Do pine cones need to be stabilized?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Pine cones are essentially made of a material similar to the bark of the pine tree ... it's very porous, soft, easy to dent/damage/scratch. You'll want to stabilize them before embedding them in the resin or you can stabilize the exposed surface after you've turned them down to the proper pen barrel diameter with thin CA. A wood hardener can be used to achieve a decent stabilization effect, but you'll still want to coat with CA in the end.

Also ... the pine cones will easily absorb water, and are also often soaked (literally) in pine pitch, which could play havoc when trying to get them to bond with certain resins ...

I've heard of methods where people will boil their pinecones in water for a half hour per lb (which has the effect of also opening the cones so that they are spread out and dropping out the seeds), and then kiln drying them to remove the water content down to 5 - 12% before use in crafting projects ... keeping them in a sealed gallon jar or other similar storage solution.
 
Thanks everyone. I plan on using Alumilite and my first attempt will be without stabilizing and using thin CA after turning. If I'm not happy with the result I'll stabilize them. I have everything I need, I'd just rather skip the stabilizing if it's not necessary.
 
In my opinion, the idea of stabilising is an optimal one not and as mentioned before, not absolutely necessary if you take into consideration that, stabilising or not, the cones have to be very dry, the core of the cone is mildly soft and while most of it will be drilled out, if moisture is still present, you will have troubles with the casting results.

Considering that you have the cones properly free of moisture, the only thing you have to remember is that, the resin won't be able to soak through at the cone's centre area therefore, it may become unstable/weak while drilling, extra care is required and as rule number one, soak the living life of the hole with thin CA, multiple soakings through shaping to size, may be required, if not for helping to maintain the blank's structure it will soak between the resin and the pine come petals as they get cut, filling any gaps and sealing its ends for the finish...!

Best of luck.

Cheers
George
 
Your results can vary depending on how large the pinecones are. I've seen some stabilize the large pinecones where resin wasn't needed because the cones were so thick that you just turned the core. Personally, I've turned a lot of cones and never stabilized any. The smaller ones that I cast in Alumilite I warm in the toaster oven for a while to make sure they are dry. After turning any pinecone blank I always seal them with a couple coats of thin CA and let it soak in before I finish with medium CA. I worry more about moisture with cones.
Good luck!
 
Last edited:
MRDucks2 said:
Jay, reviving this thread to see how things went with the pine cones. How did they turn out, were you happy, what did you learn?


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
Click to expand...

It was definitely a learning experience. I dried & stabilized the cones and there were some voids to fill in with CA after turning. I made a shaving brush but unfortunately the best part was the very bottom that hardly gets seen. Lesson learned: pack as many mini pinecones in the mold as you can. I also used pvc, I think it would be better to use a block mold.
 
Speaking as a newbee and new to casting, from my experience pine cones need to be stabilized because they are so porous. I found that when i reverse painted the blank after drilling before putting in the tube the paint bled through in some spots and became part of the finished product. Not the end of the world but a surprise if you're not expecting it. Maybe use a q-tip with CA to coat the inside of the blank of you're gonna paint it.
uth3ug8.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom