Pinecone Knurl

[budnder]

Scooped up a couple of pine cones from a very old, very significant local pine tree, and figured I'd try a pen with one. It was quick and dirty - didn't dry it out or anything, just trimmed it to about 1.25" square on the bandsaw, stuffed it into 1.5" PVC tube and then poured in a mix of copper colored and blue Alumilite. Fit was tight enough that I didn't need anything to keep it from floating. I let it cure all night in the pressure pot at 30 lbs. It drilled and turned very easily, when I was all done turning I only had one little pin head air pocket to fill.

I'm not sure where the blue color went, as all I see is the copper mostly. You can see it's hard to get the pine cone pattern exactly centered, as it's not exactly straight to begin with. Also, when I trimmed it, I probably didn't get equal amounts on all sides.

I was going to go Knurl or Zen with it, and picked Knurl because I thought the beefier profile of the Knurl would work better with the rather uneven pattern.

I'm happy with it and will likely make a few more in the coming months. Maybe a Compson clicker next.

 

[jimm1]

Beautiful pen right there.

 

[OZturner]

That is one Beautiful Blank, Roy.
Well Matched to the Knurl,
Excellent Fit and Finish.
Congratulations Great work,
Brian.

 

[bpgoldo]

Fabulous blank, tremendous execution, wonderful presentation and the Photo is professional grade. Much to be proud of. An inspiration to me.

 

[magpens]

Very nicely done !!!!! . I think you did extremely well to get it so uniform looking as far as the pattern goes !! . I do see a few patches of blue !

 

[OLIVE WOOD]

That is an excellent looking pen. I want to make one now. Nice Work.

 

[Sataro]

Great looking pen!!!

 

[budnder]

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

I was surprised at how easy it was to square up with the bandsaw - I have a crosscut sled, which, of course, helps. But I imagined those little petals just ripping or flaking off, but they cut pretty much like butter. There might have been some lucky logic in putting the squared up cone into a round tube, in that it creates a few openings on the sides for the Alumilite to get where it needs to be. Or maybe it doesn't matter because the pressure is going to move the resin in regardless.

 

[Earl_J13]

Beautiful pen!