Casting dirt?

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apicius9

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Hello everyone, I have been lurking in this forum for a while but haven't been very active - I don't make pens but knife handles. I was wondering about something and thought I'd just ask:

I live in Hawaii and one very typical thing you find on the islands is the dark red soil (lots of iron). I was wondering if it is possible, to mix this soil/dust with resin and cast blocks that I could use as spacers or accessoires in my knife handles - I mostly use Hawaiian woods and that would be a nice colorful addition. In the end, I would need pieces that are approx. 1 1/4" square.

I tried to read up on casting in this forum, but I believe in division of labor and would much prefer to find someone who knows what he/she does and makes some pieces for me... Is that even possible?

Thanks for your input,

Stefan
 
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apicius9 said:
Hello everyone, I have been lurking in this forum for a while but haven't been very active - I don't make pens but knife handles. I was wondering about something and thought I'd just ask:

I live in Hawaii and one very typical thing you find on the islands is the dark red soil (lots of iron). I was wondering if it is possible, to mix this soil/dust with resin and cast blocks that I could use as spacers or accessoires in my knife handles - I mostly use Hawaiian woods and that would be a nice colorful addition. In the end, I would need pieces that are approx. 1 1/4" square.

I tried to read up on casting in this forum, but I believe in division of labor and would much prefer to find someone who knows what he/she does and makes some pieces for me... Is that even possible?

Thanks for your input,

Stefan
Click to expand...
I've seen it done with lava ash, so I'm sure it can be done. The trick would be in making sure that it is completely dry. A trip through the oven would take care of that.
 
Yes it is possible, but the final product will be extremely difficult to turn. I have done the blanks in the past and have had to sharpen my tools every couple minutes.
I can also make them 1 1/4" square or I can make them 1" round.
 
Yes, it is possible...but like Neil said it is hard on tools. The best approach is dry the dirt under the sun then use a mortar to pulverize it, then sift it to get all the lpebbles out. At this point you can cast it but the final product is pretty boring. One way to add character is to dye portions of the dirt with food dye and once you have the mix complete as you continue to mix (you may need a helper here) add the colored dirt into the vortex so it swirls throughout the mix but DO NOT mix too much or it will just diasappear in the mix. For drilling use carbide or a bit for drilling ceramic and for turning start with heavy grit sandpaper and work your work down. The ones I made I used alumilite so I cannot speak to using PR for this.
Eugene
 
That sounds encouraging, thanks everyone! First, I don't turn the pieces, I sand them into shape and since I occasionally also use other reconstituted stone material, I assume that would be similar. I also don't mind it to look a bit 'boring' - I mainly want to use it as somewhat colorful and natural spacer material to offset more figured and structured Hawaiian woods. Here is an example of a hidden tang handle:

http://www.skeller.info/handles/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=7&fullsize=1

I would use the reddish stone instead of the red bloodwood spacer I have in this handle. I can't use lava ash - Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes, will put a curse on everyone who removes lava from the island ;)

So, what I understand is that I should gather some soil, dry it in the oven for a bit, mortar or pound it down and sieve it as fine as I can. I'll try to do that over the weekend, if I get out of the wood shop early enough on Sat. Let me do that and follow up with some of you and the PMs I also got about this. And if you have any more thoughts or recommendations, I'd be happy to hear them.

Thanks,

Stefan
 
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