An Elegant Piece of Worthless Wood

[James Combs]

I wanted to try my hand at casting and turning what is refereed to as a "worthless wood" blank. I had a couple small pieces of Claro Walnut Burl(thanks again John K.) that were cut offs from making some pen blanks out of some bowl cutoffs that John had given me. I pinned them into a mold when I was casting a batch of blue blanks. This is the result after making it into a pen.

The pen is an Elegant Beauty Sierra Click pen. I lengthened the barrel about a 1/4" to show off more of the blank. Had to add an adapter to the refill so that the clicker would still work. Casting material is Alumilite colored with blue Perlex powder. The brass tube was painted white. The finish is 10 coats of CA polished to 12000 MM and with a thin coat of Ren wax for feel.

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Edit: Have to give Mesquiteman over on the IAP for the inspiration for this. He makes and sells a lot of this style of blank.

Comments Welcomed.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I like it. Really nicely done.

[Doug W Swanson]

I like the color combo. It reminds me of the earth from outer space. Excellent job!

[Jim Burr]

Going to have to hit you up for the details of casting WW. I just can't seem to get the orientation right. Oh well...when my pot gets here.
Beautiful casting! For Alumilite, it sure polished up well!

[Carl Civitella]

Nice work, i like those mutt blanks. Turned a few myself, wanted to make the blanks myself but never got around to it yet. Like the clicks. Carl

[John Keeton]

JD, that sure is a great way to start with nothing and end up with a really nice looking pen!

[Steve Schlumpf]

That sure worked out well! Beautiful pen!

[James Combs]

I like it. Really nicely done.


I like the color combo. It reminds me of the earth from outer space. Excellent job!
Bernie/Doug, I appreciate the comments. The color is the same as I used on the "Ant Pool" vase.


Going to have to hit you up for the details of casting WW. I just can't seem to get the orientation right. Oh well...when my pot gets here.
Beautiful casting! For Alumilite, it sure polished up well!
Jim, will be glad to share what little I know and have learned, just let me know when you are ready. One thing on the orientation, are you making sure the natural edges are iside toward the tube when casting? Your are right, Alumilite does not gloss like PR but in this one's case with the exposed wood it was a have-to-case of putting several coats of CA over the wood and of course it went over the Alum' also, so the whole thing shines nicely.


Nice work, i like those mutt blanks. Turned a few myself, wanted to make the blanks myself but never got around to it yet. Like the clicks. Carl
Thanks Carl, like the looks of this one so I will be doing some more.


JD, that sure is a great way to start with nothing and end up with a really nice looking pen!
Thanks John, you know what they say, "waste not, want not".;)


That sure worked out well! Beautiful pen!
Thanks Steve, hey you have to plan these things right.:rolleyes:

[Donny Lawson]

Those "wastewood" blanks are fun to make and turn. This one is very nice. I really like the blue.

[Roger Chandler]

Some people just ooze creativity and the ability to take what others would consider scrap and make something nice..........good work JD...........you always seem to have a knack at putting things together and making something useful.....reminds me of my grandpa! He could do much with little..........I suppose it is a gift from God...:)

[Alan Trout]

James,

Nice casting well done.

Alan

[James Combs]

Those "wastewood" blanks are fun to make and turn. This one is very nice. I really like the blue.
Thanks Donny, blue has to be one of my favorite colors however, I am thinking of trying something similar in a red, don't know where I got that idea.:D;)


Some people just ooze creativity and the ability to take what others would consider scrap and make something nice..........good work JD...........you always seem to have a knack at putting things together and making something useful.....reminds me of my grandpa! He could do much with little..........I suppose it is a gift from God...:)
Roger I really appreciate the positive comments but if it weren't for guy's like Curtis O. Seebeck(aka Mesquiteman) at TurnTex Woodworks and his Texas Hybird Blanks (http://www.turntex.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=81) I would not have had something to copy(which am real good at:D)


James,
Nice casting well done.
Alan

Thanks Alan, always appreciate comments form a master caster.

[Glenn Barber]

James - Really cool re-cycling of scraps. I love the pen and your Ant Pool piece as well. Have you been approached yet to do a demo of this technique for one of the monthly BAW meetings yet? If not, you definitely should consider getting a head start on thinking/planning about a presentation. It seems to me that it is only a matter of time before someone asks.

Great Work!

Glenn

[Bill Wyko]

It looks like earth elongating through a black hole. What a cool pen. Thanks for sharing.