Originally posted by Tea Clipper
I think Isaac is thinking more along the lines of Curtis' "worthless wood" rather than stabilization. If I catch his drift, he would be looking to sell them to someone who could make them 'whole' again, then that person could re-sell them (or whatever). He'd like to know what a fair price would be before the process and still allow some room for profit for whomever takes on this endeavor.
Hopefully I'm not too far off the mark.
You're right on the mark!
That's why I posted what I did. As an avid 'worthless' caster, I've done enough of this type of blank to know that it's going to take (most likely) more than one casting pass to make them 'worthwhile'.
Since the holes are pretty small, there's not going to be much resin showing on the final pen, so realistically the best bet for these is filling the holes on the lathe using CA and whatever pigments at the time of turning.
That burl is worth a good price, but the cost of resin/prep time to cover them completely will most likely outweigh the profit margin that a person would make trying to resell them as 'worthless' blanks.
He's better off just selling them to someone who's willing to fill them on the lathe because of the true beauty of the wood. 'Worthless' castings are only worth doing if you're going to be filling 30%(+) of the blank with resin, therefore, I'd be hard pressed to offer more than $1.00 a blank for casting purposes.
