Presentation Gold Titanium Stopper

[W.Y.]

I received an order of a variety of different kinds of stopper kits . One of them was Presentation Gold Titanium kit and at $11.00 US for the hardware I decided to only get one of that kind for now to see if there is a market here for that high of a quality bottle stopper.
I turned a pine cone top for it because my cone stoppers are always the first to sell and that might help me move this higher priced one.
As always, comments welcome.

 

[holmqer]

Thats a really nice combination, and great execution. I can see why those pine cone stoppers sell fast.

 

[Glenn McCullough]

It looks fantastic. I assume that the shape of the material was made to immitate the stopper shape, great idea as it compliments it well.

 

[mickr]

very pretty..they go together well

 

[cnirenberg]

Sweet. That is awesome. That should sell fast.

 

[Jim15]

Outstanding stopper.

 

[keandkafu]

It looks great! How big of a pine cone did you use? I have a hard time getting a pine cone big enough for a pen.

Kevin

 

[W.Y.]

It looks great! How big of a pine cone did you use? I have a hard time getting a pine cone big enough for a pen.

Kevin

Those stoppers are made from the big Coulter pine cones . They are found mostly in the California area..

These two weighed 3.5 pounds . The talons on them are razor sharp.

 

[keandkafu]

WOW those are huge! Almost pre-historic looking! Are they commin in CA? Are they from Northern middle or southern CA? I would love to cut my hands on some! I have a nephew who lives in the middle of the state, I'll give him a call.

Kevin

 

[W.Y.]

WOW those are huge! Almost pre-historic looking! Are they commin in CA? Are they from Northern middle or southern CA? I would love to cut my hands on some! I have a nephew who lives in the middle of the state, I'll give him a call.

Kevin

Yes Kevin you should be able to get some from him living in that area. There have been many discussions about those big cones in my Woodworking Friends site and apparently they are locallized pretty well to california and southern oregon areas.
The big talons also have a use in other woodworking as shown here. I had to sand the tips of the talons because thay are dangerously sharp if not rounded off a little.

One of my members was in California on holidays and brought some back and sent them to me .
I have made dozens of stoppers and pens with pine cones. They sell faster than ones made of most other materials .

This pen was made form one of the smaller of that type of cone. I got a box of twenty of that size at a garage sale for 50 cents each. There again, they had been brought back from California

Many different patterns show in various cones so they make a great conversation piece .

 

[W.Y.]

I posted the following message on my Woodworking Friends site and perhaps I will get some suggestions on this site as well.


I have the top part of a big Coulter pine cone left over from the Titanium gold stopper shown . The stopper was made from the bottom and more tapered part of this cone . It is shown with the talons (scales) removed . It is way too big for a pen or a stopper because the soft center core is about the same diameter from top to bottom. It is too small for a turned box.
It is 2.5" tall, 2" across and usable diameter after turning it round will be about 1.25" to 1.50" .
Keep in mind that the usable height will not be much more than 2" after turning a tenon to fit in the chuck and facing off the top of it. .
I would like to make something with this piece because the pattern should be fantastic on the sides once it is turned round . I'm open to suggestions .

 

[broitblat]

William,

That stopper is beautiful and wish you luck in selling it. I've tended to stay away from the more expensive hardware as I didn't think I could sell the finished stopper for what I would need to get. I hope you prove me wrong.

I picked up a couple of the big cones when I was in California in March. I'm still looking forward to giving one a turn.

Thanks for sharing.

-Barry

 

[CSue]

I love the work you've shown here with pine cones.
I have many cones collected but I don't know the species they are. And, of course I'm at the foothills of the mountin range where Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear resorts are.

I've really wanted to try it.

 

[W.Y.]

William,

That stopper is beautiful and wish you luck in selling it. I've tended to stay away from the more expensive hardware as I didn't think I could sell the finished stopper for what I would need to get. I hope you prove me wrong.

I picked up a couple of the big cones when I was in California in March. I'm still looking forward to giving one a turn.

Thanks for sharing.

-Barry

For some strange reason I sell way more stoppers than I do pens .
I sell many dozens of the silicone based ones from $8.00 to $10.00 depending on the wood or other material used on them . I sell chrome ones for $15.00 and Stainless steel for $20.00 .
I am going to try for $29.95 for this gold titanium one and see if I get any bites. .
As far as pens go, my customers could care less if it is titanium or platinum or any of the other higher priced platings . They would not pay a cent more than the normal upgrade gold and chrome so that is basically what I stick with. I have had some sucess with the bright copper kits recently though. On the other hand, I find it easy to sell up with stoppers but not with pens.
It is important to have a wide variety of stoppers so it is easy to sell up from the lower priced ones but people on a very limited budget can only afford the lowest priced ones. There seems to be a good market for all price ranges.

 

[juteck]

I see a hollowed Christmas ornament, either ball and icicle style, or birdhouse style, made out of this part of the cone.

I posted the following message on my Woodworking Friends site and perhaps I will get some suggestions on this site as well.

I have the top part of a big Coulter pine cone left over from the Titanium gold stopper shown . The stopper was made from the bottom and more tapered part of this cone . It is shown with the talons (scales) removed . It is way too big for a pen or a stopper because the soft center core is about the same diameter from top to bottom. It is too small for a turned box.
It is 2.5" tall, 2" across and usable diameter after turning it round will be about 1.25" to 1.50" .
Keep in mind that the usable height will not be much more than 2" after turning a tenon to fit in the chuck and facing off the top of it. .
I would like to make something with this piece because the pattern should be fantastic on the sides once it is turned round . I'm open to suggestions .

 

[W.Y.]

I see a hollowed Christmas ornament, either ball and icicle style, or birdhouse style, made out of this part of the cone.

Good suggestions there John.
It would have to be something like that where the top and bottom could have a piece of solid wood incorporated into it to cover up the very soft dark color inner core.
I have gots some other nice suggestions elswhere as well so hopefully I will be able to make something both useful and practical with it.
I will wait a day or two for suggestions and if all goes well and I manage to turn something with it I will follow up with a picture of what I decided on.

 

[W.Y.]

Thanks for the suggestions. Between ideas of what to make with it both here and a couple other sites I decided to go with the ornament.



I got it finished . I hollowed out the inside to about 3/16" because as an ornament I wanted to keep it as light as possible.
It is 6" tall in total and 1.5" at the widest point. It weighs 1.75 oz.
The hardest part was trying to get a good picture because of the high gloss on it .

 

[juteck]

Now that looks great! Only 219 days until Christmas!

(http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/xmas_cnt.htm)

 

[broitblat]

That's a great looking way to put a pine cone back in the tree!

-Barry

 

[patharris]

William, I'm fascinated with your work with the California Pine Cones. Beautiful job and thanks for sharing.
Pat
South Carolina

 

[nava1uni]

Your pine cone turnings are really beautiful.

 

[mobrackett]

My Wife and I have turned many pine cone pens and I have never tried to turn a stopper and I just may now. Great job!!

 

[W.Y.]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

I have been so busy with outside work that I have not been working in my shop for about a week. Have hardly had any time to check out sites that I normally check in on along with keeping up with my own WWF discussion boards site which keeps me very busy . .
I only have about 15 of those big pine cones left now and I have varioius kits planned for every one of them to get ready for the summertime Saturday morning farmers market/craft sales .
Hope to get back into my shop again first of next week.

 

[fiferb]

I'm a little late with my suggestion but if you get another large cone you're wondering what to do with it looks like it might be the right size for a egg kaleidoscope.