Casting pine cones?

[angboy]

Has anyone had trouble with casting pine cones and getting the PR to set up? I used the PR from mister fiberglass is the name I think. I was casting two small containers with it. The one where I got the pine cone cut better and thus the pine cone was more dense in the tray, is still very soupy like nothing has hardened. The other one, which I did a worse job on cutting, and thus has less pine cone actually submerged, has hardened a little but not nearly enough. And this was after both were in the pressure pot for 9 hours and the two other trays that I was casting, of cactus, set up fine.

I'd had something similar happen with something that I took from nature and affectionately dubbed the weed blank. I have no idea what it was, but it was some sort of thing with prongish looking parts like a pine cone. One person thought it was some sort of a thistle. All I know is it's found in nature. But it seems like some of these nature products almost must have some kind of reaction with the PR or have something in them that makes them not set.

Anybody have any ideas why this might happen?

Anybody who has successfully cast pine cones willing to share what casting material you used?

 

[its_virgil]

I can't imagine the pine cone causing the resin not to cure. Could you have forgotten to add the catalyst? How many drops did yuou use? Was it a small amount of resin. The smaller the cast, or thinner, as in thickness, then more catalyst is needed to produce the heat. Thicker castings can use less catalyst. The amount of time in the pressure pot has nothing to do with curing. If you still have the pine cone cast and it has not cured, yuou could put it in a small toaster oven, turn on the heat and use an external heat source to cause the resin to cure. Heat is what cures the resin. Were the pine cones whole, or had you turned them down to pen size? Maybe these questions will help you figure out how to save the cast, or help you decide what you did or did not do ... wrong or right ... Good luck and I hope you can get it figured out. I turned 5 pine cones Sunday afternoon and had no luck with any of them. I think I need some that are either larger or longer. Tomorrow is another day.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by angboy
<br />Has anyone had trouble with casting pine cones and getting the PR to set up? I used the PR from mister fiberglass is the name I think. I was casting two small containers with it. The one where I got the pine cone cut better and thus the pine cone was more dense in the tray, is still very soupy like nothing has hardened. The other one, which I did a worse job on cutting, and thus has less pine cone actually submerged, has hardened a little but not nearly enough. And this was after both were in the pressure pot for 9 hours and the two other trays that I was casting, of cactus, set up fine.

I'd had something similar happen with something that I took from nature and affectionately dubbed the weed blank. I have no idea what it was, but it was some sort of thing with prongish looking parts like a pine cone. One person thought it was some sort of a thistle. All I know is it's found in nature. But it seems like some of these nature products almost must have some kind of reaction with the PR or have something in them that makes them not set.

Anybody have any ideas why this might happen?

Anybody who has successfully cast pine cones willing to share what casting material you used?

 

[GaryMGg]

Originally posted by its_virgil
<br />
...I turned 5 pine cones Sunday afternoon and had no luck with any of them. I think I need some that are either larger or longer. ...

Not to hijack the thread, but when you measure a pine cone for making
blanks, do you simply measure from bow to stern?
I ask 'cause my wife has bags and bags full of pine cones. The few largest ones (&gt; 7-9") are fairly broad. The smaller they are, the
tighter the diameter. That is, the longer cones have more air between the microsporophylls -- that's the technical name for what I was gonna call a sorta-leaf.
I ask so that I can determine if the smaller ones will be useful for
people -- I'm givin' 'em away for cost of postage. I was asked if the cone will make a both top & bottom or if a pen will require two cones. And, finally, would you object to using a cone for each half a pen or would it be immaterial if there's no significant cost?

[]

 

[MesquiteMan]

Angela,

Let me preface by saying I do not use PR so I don't have any real experience with it but I do do a LOT of casting with Alumilite. I do know that PR is supposed to be affected by moisture. Could it be that your cones and your thistle were not dry enough? Alumilite also has problems with moisture but it is more of a foaming problem rather than a non-setting problem. I have learned to put natural items that I want to try out in the toaster oven on low for a few hours to make sure they are dry.

I also do a lot of wood casting where I take a piece of wood that is full of voids and put it in a mold and pour with resin. I then pressure cast this and force the resin into the voids. If the piece of wood I am working with is not completely dry, I will have problems that I do not have with the same species that is completely dry.

Try drying your cones in the toaster oven and see what happens. Be sure to let us know if that helped any. Good luck!

 

[its_virgil]

Gary,
I'm not the expert on pine cones. I found some under a tree on my walk Sat evening and picked up a few. These were about 5 inches long. I cut the "leaves" off on the bandsaw, drilled and glued in the tube. There was plenty of bulk on the butt end, but towards the tip is where they just flew off the tube. I think longer is better to use as much as can be used close to the butt end. Maybe someone who has had success with them will help us out. I will not give up. What I did get turned was really nice and unusual.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[BRobbins629]

Could just be the temperature. PR resin will cure very slowly if not warm enough. I have taken some soupy mixtures and put them in front of a ceramic space heater for a day and although still "sticky" on top, did get hard enough to turn out well. Try to keep them at a temperature of at least 70 degrees for a few days and they should cure. The warmer the better.

 

[Snazzypens]

Ang, why are you casting them? I turned mine straight up so you got me curious.
Toni

 

[angboy]

I'm really not sure which of the ideas offered could be the cause, except maybe the issue of dryness, though the pine cones certainly seemed dry and had been picked awhile ago. I don't think it was a problem with the PR or catalyst, b/c I did a total of four trays, two small with a pinecone in each, and 2 large with cactus in them. The cactus came out fine- nice and hard. But the PR was mixed all at once, and so there was enough catalyst for the cactus trays it seems (I can't remember how many drops I used). I did cut them down on the bandsaw too the size of an oversized pen blank probably, otherwise they weren't going to fit in my trays.

Toni- I guess I figured they wouldn't be stable enough to turn without being cast in something- it seems like you'd have an awful lot of empty space?

 

[KenV]

I am setting up to cast some Sitka Spruce cones into resin. Spruce cones are smaller, with a long one about 3 1/2 inches +/-, and most about 2 1/2. The core is too small to drill. As found in the yard, the cones are about 1/2 inch in diameter, but on drying fluff out to over an inch in diameter. Will be stuffing them into a 3/4 inch mould and filling with polyester resin available locally for boat repairs. I am expecting that two cones will be needed for most pens, with perhaps a single long cone making an artist pencil or Atlas pen. Planning on painting tubes or blanks. Will start with small tubes and work up.

The local pine (Pinus Contorta) has a small cone also. It is a variant of the lodgpole/jack pine. Looks like the better cones for straight drilling come from the ponderosa (yellow pine), White Pine, and Montery Pine (these are all really pine trees). They do not grow this far north. If I can find a stash of hemlock cones (accumulated by a bushy tailed rodent) I may be able to stuff a bunch into a mould and make a western hemlock and PR blank.

Fun stuff to try, and it is always interesting to utilize variations of FOG (found on the ground) materials for this activity. Good tip on making sure the cones are well dried before casting. Thanks

 

[BobNashvillega]

angboy, see my topic I had posted in build tips My pine cone pen instructions. I agree with alot of the things said here, virgil is correct if the cones have not had time to dry out I have found that even after casting them they will dry and actually split the cast I made. So I have usually cut them square and then let them dry, the input about using a toaster oven works for me too. just make sure you never turn the heat up too high. I usually try keeping it as low as the oven can be set to maybe around 70, what I usually do is heat the oven first then put cone in and let them dry some. I have not tried micro waving but have heard you can do this to dry out wood if you use defrost setting?