OK, here I go, wish me luck,

[stevers]

Hi All,
I'm so exited. My Mr. Fiberglass resin showed up an hour ago. (yes almost 7:00, UPS in my area "sucks") I have one batch of color stuff and one batch of clear under vacuum for 15 minutes to de-gas. I will go out in a few minutes and pour the clear over my worthless wood blanks and put them both under pressure over night and hope for the best.
More in a little while.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Steve, some times having luck is all you need so here is some []LUCK[]

 

[stevers]

Thanks Roy,
Here is the first update,
The blue is going good. We'll see about the worthless wood blanks.

My mess, ready to go,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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They're in the pot, fingers crossed,,,,,,,,,,,,

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60 pounds, just like Curtis said to do,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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[Darley]

Why do you cast at 60 PSI?? don't need to

 

[Stevej72]

I cast at 60 lbs, also. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Serge,

The reason he is doing 60psi is beacause of the tutorial I recently posted regarding worthelss woood blanks. I have tried it with less pressure and have found that the higher pressure will force resin into more of the smaller cracks then lower pressure one might use while casting straight resin.

 

[stevers]

SUCCESS!!!!! They both worked. The blue is still tacky, but solid. I'll give it a few more hours and see how it looks. We have to go shopping anyway.
The "Worthless Wood" blanks look even better. I don't see any bubbles at all. It's as clear as water. And I'll check the penetration in a while.
I'm so happy they came out well. My first experience was troubling. But several of you told me to hang in and keep trying. Thanks for that.
And Curtis, thanks for the WW tutorial. I hope this works for me, with the PR I mean.
I'll let you know soon. Meantime, here are a couple of picks,,,,,,,,,

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[Woodlvr]

Isn't that going to be hard to turn, being in a square?[}][][]

Mike

 

[BRobbins629]

You've come a long way Steve. Don't worry about the tacky outside. It may stay that way for days. PR resin doesn't like to cure in air so you can sand off the outside and the inside should be ready to go. I think some places sell a spray that help the exterior keep from getting tacky, but its never been a real big deal to just sand it off and go. I like the smile I see on your face.

 

[stevers]

Thanks Bruce, and away I go.

 

[ahoiberg]

way to go man! i'll be coming to you for suggestions once i start using PR.

 

[stevers]

Well thanks Andrew, but I'm very new at this as well. I'm sure we can get you the help you'll need.

OK, here is the first one,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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I am very happy with it. The color could "pop" a little more, but over all, it's very nice. The PR turned very nicely. Almost too soft. I'm afraid of future scratching. Would it be advised to add a couple of drops more MEKP to make it a little harder? Or would that be testing fate? It finished well. This is polishing only, no CA. I can ""almost"" see the tube thru the PR. Any smaller of a pen and it would have showed. The ends are actually lighter then the middle.

Next is one of the "worthless wood" blanks. I can't tell how well it penetrated yet. I'll know in a few minutes.

I want to thank all of you for all the help you have given me though out this whole adventure. Your help and advice has been invaluable. Thank You All!!

 

[skiprat]

Looking good Steve, I can also see your smile from over here!!!![]
I know just what it feel like.[]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that keeps logging on just to see the wood ones you have done as well.

I have a feeling that after Curtis's tutorial, there will be lots of folks having a go at casting. And doing some 'Dumpster Diving' for junk wood too.[}][]

 

[Stevej72]

Wow, Steve, great job on the casting and the pen. That is a very nice blue. My last casting with Castin' Craft PR was a little soft when I turned it, even a day after casting, you could put a fingernail mark in it easily . It turned great and about 2 or 3 days later it hardened nicely.

 

[stevers]

Thank you very much Steven.
Steve, the blue blank is hard, was out of the mold. I just noticed when I turned it, it was a little like CSUSA's celluloid.

So here is the "Worthless wood" experiment. I only turned one barrel. It's a cigar lower. The penetration is fantastic. All the way to the center of the blank. And the blanks started out almost an inch thick. I am very impressed. Keep in mind, the wood is very punky. But when I turned it, it was turned from square and I got quite aggressive with it. And it was pulling off some nice ribbons. Again, I'm happy with the results.

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See how the tube actually shows and the resin is all the way into it. It has a cool transparent look to it. Of course the next one will have some color fill and I'll probably paint the tube. This was just an experiment.
More to come later. Thanks for all the great positive comments.

 

[thewishman]

Congrats! Glad your experiments came out so well. That "worthless wood" is beautiful! Nice work.

Chris

 

[MesquiteMan]

Good job, Steve! It looks like you have already mastered the process! One really cool thing to do is to color the resin but make sure it is still transparent. Use a color like ruby red or blue green. Then when you make the pen, DO NOT color the tube. Just make it as usual. The brass will create a backlit effect and will make the resin glow when viewed from the right direction! It will knock your socks off!

 

[stevers]

Hey Curtis,
Thats what I planed to do. This first one is for practice. Thats why I wasn't too picky about the finish. I just wanted to be able to see thru the resin to check for penetration. Thanks for the tips. I'll post more when I get more results.

 

[its_virgil]

Way to go steve...you're a good student and your persistence paid off.
I guess I need to take care of some of my WW. Wow, the versatility of PR!
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Steve, You did good!!!!!!!!!!!![][]

 

[gketell]

Very VERY nice, Steve. Awesome job!
GK

 

[stevers]

Don, Roy and Greg, thanks a bunch.

Here is generation 3. The photo was done by someone else. But I applied it to the tubes and sealed it. I used Bruce R's method for sealing the tube and it worked like a charm. No resin in the tube at all. And not hard at all to clean out the cork residue. The reason I am only showing the upper barrel is, the lower barrel is a very early prototype and really not one I feel should be shown. The upper is the focus of this post anyway.

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So my next challenge will be a lighter colored photo like Bruce and Steve have been doing lately. They have already given me some excellent tips on painting the tubes. So, I think I am ready to try it. Right now I have a purple resin in the mold.

 

[stevers]

Last cast for the weekend, and last pick post on this thread. Did somebody just say "thank goodness?" [][] This is a purple number with some pearl added. Turned out OK. I think it's time for me to take the kid gloves off and get down to it. I'll post a new thread when I get something different done.
Thanks for all the support and as always critiques and comments welcome.

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