White Pine Cone Sierra (Mutt blanks)

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tgsean

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This has been a popular colour for the pine cone second to skyblue. This is the second commission I had for this colour. Its certainly different. What do you think? C & C welcome as always.
 

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SDB777

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Whew, had to take a double look at this one....was thinking those cones are small, then I saw you're from AU. White Pine{Pinus strobus} here in the States has BIG-ish cones that are about 3-6 inches in length and about 2 inches in diameter. I digress....


White is definitely awesome with cones! Guessing pressure was used to get the resin in all those little tiny places? Great job on this one!!!






Scott (love me some cone) B
 

tgsean

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Thanks everyone, Eugene makes awesome pine cone blanks. I love them. Thanks for all the comments. As far as I know no one in Oz is making pine cone blanks so I always have to import them from either USA (Mutt blanks) or Canada (Oldfox blanks). Please correct me if I am wrong about someone in Oz making pine cone resin blanks.
 

mark james

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The colors are very different than typical. The blanks are beautiful, and the kit colors you choose are a great match!

Very Cool!!! Oh, your turning and finish is pretty awesome also!

Great Job!
 

robutacion

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Thanks everyone, Eugene makes awesome pine cone blanks. I love them. Thanks for all the comments. As far as I know no one in Oz is making pine cone blanks so I always have to import them from either USA (Mutt blanks) or Canada (Oldfox blanks). Please correct me if I am wrong about someone in Oz making pine cone resin blanks.

Hi Sean,

I may disappoint you by telling you that, as far as I believe/know and researched thoroughly, there are no pine cones of that size and shape, the smaller pine cones known are from the Pinus pumila species, and they are a lot bigger and different shape than those.

I have looked very closely to those blanks, and what I see inside them (resin) are She-Oak pods/cones, also known as Casuarina obesa, they are precisely the size and the shape of the ones I've seen in those blanks, seeing so many pens made with them, you get to see every part of the small pod in most detail so, unless someone shows me a Pine tree from anywhere on Earth that produces these cones, I would believe and claim they are She-Oak pods/cones, of which I have trillions of them all around me, and that I never bother because there are so many people already making those for sale, in Australia at least.

I once though in spending some time filling bags with them and sell them, for other to cast, as not everyone has these things growing around as much as we do here...!

In fact, was not that long ago that I put a thread here about these cones/pods, after I stepped (literally) under a large tree that I didn't realised what it was until I looked to the ground and saw 4 or 5" thick of various layers (years) of these things, dropping...!

I know that I shown the pics in here not that long ago (few months) but, it may be inside someone else's thread and I can't find it so I put some of the pics in here...!

PIC00201.JPGPIC00203.JPGPIC00204.JPG

If you want some Sean, I can make you some but, and unless I change my mind, I'm not interested in making them as part of my stock and sales on my private web-store, too many folks already doing them. If you want to find other in Australia that make them, Google, she-oak cone/pods made pen blanks

Interestingly, only a few weeks ago, I was doing some castings and I had some left over resin that I didn't wanted to waste so, I grabbed a small plastic container, pour the resin and then thought of what to put inside it to make a pendant with, a quite look around and I saw a small with some of these She-Oak pods that I picked up the day I say the tree above shown.

Grabbed a handful of them and throw them it with a bit of wood on top, to keep the down, I never put it the the pressure pot, I had no room so, I'm not sure how well covered those small corners of the pod will be...! I thought of it just now and I also realised that I never took any pic of it so, I just went to the lolly-shop and took a pic so that you guys and gals can see it...!

Here it is;
001.JPG002.JPG

I didn't say anything before but it always bugged me knowing that, as far as I know and believe, they are not Pine cones so, the time was right to clarify it and if I'm wrong, and someone can correct me, I would be most interested in know if I'm correct or not...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
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tgsean

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Hi George, thanks for that. That is indeed a surprise. I wonder if Eugene from Amalgum Mutt blanks would like to comment on this. I bought this from his website. Of course I am not an expert at all in species etc. But thanks for pointing this out. Cheers mate.
 

robutacion

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Hi George, thanks for that. That is indeed a surprise. I wonder if Eugene from Amalgum Mutt blanks would like to comment on this. I bought this from his website. Of course I am not an expert at all in species etc. But thanks for pointing this out. Cheers mate.

