What is the difference between Plastic Seat blanks v1 & v2?
Posted by Michael Hardin on
The plastic seat blanks are blanks that NO other vendor has available. Many vendors and casters have blanks in team colors, but Stadium Pen Blanks' Plastic Seat Blanks contain plastic seat material from actual stadium seats. There is a wicked cool factor for these blanks as they are generally from newer stadiums that never really had wooden seats.
The v1 blanks are not as easy to turn for the new novice turner, and a more experienced turner tends to get better results. The v1 blanks turn very similar to coffee bean (pictured below left) and seashell blanks (pictured below right) as these blanks have hard and soft spots throughout the blanks. This requires a very delicate touch to complete the turning process successfully. Some turners tend to use the 100-grit gouge to turn these blanks.
The v2 plastic seat blanks are much more consistent material to turn as the plastic seat shredded material is much smaller in these blanks. Since we have acquired our own processing equipment, we have been able to refine the seat grinding process to get a much better product. The v2 blanks are easier to turn and finish with far less chip out than the v1 blanks, but they are still very sensitive to excess pressure with the lathe chisel.
Turning and finishing tips:
Turning these v2 blanks will still require a bit of patience and very sharp tools. With the nature of these chaotic shredded material embedded blanks, there will likely be a few pin-hole air pockets that did not get squished out during pressure casting. These pin-holes can easily be filled with CA. Clearing the pin-holes with compress air prior to filling is highly suggested. After turning and sanding, the v2 blanks may have plastic "hairs" sticking up from the blank. The plastic seat blanks should be sealed with CA or similar sealing finish prior to final finishing and polishing to remove the plastic "hairs" from the finished blank.
