Turning requires adding CA glue through out turning. I also added CA glue to the ends of the blanks before drilling. It takes a very large pine cone. I have been able to find over 200 pine cones in the area big enough to turn. There may be more. I just started looking for pine cones that are 10-12 inches in lenght. I was able to use one pine cone to make one of the pens. The other one took 2 pine cones. The most difficult part of the process is drilling the blanks without them cracking. I have listed some of the pine cones on Ebay. I have to pay for my hobbie somehow. I will be listing more. drilling a 7mm hole can be done easily in the blanks, larger holes require accuracy and sharp drill bits. Not all the blanks I sell can be drilled larger than 7mm. It's hard to find pine cones with that big of core.