Casting Pinecones?

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navycop

navycop

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If someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I searched but could not find.
When casting pine cones:
1. Do you take all the needles off first?
2. Put the whole pine cone (sumpmerge) in PR/Aluminite or cast like worthless wood?
Thank You.
 
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I use my tablesaw with a super thin kerf blade and trim the cones square, then stuff them into single molds and pour with alumilite and high pressure. My mold is 7/8x5.25. Usually a cone is not that long, so I use two cones and will trim them at the tip end as well so the tips meet in the middle of the length of the mold. The user then works off each end and the center of the blank is the scrap.
 
workinforwood said:
I use my tablesaw with a super thin kerf blade and trim the cones square, then stuff them into single molds and pour with alumilite and high pressure. My mold is 7/8x5.25. Usually a cone is not that long, so I use two cones and will trim them at the tip end as well so the tips meet in the middle of the length of the mold. The user then works off each end and the center of the blank is the scrap.
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What do you mean by that? :confused:
 
A typical pine cone is 2.5-3 inch long. So you trim it to fit mold, then stick pine cone in mold so the tips face each other. A pine cone is like a triangle, the tip is the top. The base goes at each end. Even when trimmed it tapers off to less and less leaves at the tip. So the tips face each other in the center of the blank. You work off each end, and toss out the bit in the middle.
 
workinforwood said:
A typical pine cone is 2.5-3 inch long. So you trim it to fit mold, then stick pine cone in mold so the tips face each other. A pine cone is like a triangle, the tip is the top. The base goes at each end. Even when trimmed it tapers off to less and less leaves at the tip. So the tips face each other in the center of the blank. You work off each end, and toss out the bit in the middle.
Click to expand...
What Jeff is talking about here in his explaination is a pen with 2 barrels. So when you take the blank out of the mold measure the tubes from each end and you will be left with a chunk in the middle.
Lin.
 
When doing a full size cone, I do what Jeff does. The cones I use are between 4.5 to 5 inches long to fill a mold. On the bandsaw I trim down the cone to fit in the mold. I then cast in Alumilite under 40 to 50 psi. Make sure the cones are completely dry.
 
Are the pine cones "open" or "closed" ? I have collected some of each and it looks like the "closed" ones would be better. They are both dried/seasoned.
 
this is what i do for casting pine cones which i find up here in NH:

1. first i let them dry out 100%. you can put them in your oven for a few hours at 200 deg. that kills anything that might be in them and they will open up nicely. if they are closed, even after cooking them, they are usually not dry.

2. once the cones are nice and open i grind them on my sander so they are the size of a 3/4x3/4x5 blank.

3. i then pour some resin and hardner into a large cup and i dunk the cone blanks into the resin to ensure they are really soaked. this is a very messy effort but ensures i get good penetration.

4. next i put the soaked blank into a mold which has a little bit of resin already in it and i also pour more resin over them.

5. i then put the mold into my binks pressure pot and crank it up to 50psi and leave them alone for a few hours.

6. when ready i demold them and put them in my toaster over to get rid of the stickiness.

7. done - have CA on hand in that you will need it to fill voids. as you can see it takes some effort to get a pinecone cast but i think it is worth is in that the cones up here look like snake scales when turned down to a pen size which is pretty cool.
 
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Powerstroke 7.3 said:
Are the pine cones "open" or "closed" ? I have collected some of each and it looks like the "closed" ones would be better. They are both dried/seasoned.
Click to expand...

I find the open cones are best for the look I like to go for.
 
My process would be to use the band saw to cut the cone to a size to fit the lathe. Then cut and sand down to just under the correct size Then it is put into Alumilite to create a blank that you can work with.
 
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