Saving a Rattle Snake blowout

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from MikePittman

Status
Not open for further replies.

MikePittman

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
92
Location
Kettering, OH, USA.
I checked out the William â€" Write website saw rattle snake skin pen blanks. I’ve seen these on penturner’s before so I thought I’d give it a try. I was very careful to go easy and take small cuts as the instructions said. (They kept saying this over and over or the blank would heat up and the skin would come loose from the brass tubes.) These are molded in clear resin. So here I am, taking my time and really being careful and, bam!, the lower barrel explodes and all the resin shatters leaving me with a bare snake skin on a brass tube. I was so mad!After calming down I decided to finish the other barrel and make half of a rattle snake pen. Well the same thing happened to that blank. I couldn’t believe it! Turning resin is very, very, difficult. I almost tossed them in the trash and I got an idea. I figured I had nothing to lose at this point so I decided to try and coat these with the medium CA. I started with a thin layer to get them coated and while turning the lathe manually with my left hand I use my gloved right hand to smear an even coat over the skins and then sprayed accelerator on them. It looked good, so I did a 2nd coat and then a 3rd, getting thicker each time. I then turned on the lathe and turned the CA down to sanding diameter. You know the bad luck I’ve had with CA finishes! This was nothing but CA on it. I used 200 grit and “wet sanded†them smooth and continued wet sanding up to 800 grit and then I finished with micromesh. I then use the white liquid polish I use for acrylic and it came out fantastic!!! Just like glass! I learned a great deal doing this and will wet sand my next CA finish just as this. I wanted to share this with you because doing the CA this way, (wet sanding), was so much easier than any method I have tried and results were great. And I save the snakeskin blanks.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

rhahnfl

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2007
Messages
1,211
Location
Fleming Island, Florida, USA.
Good save!!! Ed Brown gave me some advice after my first acrylic fiasco. Crank up the speed and use wicked sharp tools with light cuts. Just the first part really helped me. I do acrylics of all kinds at the fastest my late will turn... near 3800rpm.
 

Sylvanite

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
3,090
Location
Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
Good save. Yes, CA glue works. The first snakeskin pen I made was from a copperhead that decided to nest in my shop. I wasn't set up for casting then, so I just glued a piece of the skin to the tube, built up CA above the level of the bushings and turned it back down. The CA glue worked quite well and the process was surprisingly easy. I wound up giving that pen to the friend who cured the snakeskin for me. Someday, I'll make another out of the remaining skin (if the mice don't eat it first).

Regards,
Eric
 

Sylvanite

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
3,090
Location
Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
Originally posted by byounghusband
<br />Rather ironic, don't ya think...
Well, now that you mention it, that does seem like poetic justice.

That wasn't exactly how I felt, though, when my wife told me "I put those snake skins on the floor next to the refridgerator and something ate right through them". [:(!]

Regards,
Eric
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom