Pine cone pen blanks

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

gt64155

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
78
Location
Davenport Iowa
I'm interested in trying some pinecone pen blanks. The pinecones I have are very dry. Do I need to stabilize these first or can I just get them warm in the oven to get rid of any surface moisture and them cast them?

Thanks,
Bill
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Ive tried stabilizing pinecone cores from longleaf pines, didnt seem to help much. Takes a bit of delicate work to drill them properly, then I soaked them in thin CA.
 
I agree it is not necessary , but if you are dealing with large cones there are a couple of other considerations . I occasionally make S&P shakers from cones in the 2 inch diameter , 4-6 inch long range . I prefer to cast in vertical cylinders rather than horizontally , to save resin . Cones are seldom perfect cylinders of a diameter for which I have something that can be used for a mould . Stabilization hardens the scales enough that it usually becomes possible to grind the cones into a reasonable cylinder on a belt grinder . Wrecks do happen , of course !

However , cones come with a fairly high load of volatile organic compounds , similar to the spruce , pine , fir etc they came from . The vacuum will SLOWLY remove them , but you may still be getting bubbles after a couple days . I draw the line at 24 hours , and live with the results , which can include gluing the odd scale back in , over sanded fingers , and frequently picking them up off the floor . CA is still needed to seal the cut scale surfaces on the final product .
 
Back
Top Bottom