Corian--a valuable resource

It recently occurred to me that there has been scant mention in this forum of the use of Corian in woodturning fixtures, jigs, etc. This is despite the fact that I have used it many times in my own shop. It is available free in many forms as scrap in bathroom installer's shops. The most common form is scraps of half-inch thick sheets. In my experience, some of them will be two square feet or more in size.
Corian is fairly easy to work with. It can be cut on a bandsaw, is easily drilled, tapped or turned. It can be glued with epoxy and many other glues. I have used to make special faceplates, sharpening jigs, reverse turning fixtures, vacuum chucks and more.

 

[Wyatt Holm]

I have used it to make a vaccuum chuck. It is slow to turn with hot shavings.

 

[John K Jordan]

there has been scant mention in this forum of the use of Corian

I agree Corian is great for turning. Sir google tells me it is a mixture of acrylic resin and natural minerals (alumina trihydrate).
Not especially cheap except as scraps from a countertop installer.

In a symposium demo Mark StLeger once turned four identical spheres and set the on a disk of Corian with a circular depression turned in the top near the outside of the disk. When he stacked the spheres they were so perfect that spinning the top one with the fingers makes the entire pyramid of spheres turn. It was an impressive lesson in turning perfect spheres by hand.



I am honored to have this in my display cabinet.
If you don't know Mark, he's an incredibly kind, talented, creative, and soft-spoken turner.

He even brought his kids and grandkids to see my llamas once.

I'd say try to get him to come to your club for a demo but I'm not sure he's still doing demos and symposiums.
JKJ