reccommend these? Absolutely.

Constant Laubscher · Jun 5, 2010

DurocShark said:
And there were white "smears" at the ends as well.

The grain is what it is with Maple/Curly maple and the stabilizing and dye will not change it. I have left some pieces under pressure ( 3000 psi) for up to 60 hours and the result is identical. If white shows after it is stabilized by me it will not take the dye.

You can test it with a black light to see how well it penetrated the wood.

I have not come across any problems with the adhesion of the brass tube with CA.

Please keep posting the results.

DurocShark · Jun 5, 2010

Those smears weren't grain. I understand about the grain, I just can't figure out what those smears are. They were pretty deep and consistent, which makes me think it's something goofy with the wood itself.

I have to say it's nice not to have the acrylic (or whatever) stink that I get with other stabilized blanks. A gentle rubbery smell was it. That's pretty darn cool.

bitshird · Jun 6, 2010

I also turned some of Constants new stabilized wood, I haven't finished the blue curly maple yet, but the Buckeye Burl was absolutely a dream to work with, first thing I noticed was just a very slight sweet smell when I drilled it, and the drill shavings were like powder, not at all fibrous. Turning was amazing, I used one on my tools and honestly I think you could turn one of these blanks with a butter knife! When I first looked at the blank there were a few voids which is expected with Buckeye Burl but these were just on the surface, no voids under the surface. Turning this pen was like nothing I have ever turned, the material came off almost like a dust, but didn't undercut or chip out.
Finishing was beyond easy, I started wet sanding at 600 then 800 then used Novus Plastic polish and finis.
I appreciate the chance to be one of Constant's Guinea Pigs, and am looking forward to purchasing some of this material, it's amazing, no foul Polyester smell, no ribbons wrapping around the bushings and easy to finish, I like it.

DurocShark · Jun 7, 2010

Finished the burl tonight. It smelled more like the stabilized blanks than I'm used to... Different formulas? Or am I more sensitive for some reason?

Anyway, some chunkout in the inclusions, but I was able to turn past them (should have switched to the skew sooner). Otherwise, turned much like the maple did. Nice to have the two drastically different woods turn consistently. :biggrin:

CA finish and my daily driver sterling silver Navigator hardware. I didn't clean the nib or anything. I was never happy with the gray and red anyway, so this gave me an excuse to screw up the plastic threads in the cap. I mean replace the barrels. Grrrrr... :wink:

Seer · Jun 19, 2010

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
I also recieved 2 of Constances blanks one a blue maple and the other a Buckeye Burl. I put the Buckeye Burl on a Gold Sedona Kit.
This was one of the nicest, easiest stabilized blanks I have turned, albeit I am new compared to some here but I have turned a few. First I glued the tubes in with CA after drilling and while drilling I noticed no nasty smell coming from it like most stabilized or acrylics. Turning the blanks creat small chips and alot of dust which was hot on my finger but I had no chipout of any kind or catches at all. I was able to turn it to size and sand a little after using a skew as a scraper.
The finish I used 3 caots of medium CA to see how it would react and there was none and it was smooth as well. I wetsanded through the top 6 MMPads wet and it polished like a dream. IMHO this is a great product and anyone should be able to get a great finish and turning out of it.

David Keller · Jun 19, 2010

I didn't know this thread existed... I posted my buckeye blank experience in another thread on SOYP. In short, this is the best stabilized wood that I have worked with. Thanks Constant.

ssajn · Jun 22, 2010

Constant also sent me a few of his new blanks. I haven't turned the blue one yet but did turn the buckeye burl. As everyone else has already said it turned very easy with no order to speak of. I used it to make a Jr Gent and it's one of the nicest looking pens I've turned in a while. I'll be buying some of these for sure.

Constant Laubscher · Jun 22, 2010

Just to to let you know testing these blanks has nothing to do with the color of the wood or the dye. The purpose is to test the new resin that was used, the way it cut and turn and smell. Also how does it finish?

THarvey · Jun 28, 2010

I finally turned my buckeye blank today. I will try to post pictures later tonight.

I love the stablizing!!! The blank drilled, turned, sanded and finished better than any I have turned. The smell reminded me of ripe bananas.

The finish is absolutely amazing. The way the buckeye and the dyed maple take a CA finishe, makes the color pop!

Thanks Constant!!!!

THarvey · Jun 30, 2010

Thumbs UP - Great Blanks Constant!!!

Here are the pictures, I promised.

Thank you Constant!!!

This blank was a joy to turn. I love the way this blank takes a CA finish.

Lazerlinez New Stabilized Blanks

Passed Away Mar 3, 2016

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