Well, is very possible that Eugene is buying them as Pine cones and he may not know that, I believe, they are not but, I'm ready to be corrected on this...!

Cheers
George
 

ElMostro

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Hi George, thanks for that. That is indeed a surprise. I wonder if Eugene from Amalgum Mutt blanks would like to comment on this. I bought this from his website. Of course I am not an expert at all in species etc. But thanks for pointing this out. Cheers mate.

I am headed out the door to ship some packages and get some supplies, once I return I'll post on this.
Eugene.
 

ElMostro

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Pine cone & she oak pod comparison

The blanks used to make the white pen in the picture in the first post is made with pine cones, NOT she-oak pods.
Here is a picture showing the pine cones (left) & she oak pods (right) side by side for comparison.

For the sake of not hijacking this thread I posted more pictures and details here;
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f213/pine-cone-she-oak-pod-comparison-126963/#post1712501

There you can see a couple of close ups that show the differences better and in more detail.
Eugene.
 

wyone

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Those are AWESOME blanks. I tried to do my own using PR and some mini pin cones and they looked great, but apparently I must have done something wrong as the pine cones were not saturated and had voids between the, leaves for lack of a better term. I used a pressure pot at 60 PSI for 2 hours, and thought that should get enough pressure to work, but when I went to turn, well not successful at all. I would love any hints you could give me, although I doubt I could come close to those. They really are awesome!
 

tgsean

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Thanks so much Eugene, this really clarifies the subject. Being a Physician, I am so thrilled by the scientific process and professionalism with which you have dealt with the question. Good on you mate. Also I need to thank George, for asking, which led to this clarification. I absolutely love the pen turning hobby!! Eugene my customers absolutely love your blanks, thanks for what you do. Between George and your blanks, the customers are all smiles!! I am so blessed!
 

robutacion

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Well, I was obviously wrong and I have been correct, thank you Eugene...!

I greatelly appreciate your input in the issue that, until now, has been bugging me. I know and worked with many kinds of Pines, here and overseas and, I never saw a Pine tree producing such tiny cones. When I researched for the smallest Pine cones known, nothing come up that would even resemble the ones you are using so, I asked the question, being aware that, I don't know everything...!

Sure, I dislike greatly, those that "deliberately" mislead people, and I like to make it right, when I can, in the process, I get cases like this where, my knowledge and best search efforts, took me in the wrong direction so, I have made no accusations therefore, no apologies are necessary however, I appreciate when someone has the decency to respectfully, prove me wrong...!

That also indicates Eugene professionalism in what he does, we have been friends for some time and have changed some thoughts, once I even supplied some wood casting material that, surprisingly never worked for Eugene, despite that, we kept friends...!

I would do probably the same, I would be detailed in my response (I always am!...), and provide clear evidence of the point I was trying to make, you certainly left no room for doubts in your presentation/response, I don't think that I would like to slice too many of those tiny cones/pods but, you done a great job demonstration the differences between the 2 products...!

One thing I still no know, and I looked for you bigger version of the response, looking for the name of the Pine species that produce those cones. I'm not sure if was deliberate or not, due to conflict of interests, you are a Business and may want to keep the info about the products you use, I can accept that but, I'm still curious as to why my search did not point me out to that Pine species. You can respond by PM, it that is more suitable to you.

Looking at why they looked the same to me, after cast, is due to the fact that, I never done any proper work with the She-Oak pods, I"m very familiar with the way they look outside but, I didn't know much to what they looked inside and with all fairness, unless you know what you are looking for, those 2 items have many similarities, successfully disguised by the resin they are cast in, wouldn't you agree...??:wink:

Great pics, great work Eugene, thank you...!

Cheers
George
 
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