Arizona Silhouette 3-D acrylic bottlestoppers

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I ordered 4 3-D acrylic bottlestoppers form Arizona Silhouette last Saturday. Much to my surprise they showed up in the mail on Monday afternoon.

The 4 bottles stoppers were 1 US Navy, 2 US Marine Corps and 1 captured ceramic rose.

Monday evening while waiting for my youngest son to drive in from Houston to deliver an family heirloom to his older brother I turned the U.S. Navy bottle stopper. My youngest is currently in the Navy (8 years) attending dental school at the University of Texas Houston on a Navy scholarship and has every intention of retiring from the Navy.....So here it is. Taking photos of a sphere is nearly impossible as the "magnificaiton" effect distorts the words...so here it is....using a skew....wet sanded through 400 grit and then wet micromesh through 1500 grit.....and Beal buffed.....

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Thanks Chris......And would you believe...you get long strings of curlies....cuts like butter! The whole project took about an hour. Since it was my first time turning acryilic I was super cautious but it turned out well.

I have two elk hunting buddies who are retired Marine officers. Both of them served two terms in 'Nam and one is a double Purple Heart recipient. I can't wait to turn the US Marine b/s and present 'em to those two! I elk hunted with them for over 20 years and literally owe my life to one when I got slammed by a a severe case of hypothermia. Of couse...I got into the position of getting hypothemia because of him but.....at least he got me out of that XXXX hole without skinning me....quartering me...and packing me out on the mules:eek: :rolleyes: :D .......Over 2,000 feet of elevation in 1 1/2 miles....I'd sit down in the snow and tell him to leave me alone...I'll be alright....he kept me going....and got me out...
 
That looks great, Ken. I did an acrylic bottle stopper earlier this week too, and like you say, it's great stuff with sharp tools. I've done acrylic pens before, so I know what to expect. I've got a few more acrylic blanks (including one of the free rose blanks you also got from Arizona Silhouette too) and some stabilized wood ones, too. I'll be turning a batch of them before too long...I'll post pics then.
 
Hey Ken, I turned my clear cast resin rose stopper blank tonight, and it was like turning peanut brittle. Even with my sharpest tools, it was chipping out something terrible. The "curlies" looked like crushed glass. (Eye protection was a must.) It was much different from a colored acrylic blank I turned last week. Of course now I've watched Ed Davidson's video on turning the rose bottle stoppers, so next time I turn polyester resin I'll try it with a skew.

Tonight I gave up on the chisels and went to my Norton 3X gouge (the blue 80 grit one) to get rid of the chipped spots and get the shape finalized. In the end it came out looking real nice, and it still only took about an hour from start to finish, but I got ahold of a brittle piece this time. (I've seen the same thing every once in a while with acrylic pen blanks. Some batches produce curlies when turned; some batches produce shards.)

Pics in a day or so...I've got a photo backlog that I hope to handle tomorrow (Sunday).
 
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