Vulcanite for first attempt at making stems?

[Dixie_piper]

I searched pipedia and on other various sites looking for black lucite rod. Found it at delvies plastics (via the pipedia suggestion)
My question is this; for a first attempt at making my own stems, would it be wise to go with J.H. Lowes vulcanite rod stock? I have no lathe, so square stock is pretty much out of the equation. Not to mention the difference in price, and the added comfort of ordering the delrin along with the rod stock that has a good possibility of being trashed in my earliest attempts.
Any input is appreciated!

[LAH]

Haven't used J.H. Lowes vulcanite rod stock before. But I have used round lucite pen blanks before, from Penn State Industries. Don't think they have a minimum order. I learned the hard way and messed up some cumberland rod. After that I figured I'd work on getting down stummel drilling and shaping and just use pre made lucite stems. But I think it's time to play around with hand made stems. I use delrin on the premade stems. That vulcanite rod is pretty cheap, but it is only 1/2" though. I'd maybe try to use something with a larger dia. since it might be tricky to drill perfectly center.

[Tyler]

Round stock, square stock, it doesn't matter. If you are starting with rod, you are going to shape it into a stem by sanding and filing. The lathe is used to turn the tenon, not make the stock round.

That said, I'd use vulcanite for a first hand-cut stem because it is an easier material to work with.

[Dixie_piper]

Thanks guys!
My apologies Tyler for being wrong, yet again. I just assumed that for a round stem with square stock, most would use the lathe for the rounding. Guess that what I get for making assumptions
Back to studying yet again, at least this is a subject I like
I'm planning to order a few round taper stems from Tim along with the Delrin, etc for comparison, and use if I mess up too bad