Pine Cone blanks

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byounghusband

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Oct 27, 2005
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Celina, Texas, USA.
Hey all,
I just landed a nice $500 order and one of the pens is a Pine Cone Sierra. I got one a LONG time ago and don't remember where it came from. I loaded it up with thin CA and it came out great. Now I need to do another one. Anyone have any blanks?

Thanks!!
 
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Try Vince Hoffmann. He gets some big sugar pines cones and cuts them into blanks that he stabilizes with CA. They are really good. He's a member and you can look him up. Nice guy to do business with and makes really good blanks. Takes really sharp tools and patience and lots of CA but they come out beautiful. He has some ready to go now.
 
I just bought one from Vince and can't wait to get it... Thanks for all the info!!

Laurie,
I would like ot try one of yours as well. Please send me a PM so we can arrange it.

Thanks!!
 
laurie sullivan said:
I have a bunch of pine cones if you want to turn a raw one. I do it all the time.

Laurie
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That's an interesting idea. I went to your website and your pine cone pen is awesome. I'm curious how it's done. Do you take the raw pine cone and drill it out then rough turn it? Then do you soak it in CA or lacquer? If you soak it in CA do you fill a small container with CA and put the pine cone in it or do you just apply many coats of CA? Will lacquer work?
 
Vince_Hoffmann said:
wolftat,
Do you cast them open or closed? I've seen many cast open (dragon hide) but I've never seen them pressure cast closed.
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I cast them open, as far as I can tell they won't cast closed but I will try again when I harvest them in a few weeks. Right now I have around 150 of them and they are all opened. I don't think that they will cast closed because the heat causes them to open.
 
Wolftat,
You are right, the closed cones are too airtight for the resin to penetrate into the center.

Try cutting them down on your table saw prior to casting. You may end up with some that start to dry and spread (this happens very quickly) but the resin will penetrate much deeper.

I just harvested about 2 dozen good sized Jeffreys and Sugar pine cones which I will pressure cast in about 2 months when they completely dry.
 
I don't know if this is true or not, so I dropped some closed cones into a mold and tossed them in the pot at 85 lbs with alumilite. They did not open, that I can tell you for sure. Did the resin penetrate deep, don't know yet, I'll have one made by tomorrow and then we'll see!
 
workinforwood said:
I don't know if this is true or not, so I dropped some closed cones into a mold and tossed them in the pot at 85 lbs with alumilite. They did not open, that I can tell you for sure. Did the resin penetrate deep, don't know yet, I'll have one made by tomorrow and then we'll see!
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I went back to my notes and found out what the problem is with the closed cones. The sap is too wet and was causing the Alumilite to foam up. While it is posible to still make them with the addition of a lot of CA, I stopped because it was becoming obvious to me that it was going to make a mess and the raw blank looked extremely bad(not to mention what it does to the bandsaw). If you have a better experience with it, please let me know what you are doing different than me. There is a way to tell if the resin penetrates by weighing the stuff, but it may be easier to just cut it open or spin it.
 
Ok, this is far from my best work. Cast in alumilite. The alumilite did penetrate deep. The alumilite did not stick to the pine cone very well at all. The pine cone being very fresh and closed, I believe the fresh sap prevented adhesion. As I spun it, the seeds started blowing out and it became a hairy ordeal, so I salvaged the mess as much as possible. What I can say is that it was the best smelling turn I ever made. It is finished in CA. I have no idea if this pen will even hold up to the test of time, being the pine cone was so fresh. Looks a lot like a corn cob..some sort of spruce cone.

It did not foam.
 

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Wolftat,
I think you've discovered the problem in your particular case, but if you let the cones completely dry, you may have much better luck with resin penetration. I believe that if you cut the closed cones down to 2" square first, then pressure cast them, you will have better luck. A comletely dry cone will have no residual resin inside.

wolftat said:
I went back to my notes and found out what the problem is with the closed cones. The sap is too wet and was causing the Alumilite to foam up. While it is posible to still make them with the addition of a lot of CA, I stopped because it was becoming obvious to me that it was going to make a mess and the raw blank looked extremely bad(not to mention what it does to the bandsaw). If you have a better experience with it, please let me know what you are doing different than me. There is a way to tell if the resin penetrates by weighing the stuff, but it may be easier to just cut it open or spin it.
Click to expand...
 
Vince_Hoffmann said:
Wolftat,
I think you've discovered the problem in your particular case, but if you let the cones completely dry, you may have much better luck with resin penetration. I believe that if you cut the closed cones down to 2" square first, then pressure cast them, you will have better luck. A comletely dry cone will have no residual resin inside.
Click to expand...
I normally let them dry for a year prior to casting them. The time I tried to do them closed was when I was still experimenting with them, that was a couple of years ago. The resin can be very nasty when it is mixed with Alumilite.
 
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