Jarrah blanks

[isaacrapelje]

I have a lot of jarrah that has cell collapse, is there an interest in these blanks for casting? The blanks are solid and I think they would look cool with the holes filled in. It seems like finished blanks go for about 6-10 bucks each seems like it could be profitable. What would be a good price for the pre-casted blanks?

 

[karlkuehn]

It'd be tough to cast those without having to double cast on the bottoms as the holes don't go all the way through. Even with vacuum, air pockets get trapped on the underside. Those are great looking blanks, though, and would be worth a double casting, or even filling in place on the lathe with CA type stuff.

What're you needing to make on them? Send me a PM and I might be interested in a few to monkey around with.

 

[fernhills]

Hi, i have about a dozen, i managed to turn one slimline pen with them, it was tough. I have checked out one place that could stabilize but haven`t sent them out yet. Carl

 

[Buzz]

Hi Isaac

The blanks would be more accurately described as being Jarrah Burl. Jarrah is the main local species here so I have seen a lot of it. Can't help with their value in the US, but the end result as a pen would be worth the effort.

 

[thetalbott4]

Stabilizing wont do much if your hoping it'll fill in the voids. Stabilizing just soaks into the wood, doesnt fill voids with the exception of tiny holes. Jarrah burl is tough enough not to need stabilizing, but as you said casting would solve the problem of the voids.

 

[toolcrazy]

I have turned a pen out of Jarrah burl, it was a pain, But I filled the voids with CA and it turned out really cool. Can't really see well with this photo.

 

[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.

 

[karlkuehn]

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.

 

[fernhills]

Hi, i`ll try to turn one this week,i think the problem i had was because it was a slimline and the blanks i had were about a inch square and too much material was coming off at one time,i thought of filling the voids with inlace or something like that. Carl

 

[isaacrapelje]

Thanks for all the input. I was wondering what you guys thought the best future for the blanks were. Ron and Karl you are right on the mark. If you are interested in some send me a line and we can work something out. Thanks again, Isaac

 

[MesquiteMan]

Sorry Karl but I am going to have to disagree on this one. They can easily be fixed with Alumilite Black with one cast and will look good when done. It would be well worth it and would add value to the blank, IMO. I have done quite a few in a condition just like this and they all had very good penetration. Here are a couple of pictures of some Spanish Oak Mistletoe burl I cast just this evening. It was in basically the same condition as Issac's blanks and I got complete fills. Here is a large view of three blanks...

Here is a close up showing the filled areas better...

If you are interested, shoot me a pm and we can work out the details.

 

[Ligget]

Curtis those look awesome![]

 

[karlkuehn]

Wow, that's surprising! I've been having trouble with holes being filled on the underside without trapping air pockets, at least on holes that don't go all the way through. I wish I could see what was going on in the pots under vacuum and pressure. Does the resin get sucked or pushed 'up' into the holes?

 

[MesquiteMan]

Karl,

I think there are several reasons I am having success with this...one, I am using Alumilite RC3 Black which is MUCH thinner than regular Alumilite or PR. Second, I am heating the blanks to 200 degrees and casting with them hot. This helps thin the resin even more and seems to helps pull it deeper into the wood. Also, not sure what pressure you are using but I am using 80 psi which forces more resin into smaller spots. I used a piece of MDF in this mold as a filler to keep from using too much resin and it penetrated the MDF completely! I now have a nice black piece of MDF!