I can understand you not wanting to pay the cost of these blanks but they are like anything else and just because people call them worthless wood blanks don't expect it to be that (worthless wood ) I have made several of these blanks myself and if you look at the work and the equipment needed to make these blanks eg pressure pot and the molds in the end if you are not going to make blanks on a regular basis it does work out cheaper to buy them.
Cheers Ian
Right on the money Ian. Jim, although the learning curve isn't steep, the cost is high. To answer your question, you need suitable wood, resin of some kind, a mold and in most cases, a pressure pot to 1) diminish the size of the air bubbles in the resin and 2) help adhere the resin to the wood. They are also very time intensive if you work or have limited time.
And I back that myself, if your main motive to want to make them is their cost, look around carefully, there are people selling them at a very fair prices ($5 to $9), unless you have a good supply of the correct wood to make these blanks, you will need to make a few hundred, just to brake even...!
There are good things about making your own casting blanks however, there a few things that are not that good, and when thing go wrong, they really go wrong and mess everything up.
With this said, I spend a considerable amount of my time here, showing what that been done with castings and how easy is to find things to cast and make pen blanks with so, I'm not trying to push you away from doing your own castings, I encourage anyone to have a go, I just you to consider if blank costs is really the only motive for you to consider making your own...!
Good luck,
Cheers
George
