Casting sand?

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jbswearingen

jbswearingen

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My brother will be returning from a deployment in the coming months and has a bit of sand that has, er, stuck to his uniforms. I told him I'd like to try casting it in resin and turning it for him.

I've only seen one other thread:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f43/casting-sand-69471/

I don't want to mix sand and resin to make a solid blank of sand. Not only would that play hell with my gouge, but I don't think it would look very good. I like the idea of gluing it to the tube and then pressure casting over it with PR.

Aside from the suggestions given above, have any of you guys tried anything differently?
 
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It has been done here. Someone had some sand from the shores of Iwo Jima and glued it to the tube and clear cast over I believe.


I just did some looking and the pics of the pen are gone now.
 
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Yeah, I remember that one.
What you may want to try is coating the tube in adheasive of your choice and then roll it in sand, repeat. Cast in clear and turn away!!
 
I have done this for a specialty blank relating to Hawaii. Due to space constraints and wanting to embed a small object to sit on top of Hawaii beach sand, I first painted the tube with a color similar to the sand. Once completely dry, I glued a thin layer of sand to the tube, and then continued with the project. That was on the SECOND blank attempted. On the first attempt, without using paint, there were small "flash spots" where brass was showing thru the sand.
 
Thanks for that, Steve. I was curious about that aspect. I'm thinking about trying one of the textured paints that look like stone; it might give a good background.
 
Jim Burr said:
Yeah, I remember that one.
What you may want to try is coating the tube in adheasive of your choice and then roll it in sand, repeat. Cast in clear and turn away!!
Click to expand...


This is what I envisioned when I read your question. I agree, mixing it with resin might be hard to get a nice polished finished surface.
 
I made a pen for an assistant coach on my softball team this year from the red clay sand from the diamond... most the granules sank to the bottom of the mold before it hardened. Then when I turned it it dulled the crap out of my tools... However it made a spectacular pen.
 
I know that guy!

I am actually working with an experiment to cast some Fallujah sand that one of my Master Guns' brought back.

Going to combine it with an OIF ribbon.

PM me.
 
D.Oliver said:
Florida Marine did some sand casting. You could look up some of his old post and see some discussion of how he did it. Here is a picture of one of his pens. The top is the cast sand.

DSC01563.jpg Photo by smcary | Photobucket
Click to expand...

I've got a much better process now - uses less sand and gets better, denser coverage.

I hate when I waste a grain of the Iwo Sand.

I am also about to play with some lumber send to me from Belleau Forrest. I want to stabilize it first since it was air dried.
 
While making a blank out of sand and resin, is not the easiest of jobs, it can be done quite successfully, and one of the best way to achieve that is to make a casting tube were both ends can be "capped"/sealed, pour the sand/resin mix into it, let if de-gas for a couple of minutes, seal the pouring end and put in in the lathe between centres on on the chuck and select the lowest speed possible, if the lathe is unable to turn under 100RPM it won't work.

Better still, if you have long tubes, either painted or coloured the way you want it, its pretty easy to drill a hole the same size at the tube on the centre of each end cap, cut the tube a little longer than the tube set-up you've got, glue one end of the tube on the fixed cap/end, pour your mix into the mold/tube (make sure you don't pour any mix into the tube), get the pre-drilled cap and glue/seal it all out, and put it in the lathe between centres...!

This way, the tube is perfectly attached to the resin and will show the clear/sharp colour of the painted tube. You would require a carbide tipped tool to turn such blank or a flap disc (blue grade). Contrary to what some may think, a "conventional" CA finish will get the tube's surface glass smooth finish, no problems there however, I suggest that, gluing the sand into the tube and than cast, requires less sand and is easy on the tools, the only thing to consider is the suitability of the glue used for the sand and the resin type used, some glues will just be melted/affected by certain resins...!

Apart from all this, it shouldn't be any harder than make a blank with GLASS beeds:eek: and then turn and finish it...! damn:eek::mad::biggrin:

023.jpg

Cheers
George
 
I have to be honest, after having failures when attempting to use CA on the tube and then rolling it in the sand, I haven't tried since. With the CA, I'd get thick areas and thin areas; it looked bad.

I now have some Modge Podge. I'm thinking of giving that a try; brushing on the glue and then rolling it in sand. After that, seal it with CA and then cast it.
 
jbswearingen said:
I have to be honest, after having failures when attempting to use CA on the tube and then rolling it in the sand, I haven't tried since. With the CA, I'd get thick areas and thin areas; it looked bad.

I now have some Modge Podge. I'm thinking of giving that a try; brushing on the glue and then rolling it in sand. After that, seal it with CA and then cast it.
Click to expand...

A good spray glue, is great to coat the tube and than roll in sand, if the first run doesn't look perfect, spray the whole thing (sand already attached to the tube) and roll again or just hold the tune with one hand and pour some sand on it with the other hand, more control that way...! You can do it as many time as you so wish...!

Cheers
George
 
from my experience working with enamel glass, don't roll it. put your glue on the tube, then spinkle the sand on. You'll get a much more even coat and have more control.
 
Thanks. I'll try that first. I also need to get some corks for holding the tubes--push them into the ends to give me something to hold on to.
 
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