Cast pen blanks...

[Jonathon Spafford]

A guy from my club and I were talking about the rattlesnake pens that they have available at CSUSA... I thought it would be cool to give cast pen blanks a shot. I have some websites that sell plastic resin, but it is expensive and I don't want to find out by trial and error what works best. I know that some of them are more brittle than others or shrink less. Has anybody tried casting pen blanks and know of the best resin to use for the job? Also, what do you cast them into and how do you keep resin out of the tube?? Does anybody have any tutorials on doing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jonathon

[Joe Melton]

Go to penturners.org and look around; I believe there is a tutorial there. Many guys have tried this, and there is definitely a learning curve.
I have to tell you that I've made a lot of rattlesnake pens, and they look great. I've yet to sell a single one. I lowered them to $40 at the last gun show I did, and didn't get a taker. Lots of people think they're interesting, but not interesting enough to buy.
YMMV.
Joe

[Dick Strauss]

I seem to remember Curtis Seeback posting a short tutorial on making the cactus pens with resin. I hope this helps...

Dick

[Denis Monti]

I've made hundreds of blanks with polyester resin and never had any problems. I have made one cast resin pen with computer printed snake skin. It turned out well and I sold it. The articles in the files are very useful. But there is a learning curve with casting blanks. You have to be prepared to throw a few away.

Den

[Jonathon Spafford]

Great website there, Joe... thanks! Think this would be fun to try... I have several ideas in mind... I am looking at the Silmar 41! Is this good stuff?? It seemed to be a favorite among others over on penturners! And then, this casting will work without the vaccuum equipment, right? Some said it would, others said it is best with the equipment!

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions given so far!

[Jeff Taylor]

I am looking at the Silmar 41! Is this good stuff??

I love the stuff !! I am on my 15-th gallon this year ... and just ordered five more today.

I have tried both vacuum and pressure casting, and use neither regularly ...
A suggestion : when mixing the resin and catalyst (or the pigment) do not whip the resin like an egg yolk ... if you whip in millions of tiny air bubbles, they will never float out before the stuff cures .. DAMHIKT

[Bobby Perry]

I am going to jump in here, I pour my own blanks with the silmar 41. I also use a 2 part poly that is for table tops that I have had for way over a year. It turned yellow on me so I just use it to make my colored blanks. I use the ice tray from Wal-mart for the colored blanks like yellow red blue and white or what ever color I need. For the clear blanks with the tubes in them I use 3/4 inch pvc with the caps. I drill the caps in the center and us a bolt to hold my tubes. Most of my tubes are 7mm so I use a 1/4 inch bolt with a rubber washer on the outside to keep the resin inside the pvc. DON"T SET THE TUBES ON THEIR SIDES TO CURE. keep them upright. I made a holder for them and right after I pour I put them on my scroll saw and run it for a few minutes. It has enough bounce to get the bubbles moving to the top. I have no problems with bubbles now. I got little round tubes of poly of all different colors now cause I never do just enough for the pen I am doing :D

[Jonathon Spafford]

Thanks for all the responses guys! I really appreciate... looks like this will be high on the list for experiments! It really looks like a fun new aspect of pen turning... I'm looking forward to trying it!

[Johnny Wooten]

There is also a article in this months issue Of The Pen Shop News on casting at www.thepenshop.net (http://www.thepenshop.net)

[Jonathon Spafford]

Awesome website there! Has some nice stuff on it!

I had one more question concerning cast blanks: is the dust from the blanks toxic and will a respirator and open garage be enough to filter this stuff out?

[Jonathon Spafford]

I had one last question... thought I would bump this to see if anyone had any replies!

[Bob Hallowell]

Jonathon,
I would go over and post your question at thepenshop.net there are alot of nice knowledgable people there. Johnny Wooten is the administrater there and he sent me a bunch of pen planks out of the blue just for being a member. Now that's a nice guy!

Bob