robutacion
Member
Hi peoples,
Yesterday I decided to use my last 3/4 of a litre of the 5 gallon drum I normally order, I knew the drum was pretty empty and before it would go bad on me I got it out into a glass jar, mixed the hardener ti the clear resin, poured into a totally empty mold, capacity 7 blanks, without having absolutely no idea what I was going to put on it.
Funny that, I didn't consider the time I had to work the PR since the hardener has been added which is about 20 to 30 minutes, I like to use less hardener them more normally, just to get a little more working time and also to make then a lot less brittle.
Anyway, I looked at the mold with the clear resin on it and though, what in a heck am I going to put in there...??? that's when I started to panic a little and realize that unless I would find something and quick I would be wasting all that resin, or just endup with clear blanks so, I started to think of certain things that I have been preparing for some time, with the intention of one day try then on some sort of castings, with wood, without wood, not sure but something (materials) that I have crashed or made into small pieces and put in plastic bags.
Those where the first bags that I went to look for and when I found them, the resin was still soft so, I grad a hand full of this, another half hand full of that, a few sprinkles with something else and after 4 or 5 different products in there, I started to stir. I stirred and stirred fir about 30 minutes and the damn thing wasn't gelling, as I had a gut feeling that some of the stuff I added on the mix, slow the hardening process to the buggery, there is dramatically.
Wile i was having a break from stirring, I tough, the mix is still soft and I still can add something else a little more "chunky" so I run to the other shed where I had the boxes with different parts from the hairy Banksia and I grabbed a bag with some of the off-cuts from when I cut the pods into the various types blanks for casting, these off-cuts are normally the tops of the hard seeds and some of the hairs that come with it so, I run back to the other shed and grabbed a big hand full of those cut hard seeds and hairs, and put on to of the mold mixture that was still workable, to mix thoroughly with all the stuff that as already there.
Bu then, I could see that the resin was starting to react so I left it alone. This morning I open the mold and got the resin block out for further drying a little more so this evening I cut the block into 7 x 21mm square x 150mm long, picked one totally at random and turned it into the normal samples I make, finished with 6 coats of medium CA.
IT was very dark by then so sunlight clear pics were out, and according to the weather predictions, it will be raining tomorrow and for the next couple of days so, not a lot of sunshine, there...! I decided to take a couple of pics right where the blank was, in the lathe so, it still give a very clear idea of how they look like.
I've only have the 6 blanks available as I always keep the samples so I don't know if I should keep them to mix with the mixed packs I usually put on my eBay store, or if I should offer them for sale in the IAP classifieds at the normal 3.5 bucks plus freight.
If I receive any interest on them, I open and add, otherwise I keep them for my packs which I would not mind at all...!:wink:
So let me know what you thing about these blanks, would they make a "interesting pen"...???
Cheers
George
Yesterday I decided to use my last 3/4 of a litre of the 5 gallon drum I normally order, I knew the drum was pretty empty and before it would go bad on me I got it out into a glass jar, mixed the hardener ti the clear resin, poured into a totally empty mold, capacity 7 blanks, without having absolutely no idea what I was going to put on it.
Funny that, I didn't consider the time I had to work the PR since the hardener has been added which is about 20 to 30 minutes, I like to use less hardener them more normally, just to get a little more working time and also to make then a lot less brittle.
Anyway, I looked at the mold with the clear resin on it and though, what in a heck am I going to put in there...??? that's when I started to panic a little and realize that unless I would find something and quick I would be wasting all that resin, or just endup with clear blanks so, I started to think of certain things that I have been preparing for some time, with the intention of one day try then on some sort of castings, with wood, without wood, not sure but something (materials) that I have crashed or made into small pieces and put in plastic bags.
Those where the first bags that I went to look for and when I found them, the resin was still soft so, I grad a hand full of this, another half hand full of that, a few sprinkles with something else and after 4 or 5 different products in there, I started to stir. I stirred and stirred fir about 30 minutes and the damn thing wasn't gelling, as I had a gut feeling that some of the stuff I added on the mix, slow the hardening process to the buggery, there is dramatically.
Wile i was having a break from stirring, I tough, the mix is still soft and I still can add something else a little more "chunky" so I run to the other shed where I had the boxes with different parts from the hairy Banksia and I grabbed a bag with some of the off-cuts from when I cut the pods into the various types blanks for casting, these off-cuts are normally the tops of the hard seeds and some of the hairs that come with it so, I run back to the other shed and grabbed a big hand full of those cut hard seeds and hairs, and put on to of the mold mixture that was still workable, to mix thoroughly with all the stuff that as already there.
Bu then, I could see that the resin was starting to react so I left it alone. This morning I open the mold and got the resin block out for further drying a little more so this evening I cut the block into 7 x 21mm square x 150mm long, picked one totally at random and turned it into the normal samples I make, finished with 6 coats of medium CA.
IT was very dark by then so sunlight clear pics were out, and according to the weather predictions, it will be raining tomorrow and for the next couple of days so, not a lot of sunshine, there...! I decided to take a couple of pics right where the blank was, in the lathe so, it still give a very clear idea of how they look like.
I've only have the 6 blanks available as I always keep the samples so I don't know if I should keep them to mix with the mixed packs I usually put on my eBay store, or if I should offer them for sale in the IAP classifieds at the normal 3.5 bucks plus freight.
If I receive any interest on them, I open and add, otherwise I keep them for my packs which I would not mind at all...!:wink:
So let me know what you thing about these blanks, would they make a "interesting pen"...???
Cheers
George
:biggrin: