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Thread: Combining Hobbies

  1. #1
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    Combining Hobbies

    This is my entry into the 2018 IAP Bash Advanced Casting Pen Contest. I decided to combine 2 of my favorite hobbies in a way, scroll sawing and pen making. This is a chrome Sierra Vista kit with a cast blank of scroll saw blades on a tube covered with a woodgrain vinyl. It was cast with Liquid Diamonds epoxy resin. It was turned and polished to a high shine. Thanks for looking and hope you like it.
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    John T.

  2. #2
    John, that is really neat! Great idea and well done, too.

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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Terefenko View Post
    This is my entry into the 2018 IAP Bash Advanced Casting Pen Contest. I decided to combine 2 of my favorite hobbies in a way, scroll sawing and pen making. This is a chrome Sierra Vista kit with a cast blank of scroll saw blades on a tube covered with a woodgrain vinyl. It was cast with Liquid Diamonds epoxy resin. It was turned and polished to a high shine. Thanks for looking and hope you like it.
    That's clever!

    I've been wanting to cast some peacock feathers into some kind of resin to turn into something, perhaps a little larger. (two hobbies again) Do you think the Liquid Diamonds resin would work? Do you cast under vacuum?

    JKJ

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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    That's clever!

    I've been wanting to cast some peacock feathers into some kind of resin to turn into something, perhaps a little larger. (two hobbies again) Do you think the Liquid Diamonds resin would work? Do you cast under vacuum?

    JKJ

    Liquid Diamonds will work on just about anything. It is very very clear and it has a long open time. Sometimes people think too long but I find it just fine. I also use Silmar41 which is a clear polyester casting resin.LD is an epoxy casting resin. Many people cast feather blanks of all kinds in Silmar and have great success. I do not cast feathers so I can not speak to that. Never use vacuum unless you are stabilizing woods. I use pressure and put in pressure pot 45lbs. With LD you really do not need pressure because it is so thin and has a long flash point the small bubbles will rise to the top and dissipate before it starts to harden which can be as long as 12 hours depending on amount poured. It can not hurt to use pressure though. I just started experimenting with the Liquid Diamonds because I heard so many good things about it and so far it is all that is advertised. I like the fact that it is an epoxy so it will stick to anything and that will work great with my watch part blanks I will be making. Need the extra time for bubbles to escape on those because of all the nooks and crannies. Many more projects will be coming this year.
    John T.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Terefenko View Post
    Liquid Diamonds will work on just about anything. It is very very clear and it has a long open time. Sometimes people think too long but I find it just fine. I also use Silmar41 which is a clear polyester casting resin.LD is an epoxy casting resin. Many people cast feather blanks of all kinds in Silmar and have great success. I do not cast feathers so I can not speak to that. Never use vacuum unless you are stabilizing woods. I use pressure and put in pressure pot 45lbs. With LD you really do not need pressure because it is so thin and has a long flash point the small bubbles will rise to the top and dissipate before it starts to harden which can be as long as 12 hours depending on amount poured. It can not hurt to use pressure though. I just started experimenting with the Liquid Diamonds because I heard so many good things about it and so far it is all that is advertised. I like the fact that it is an epoxy so it will stick to anything and that will work great with my watch part blanks I will be making. Need the extra time for bubbles to escape on those because of all the nooks and crannies. Many more projects will be coming this year.
    Thanks. I wondered about the vacuum since I used to cast uranium alloy samples in epoxy in the metallography lab to polish and etch. Without vacuum I found bubbles sometimes stuck to the metal - not a big problem for looks (I didn't care!) but grinding into the bubbles left voids to collect polishing grits which could contaminate later stages.

    It sounds like either of these would work with feathers if the liquid is thin enough to wet the tiny feather fronds.

    peacock.jpg

    JKJ

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    John T, What would happen if vacuum is used?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn C Roberts View Post
    John T, What would happen if vacuum is used?
    What would happen with what?? Vacuum is used in pen making for stabilizing because it draws the liquid hardeners into the woods. Vacuum used for casting can become a problem because vacuum will cause air bubble to rise to the surface and become part of the liquid. If you have a blank such as feathers or even watch parts or other materials air bubbles can be trapped under the material or sometimes the material itself will cause air bubbles when mixed with resins. Labels and decals are also sometimes a problem because of air bubble being trapped under them. Depending on the resin used and the amount of hardener and size of the project it is possible the air bubbles will not have enough time to escape and rise. Think a bottle of coke and see what happens when you first crack it open and all those air bubbles are released. Those bubbles were always there but became part of the liquid when put under vacuum.

    When pressure is used those same air bubbles are compressed to very tiny bubbles that the eye can not even see them and most are popped and dispersed. If any are trapped under feathers or other materials they still are compressed.

    The epoxy resin I just used is new for me and relatively new on the market. It has a much longer open time and is water thin and super clear. The thing I like about it is it will stick to anything and will not shrink when cured. Shrinking can be a problem when casting certain things. Not sure if this answers your question but so far I like this resin and it does polish to a nice shine. Maybe a tad below poly resins but unless you use both you would not even notice. I will be using more of it. Now i know some well known feather casters that use Silmar41 and at times Alumilite and have had great success but all use pressure. With Alumilite that is a must. With Silmar 41 you can get away with no pressure if you warm the resin and molds before you add the hardener because this will thin the resin more and thinner is better that is why this epoxy stuff works well.
    John T.

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