Capt Cook

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from workinforwood

workinforwood

workinforwood

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
This is "pine cones" from the Cook Pine tree's at Kapiluana Park, Oahu, Hawaii. I went to a fair at the park and these little cones on the ground were far more interesting than the fair itself, so I picked a jar full.

The Cook Pine is not native to Hawaii..it was brought over by Capt Cook because it made for very sturdy masts on a ship. It is a beautiful looking pine tree..although many people in Hawaii say it is not actually a pine tree at all, and I have no idea if that is true or not, I just think the seed pods are great for pens. :smile:
 

Attachments

  • cookpine.jpg
    cookpine.jpg
    87.3 KB · Views: 554
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Those are cool! Look a little like sweetgum balls, but much more interesting story behind them! Print that story on a card in front of a display of a half dozen or so of them, and you won't be able to keep them in stock.
 
Great work Jeff! I picked up a small box of those a couple years ago in California while visiting family but never got around to trying them. Now that I see how great they look, I might have to dig them out. Thanks for sharing! Awesome work!
 
Skye said:
I like the wood color to them but also wonder what they would look like dyed.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing, but don't have the vacuum equipment to suck dye all the way through them and I don't have a good supply of them being that I am in Michigan. In my opinion the shapes that come out of the cones look like snowflakes. I think it would look real nice if the cones were dyed white all the way through and then the pen could be blue like the sky or green like grass. Yes..if someone has some and wants to give that a try..go for it!
 
Great pen. And you did a much better job of casting the seed pods than I did. I've only had one attempt so far but those pods float to the top of the resin like ping pong balls.

You're right about the tree not being a true pine. The tree is a She oak or Casuarina spp. There are many varieties of She oaks in Australia but it looks like the pods are from one that is native to the east coast. That would make sense if it was brought to Hawaii by Capt Cook. Hawaii was lucky - She oaks AND macadamias from Aus.

We have several She oaks growing on our property and for reasons I don't understand, only 2 of them carry seed pods. I'll have to ask a botanist why.

Having seen your excellent results, now I'm motivated to experiment a bit more with them.
 
Kapiluana Park
where is that?

Kapiolani in Waikiki or somewhere more exotic?

Nice...
is this the same as the sugi pine or norfolk pine used for bowls and bracelets?
 
Jeff, I picked some of these up my last trip to florida. I had the kids filling a bag for me. Now I just have to get some cast. They look great!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom