Trashwood first cast OOPS

[Russknan]

Finally got things together and cast my first Alumilite blank. Put a couple pieces of waste cherry into the mold, mixed the resin, added a bit of Alumilite red dye and a touch of yellow. Came out of the pot better than I expected. Decided to put it on a Classic Elite II rollerball, another first. Turned the lower blank and was having a great time until, near the end, I took off a little too much with the skew at the nib end. I hadn't realized that I was that close to the tube. Anyway, got BELOW the level of the bushing and also managed to reveal the tube in two places (see pics). I had, previously, painted both the blank and the tube. In one of the two spots, I had even scraped the red paint off the tube. I understand that the normal advice would be to part off a little at the top and bottom of the blank and segment something onto the tube to hide the oops. But I'd like to know whether it would be possible to save this, as is. Could I cap the end with painter's tape, mix some red paint into a little bit of CA and put it into the voids, etc.? I really don't have anything invested in these blanks, but wonder whether there could be a chance to practice something new. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Russ

 

[sbwertz]

You could fill the voids with ca and crushed stone. Red jasper or cats eye would be very pretty with that. So would hematite. When I have a piece chip off one of these very fragile mulberry blanks, I drop on a drop of medium CA and add a pinch of either very finely-crushed stone or black embossing powder. Then I add another pinch of stone and a drop of thin CA. A spritz of accelerator and repeat until I have the area built up high enough that I can re-turn the whole end of the blank. You can also use any color of embossing powder instead of the stone.

 

[robutacion]

G'day Russ,

Anything is possible mate, is only a matter of how much time and effort you are willing to put into a repair.

I can see various options to fix those barrels, the one you are more interested in, is a lot easier if was only the red resin, a little 5 minute araldite and some of the same colour you used on the resin and you would fill that gap and than re-shape/sand as normal however, there is a chunk missing in the wood part, that is a lot harder to fix and have a perfect match with another piece of wood or simply, sawdust.

If you have followed my advice on saving a little of sawdust/shavings from all different wood colours you come across, into a glass jar (so that you can see the colours/contents), you should be able to find one that is the best match for what you need, apart from that, you have to go to the other options where, you have to cut something out of the barrel to replace with...!

Best of luck and congrats on your first cast...!

Cheers
George

 

[Russknan]

Thanks to both Sharon and George for your responses. George, your observation about the wood puts it over the line for me. If this were a super-expensive blank, particularly of historical wood (?), I might try for such a complicated repair. Instead, I think I'll just part off the ends and try to come up with a pleasing couple of bands to hide the mistake. I'll also have to see how many of these pen kits I have on hand. If it's only a couple, I may throw them out. I don't like how little "meat" is left on the tube, even when perfectly turned. Sharon, I still have the mulberry you sent. I have been saving it to try your technique for putting in stone. Again, thank you both so much. Russ

 

[sbell111]

Don't you have to part off a bit with that kit? It would be lucky if the boo-boo was where you would part off anyway.

 

[walshjp17]

If you decide not to make these kits anymore, do not throw them out. There are folks here who might be interested in a trade. See the Deals Trades Gifts and Wants, forum in the IAP Marketplace.

 

[Janster]

Carve bit more OFF, paint it Mustard Yellow in the carved out area and sell it as a Hot Dog pen!:biggrin:

 

[CrimsonKeel]

I know sometimes it isn't worth the effort on blanks that you don't particular care about but i use those times as learning experiments. that way i'm not trying something for the first time while working on a great blank i'm trying to save