Commissioned from the UK, to be sent to Pakistan...!

[robutacion]

Hi peoples,

Last week, I had an unusual request from a guy in the UK that, I never dealt before but, he obviously saw some of my work so, he wanted 24 x knife scales at 150x30x5mm made from the most cracked and colorful Olive root I could find, cast with the shadows of blue, light and dark blues.

These were to be sent to his blacksmith in Pakistan for the making of straight shaving razors.

I did find a suitable blank, that require many hours of roasting before were put into the mold with resin.

I like to call this cracked resin filled wood/blanks, the "spider web" and in this case at 5mm thickness, the large cracks would make for some very fragile slices so, after the oven time, they were stabilised clear and then cast.

In normal Resifills making, I like to finish with a quite spray of varnish to enhance the colours, particularly the resin, as the wood darkens with water but the resin does not, much...! I couldn't spray any of the faces as I don't know which one is going to be used for gluing and the scales are already too thin to sand them down to take the varnish so, I only could use water to spray all over the scales, and take a couple of pics...!

I'm looking forwards to see some of the scales dressing some straight razors, they should look stunning and different, I only hope the blacksmith making them, is good in what he does. I was told that I will be sent some pics of the finish product so, will see...!

What do you think of these Resifill scales...???



Cheers
George

 

[Crashmph]

Those would make some pretty awesome pen blanks too.

 

[robutacion]

Those would make some pretty awesome pen blanks too.

Absolutely, I already made a few and they looked pretty good however, I have been waiting for the Olive root slabs I cut some time ago, (shown here) to dry enough for me to work with them without having to spend hours and hours in the oven, we pay here the most expensive electricity of the whole of Australia so, I have to consider those costs unless, and this was one of the cases where, I'm asked to make something with a wood that isn't yet ready.

There will be some small slabs amongst the big pile that are OK to use, those will be the part of the root that has less grain, as it has less oil, the wood is lighter in weight and the grain has less dark colourations on it. In fact, Olive root is even worse than the Olive wood to crack, it goes beserk when is sliced green and put to dry, some pieces start cracking (wood cells separation/tearing appart) in within a couple of weeks from cut, they really open up but, some time later, the cracks start to close again, some completely some not.

The pieces with the most oils, become very dark and the cracks tend to stay open for a lot longer, as the wood will also take longer to dry but, was is inside of it, is almost pure gold, absolutely stunning...!

I will attached here the actual blank I used to make these scales from, there was one other blank that had also good qualities for this type of casting but, was too short...!

Is not going to be long now before, you will start seeing lots of blanks cut and made from this Olive root material, I have already started to put some of the small slabs of it on my web-store and they sell quick...!

Cheers
George

 

[Alex D]

Those look fantastic! If you look at the picture on the far right, the bookmatched scales on the left pair look like an evil, grinning goat/goblin!

Or maybe I've been spending too much time looking at ink-blot tests!

Alex

 

[robutacion]

Hahahahah, I'm the one that get "accused" all the time, for "seeing things" in the wood, I'm glad I'm not alone but this time, I haven't yet manage to see what you see so, I many need to look at some of those ink-blot tests...!:wink::biggrin:

Any time wood is sliced up, strange things can appear on it, some easy to spot, others not so much but, all very beautiful, in its own right, huh...???:biggrin:

Cheers
George

 

[wyone]

I have to say.. the more things I see that George creates, the more impressed I am with his visions and his skills. Gives me something to work towards myself. Thank you for your inspiration George!

 

[robutacion]

Those look fantastic! If you look at the picture on the far right, the bookmatched scales on the left pair look like an evil, grinning goat/goblin!

Or maybe I've been spending too much time looking at ink-blot tests!

Alex

G'day Alex,

I intended to rectify my observation about the "Devil" face on the wood, I'm very sorry but, I thought that you were referring to the second lot of pics, no wonder why I couldn't see it, you were referring to the scales sets and in particular to that last pic that, I didn't realise was a face in there, sorry, you were most correct, it looks like a ugly Devil...!:wink:

Cheers
George

 

[Cmiles1985]

Ooooooo Olive Root Resifills. I know a guy that has a few of those :biggrin:
Unfortunately, said guy hasn't turned anything with them yet! I did share a link to your page on Facebook to a pen turning group. A lot of folks were intrigued by some of the blanks I bought (and won) from you. Hopefully you have enjoyed some new store traffic!
Have a great day!