Collecting cactus

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Dario

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This weekend I collected some prickly pear cactus to try Mesquiteman's wonderful pen :D.

Here are some lesson's learned.

1. Proper attire is mandatory.
- Boots (I used a steel toed shoes but I think a thick pair of galoshes will be better)
- Thick leather gloves (denim won't work!)

2. At least wear Denim pants...it is not enough but better than nothing. If you have leather chaps...by all means use it.

3. Long cutting tools are good. Machete is probably ideal.

4. Bring a box - plastic bag is a hassle

5. Sturdy, long, pointed rod is best to pickup cactus...lets you stary away from the prickly's

6. Duct tape and tweezers are heaven sent. Fastest way to remove most of the pricklies is by duct tape...what ever remains should be indivually plucked with a tweezer. Use of (cuticle) nipper may also be needed. DAMHIKT

7. If you are squirmish about scorpions, spiders (and possibly snakes) this activity is not for you. I saw the biggest and fattest scorpion yesterday...may it rest in peace. ;)

8. The part you want/need is always well protected. FYI, the fresh leaves won't work. The ones you want are the old cactus "trunk". Those are the ones that will have the proper "skeleton".

Good part is that I collected a few box full of the good stuff...not sure how fast I can process them though.

If I can find a good source of transtint and epoxy I may play a bit of these in a few weeks.

I may add more to this list later, but have to go...fingers are still hurting [B)][V]. These plants really know how to bite back!!! BIG TIME!!! :(

Things we do for a hobby.
 
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Coach,

I got most of it figured out before I went actually...but I still got "bitten". My gloves were the cheap leather front, denim backed ones....pricklies found their way in FAST!!!

My pickup implements were barbecue thongs and fork...both were not sturdy enough. The trunks are HEAVY!!! My father-in-law's barbeque fork is mangled now [:D]
 
I have a "pear burner" that is hooked to a small butane tank. The burner burns off the "stickies" and the cows will eat what is left. TSC (Tractor Supplty Co) should have these "pear burners", but I'm not really sure what they call them. I also use it to burn the "stickies" off the fruit in the late summer/early fall to make jam from the "pears". Make and sell jam and pens from the lowly cactus.
Do a good turn daikly!'
Don
Originally posted by Dario
<br />Coach,

I got most of it figured out before I went actually...but I still got "bitten". My gloves were the cheap leather front, denim backed ones....pricklies found their way in FAST!!!

My pickup implements were barbecue thongs and fork...both were not sturdy enough. The trunks are HEAVY!!! My father-in-law's barbeque fork is mangled now [:D]
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I think they have burned all the pear available down her Don. My neighbor is trying to hold on for rain so he doesn't have to sell again. He has been burning pear several days a week for some time now.
 
Dario why wont PR work. Lay the cactus in the tray. Mix your PR to the color you want and pour it in. I have not made my own PR so I dont know if it will work or not.
 
Hey Dario, send me a bit of that (cleaned and dried of course!) and I'll try it with PR and let you know how it goes...and I won't even charge ya for the testing! [;)]

Draken
 
Not sure how soon I can get the skeletons out of these...right now I am trying to kill the pieces by soaking them in chlorine. If that doesn't do the job...I'll use RoundUp [:0]

Don't want to skin them just yet...they really BITE back!!![:D] I figure the skin will peel off much easier when they are dead.
 
Dario let me know if you'd be interested in selling some. I really don't think my piano fingers can take all of that work! I know, call my a sissy, I don't care. Let me know if you'll sell some when they are done. [;)][:D][8D]
 
Dario, you wimp[:)]

I harvest my cactus in shorts with regular shoes and no gloves! You just have to know how to hold them!

The dead ones are the ones you want. If it is still alive it will be very difficult to get the pulp out of them. I tried some this weekend and did not have any success. I even boiled them for 1 hour and it did not really help. It helps get the skin off but not the pulp out. You want ones where the internal pulp has already turned to mush and stinky slime, in other words it has already started to rot.

I did not have any luck with the PR. I tried using some clear to see if it would work with the skeletons and it worked fine but did not have enough bonding power to stick to the skeleton properly. When turning it tended to blow out pieces. And this was with VERY sharp tools and my experience level of turning cross cut spalted, unstabilized hackberry. The best I have found so far is EnviroTex Lite resin. I believe it is a type of expoxy. It us used for bar tops. I have some Alumalite clear on the way to try it out. It is a urethane resin. I will let you all know how well it works.
 
Originally posted by MesquiteMan
<br />Dario, you wimp[:)]

I harvest my cactus in shorts with regular shoes and no gloves! You just have to know how to hold them!

The dead ones are the ones you want. If it is still alive it will be very difficult to get the pulp out of them. I tried some this weekend and did not have any success. I even boiled them for 1 hour and it did not really help. It helps get the skin off but not the pulp out. You want ones where the internal pulp has already turned to mush and stinky slime, in other words it has already started to rot.

I did not have any luck with the PR. I tried using some clear to see if it would work with the skeletons and it worked fine but did not have enough bonding power to stick to the skeleton properly. When turning it tended to blow out pieces. And this was with VERY sharp tools and my experience level of turning cross cut spalted, unstabilized hackberry. The best I have found so far is EnviroTex Lite resin. I believe it is a type of expoxy. It us used for bar tops. I have some Alumalite clear on the way to try it out. It is a urethane resin. I will let you all know how well it works.
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LOL...Curtis, not sure if you that I am NOT a native TEXAN [:D]...just a transplanted Asian [;)]

I know what you mean about the stinky rotten pieces. I did see a lot of those but avoided them since they really smell like $hit [:p]. A few even have maggots.

There were nice skeletons but thought they may be useless by now. I will go back and see if I can find more this weekend. The dried ones I can handle...the skin feel off easilly. I will still use gloves...the smell does linger.

Thanks for the tip!!!
 
The problem that you will find with the dried ones is that the skeleton is usually pretty dark. The really nice cream colored ones are in the stinky $hit. Some of them are really full of the worm you mention. I don't think they are maggots, however. They do look kinda like them but they are bigger. Maybe they are super maggots! You will also find little brown worms and some small cockroach looking things. Pretty disgusting really but well woth it.

If you come up with a way of getting the dried-out skeletons nice and creamy, be sure to let me know. I even tried boiling some this weekend to see if that would clean them up. It helped but did not make them as nice as the stinky ones! I have also tried using bleach and it also helps but still not as nice. 75/25 water/muriatic acid will help clean out any lingering pulp material pretty well.

You just need to get your butt up here some weekend soon and we can brainstorm together. Maybe we can even go in together to make and sell these blanks!
 
Originally posted by MesquiteMan
<br />
If you come up with a way of getting the dried-out skeletons nice and creamy, be sure to let me know.

You just need to get your butt up here some weekend soon and we can brainstorm together.
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Curtis,

I'll try if I can visit the weekend after next (June 10). I have a few ideas brewing already...maybe we can discuss it then.

BTW, where are you buying your EnviroTex Lite resin and tint?
 
Curtis, this is obviously no urban legend then! Nice looking pen, has a very unique character that makes is different in the pattern. I now see why one would hunt a cactus, but I think I will still continue to pass for the time being. We have prickly pear here in North Florida but I try to avoid them.

Again, very nice pen!
 
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