Casting over whiskey barrel blank thoughts

[JP1337]

So, let me start by declaring I am super new to the whole pen making hobby, and have only made a couple slimlines for gifts so far and have never worked with any sort of acrylic, just wood.

Now that is out of the way, I had an idea and I don't really know how to execute it. I will try my best to explain, hopefully you can follow my train of thought...


I recently bought a few whiskey barrel blanks (the Jack Daniels ones from Exotic Blanks).
The staining through the wood looks fantastic (and the smell is lovely too, though I won't be able to keep that) but my favourite feature is the charred side. The texture looks fantastic, and it would really be lovely to preserve that somehow.

Through my searching, I could not find any reference to the idea I have in my head, so I'm flying blind here.


What I am thinking, is to build a mold around the wood blank, with the charred surface facing up, and casting on top of it with a clear resin of some sort so the the char becomes the center line of the blank, with clear resin on one side and wood on the other.

From there, I start to run into trouble. I think I could carefully drill a thin hole just off centre on the wood side of the char line so I could slide a ball point refill in there rather than using tubes and a kit. Maybe even a D-1 sized mini refill.

Put it between centres and turn a nice fat pen that, when the acrylic is all polished up will hopefully act as a magnifier on the charred surface on one side of the pen, and lovely whiskey-stained wood on the other.

Seems like it would work in my head, but a few concerns need to be addressed before I can try it.

Main concern: Getting a bubble-free, glass-clear casting. With the right equipment and practice shouldn't be a problem. But I don't have the right equipment (or ANY equipment) and no experience. I am still researching, but if anyone has any guidance as to a resin that is perfectly clear and minimal chance of bubbles without using a pressure chamber, I'm all ears.



I have plenty of patience but not much money, so the casting needs to be done on the cheap.


I just don't know what to do about the casting.


Side note, the blank has some cracks in it that run along the grain. Not sure if that info makes any difference.


Let me know if you have any ideas.

Cheers,

JP

 

[ZbR]

JP, I was in similar position some time ago. Just to make it short: get some practise before dealing with your precious wood. Make any casting to get practise with resin use. I would advise you to use epoxy, that was my choice. Epoxy resins have long setting time so degassing is easier and it is enhanced by heating (I used heating bulb at about 140F) and had no air bulbs. Epoxy resins have easy components mixing ratio (mine has 1:.4) which is easy to measure in case of casting single blank. Epoxy resins have no odour. I can not point you any epoxy brand since I have no experience with American market but I think any epoxy would be fine if it has long setting time (30 min) and final hardness around Shore 80D and is translucent.
Happy casting!

 

[jttheclockman]

Hello JP

Now I never used these blanks but here is a thought that I would do if I were trying something that you want to accomplish. This will require the ability to work with power tools and the working with small pieces of wood so here is the disclaimer. If you do not have this ability forget this idea. I would build the pen somewhat like they make the barrels. I would cut the blanks into staves. You can keep the charred side out all the way around. Then not finish it at all or I suggest because the charred wood will get you dirty, seal it with a shellac or other top coat. Good luck.

 

[WIDirt]

jttheclockman,

Just to clarify this, because I want to make sure I understand you correctly, because this actually sounds like a cool idea, are you saying cut this like the guys who are doing the Mother of Pearl blanks do? Very thin veneer of the charred wood cut into very narrow strips and placed around the tube that way?

I think that would turn out really awesome!

CdirtO

 

[KenV]

The idea sound achievable. You might think about doing a prototype to work out the kinks in the processes of building the blank and turning a pen.

CA glue is likely a good material to build a thick clear coating to test the idea. Marine epoxy or aluminite are also available in smaller quanties. A cardboard and duct tape mould and building up in several thin layers are good prototype techniques.

Have fun and be open to things not working the first few times.

 

[jttheclockman]

jttheclockman,

Just to clarify this, because I want to make sure I understand you correctly, because this actually sounds like a cool idea, are you saying cut this like the guys who are doing the Mother of Pearl blanks do? Very thin veneer of the charred wood cut into very narrow strips and placed around the tube that way?

I think that would turn out really awesome!

CdirtO

That is not quite what I am saying but your idea may even work too. Depends on the thickness of the charring.

My idea is to actually cut staves. Here is an example of a pen that Mike8850 did and follow his replys and see how he did his pen. He shows his setup for cutting and all. like I said though this kind of work is tedious but rewarding. Need to be so careful working with small pieces and machinery. You can size the staves almost exactly to form a blank. There are formulas for this. But it gives an idea to a segmented blank.

www.penturners.org/forum/f13/wood-stripes-108742/

 

[WIDirt]

Ahh, Ok. Thanks for the link, I'll have to read up on that method.

 

[Terredax]

A question about the method in the link that was posted.

Couldn't the same effect be achieved, and maybe a little safer, buy ripping the blank down the center and gluing in a strip of desired width, then rotate the blank 90 degrees and repeat? After the blank is turned, the angle of the strips won't be evident after the pen is assembled, correct?

I'm guessing this method was mentioned to keep the desired char on the outside, but it wouldn't benefit a regular stripped blank?

After thinking about it for a second, I think the char could still remain exposed with the method I mentioned, with one alteration. Instead of ripping completely through the blank, just rip it half way through (to the center) and fill it with a strip with the char exposed. Continued around the blank until the blank has the char all the way around.

Would that work?

 

[JP1337]

jttheclockman, That is an interesting idea but not quite what I am looking for in this project. Cheers for the link, will have to remember that one in the future.

KenV, thanks for the tips, I am definitely going to be making a few prototypes until I get it right. Using CA is not such a bad idea. Maybe a few coats of thin CA to get into all the textures on the charred side and then just layer on thick CA to build up the blank?

That would be a cheap way to find the flaws in my plan