Cholla over/under

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NotURMailman

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Having never used this pen kit or a cholla cactus blank, I was curious to see if anyone else had ever combined the two.

Was looking at the ruby red cholla blank and the over/under rollerball kit from Exotic. I see that the pen requires a 9/16" drill, so I was curious of that would leave enough meat on the cactus skeleton.

Any one ever try it?

Thanks in advance for any input!
 
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plantman

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My suggestion would be to call Ed and tell him what kit you want to use, and he will pick a Cholla blank that will work for you. The Cholla limbs come in all different sizes with the centers being hollow. If you drill to small of a hole in a large piece, you will only get resin. It's a little tricky to turn, but makes a beautiful pen. Good Luck !! Jim S
 
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jbswearingen

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The Over/Under is a BIG pen. The hole for the cap is 9/16" wide. A 3/4" blank, once rounded, will leave about 1/8" on each side of the hole. There isn't much room for error. Be sure you have a blank that will work.
 

ed4copies

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The cholla blanks that are cast for us are not 3/4". The smallest one I found, taking a random sampling was .97"

No doubt we could find some suitable for your application!!
 

Joe S.

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The cap only has a TINY, MINUSCULE, NEAR-INIVISIBLE, THIN, AND MICRO AMOUNT OF MEAT ON IT! However, anything is possible! Go for it, but be prepared to start over once or twice! :biggrin:
 

jbswearingen

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The cholla blanks that are cast for us are not 3/4". The smallest one I found, taking a random sampling was .97"

No doubt we could find some suitable for your application!!


This is good to know. I'll likely be ordering some from you in the future; a pressure pot will be likely added to my arsenal of "too many tools", as the missus is wont to say...
 

plantman

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:search: Another thing to watch for is this.The limb is not always the same size on both ends of the blank or centered. You may not be able to put it in a centering vice and drill straight down. You may have to drill your hole at a slight angle for your pattern to come out even all the way around. Measure and mark the centers on both ends, draw a line lengthwise and drill accordingly. Ed, I beleive, has a video on how to turn this blank on this site. If not here, It's on you-tube. Jim S
 
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NotURMailman

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Ed is always so willing, even eager, to help. Not a lot of vendors would offer to measure balnks to find one that would work with a specific kit.

Is it possible that you could find some of the items they sell a dollar or so cheaper elsewhere? Yes. Would that make me buy the item from a different vendor? NO!

I'll be sure to post up a picture of the pen if I can get it to work out right.
(I'll be sure to have somone else take the photo... LOL!)
 
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