making pine cone pens.


duckkisser

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im looking for a article in this issue of the Woodturning Design – June 2013 – Issue #43 that tells how to make pine cone pen blanks.  if anyone has this issue can you tell me what it says are the kind of pine cones that are ideal for turning.  i am planing on buying some cones to turn into pens but i want to know what is the ideal kinds to get are.  

 

does it also say if they should be open or closed or if it makes a difference. 

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i think that its best to use sugar pine cones, knobcone pine cones or coulter since they grow so large.  like 20 inches and can way like 5 lbs since they grow to be as large as 18" long. i picked up a bag of them at the store for 80 cents for regular ones going to try bandsawing them down in the morning to see what the center is like maybe i can use those to practice with.  

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heads up on the pine cones i tried turning........they all exploded.  dont know if i wasent using enough super glue...or any :)  but it takes a really light touch and stabilizing thinking when i do it for realy ill soak them in some epoxy i got. slightest catch and they break.  i was trying to make them without using up any of my cop pen tubes so maybe if i suport them with the tube and use super glue they will hold up better.  anyway im going to buy some actual pine cones.   

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nope dont realy want to buy all the equipment to pressure a few pens.  dont make enough of them to be worth it.  i only make a handfull of pens to use as gifts to people who do me a good turn like the guy who gave me a box full of antlers that i turned on my lathe. thought i might just use a pvc pipe and fill it with the cut down pinecone and some epoxy filler.  the epoxy would help stabalize the pinecone long enough for me to drill and turn it down. 

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I grew up around pine cones, they are..... not very solid with not much in the center. I would tend to think that as you found out, they are fragile and likely the best way would be to use one of the stabliszer fluids to make them useable. Good on you for giving it a try, I don't think I would have.

 

I have seen a vac pot at H.F. that was under $100 on sale, throw out all that paint stuff that goes with it and pick up a vaccum pump off Craigs list, I have one that is used for air conditioning system evacuation so use your imagination when looking. Old R12 gauge sets are very inexpensive as it is outlawed and the calibration is off for the newer stuff such as R 134. The gauge set would make a nice control device as that is what it is designed to do!

 

You can't see the bubbles as the vac pot is metal but that should not be a big deal.

 

A old pressure cooker should be able to be used, you might find one of those for a few bucks at a thrift store. As long as the gasket is OK, drill out the "safety valve" and install a pipe fitting so you can connect the vac pump and you should be OK.

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I'm going to just try soaking them in some resin and let them harden first. Then ill turn the pine cone and remove just about all the resin so I not too worried about bubbles. Just want it to be stabilized enough to get down to the core then I will use supper glue to finish stabilizing the pine cone for finishing. If that does not work I'll see if someone has a pot I can use.

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thanks adam i think i read that one as well i have looked at so many articles that i have lost track of them all.  there mostly articles saying hey look at what i made i was just walking in the woods.

 

the three kinds i have found mentioned again and again is sugar pine cones, knobcone pine cones or coulter pine cones there all large and solid. 

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Hey I got a pen made from pine cone tonight took me 5 hours of drilling, cuting, blow outs, stabilizing with super glue and light cuts plus filling any gaps left behind. But I got a pen made after having about twenty blanks fail on me. Now that I know it can be done I'm going to buy some larger pine ones with a solid core. I'll post the picture on here tomorrow now it's time to crash and sleep. Night all

 

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its got pine cone thats the spoted part, the white part is antler and at the back is teak to contrast the spots and the white antler. 

 

here is a few tips stabilize it first i used thin super glue...the pine cone absorbs it like a sponge, paint your copper insert black some of the spots go all the way through so you can see the copper,  i used a real sharp skew so that im shaving off thin amount rather than a gouge or a scraper so there is litttle vibration. 

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Here in coastal SC we have short leaf pines and long leaf pines.  When the squirrel strips a short leaf cone, the core that's left is about the size of your index finger.  Long leaf cone may be better because the cones off of the tree are 10 inches long.  The cone in the first video Duck had a pretty thick core so I know we don't have those around here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here in coastal SC we have short leaf pines and long leaf pines.  When the squirrel strips a short leaf cone, the core that's left is about the size of your index finger.  Long leaf cone may be better because the cones off of the tree are 10 inches long.  The cone in the first video Duck had a pretty thick core so I know we don't have those around here.

 

i think this first video is a knob pine cone only open and flower during fires has the thickest core of any pine cone in the world. 

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