I live in Australia and wish to produce my own Cane Toad pen blanks. Sierra Sedonas Cainbridge pens etc. Does anyone have any for sale or know of the best clear resin to use. I have turned thousands of pens never tryed to make my own. I would be grateful for any help or advice
Hi Hunter pens,
With a forum name like that you shouldn't have any problems in getting your own supply of Cane Toads skins, I'm not sure how bad they are in your neck of the woods but, large areas of Australia are literally infested by just nasty plague...!
There has been in fact a commercial interest on these Toad skins, I remember once while in QLD, to spend a full week catching and skinning them for a fellow in Brisbane that was buying their skins for $1.00 each. This was about the middle of the 90's, and after spending a full week hunting them at night and then spend most of the day skinning them, I swore that I would never wanted to see another Cane Toad again, even tough I made about $1.500 for the week (about 20 hour's days).
There are also lots of school programs now where the kids go out and catch them, they are then taken away where they are processed and turned into tanned skins, which are getting more demand than ever...!
In relation to the casting of your own blanks, you will find a lot of information in here from myself and many other members. They all relate to casting but are directed into many possibilities, particularly in what can be casted which I got to the conclusion recently that, anything will do...!
I simple search on the subject will bring you lots of hits (info) and in relation to the materials require such as resins and other stuff, you may find that the word Alumilite comes up very often, be prepare to accept that such product is not available in Australia nor I'm aware of any substitute, apart from the common PR resin that we have available in Australia.
My supplier is in Adelaide (lucky me) and I'm not aware of any other stores they may have elsewhere (other states), I know that there are other casting products suppliers in Australia, as I found out when searching for someone closer to me, a simple Google search will give you their locations.
In relation to my casting products supplier (last "dangerous goods" delivery made last Tuesday 21/12/10 of about AU$470.00 worth...!
). These guys are pretty good and pretty quick considering the paper work require/involved with their products shipping requirements, you can find them here,
www.amcsupplies.com.au a piece of warning tough, their site is not the easiest to find the products you are looking for so, don't panic have a look and see what they have for sale (lots of stuff, in fact...!
), then let me know when you are totally lost and need some directions, I will then send you the pages links to all products that you will need, no problems.
Like anything else, buying bulk can give you great savings, particularly on things like resins, keep in mind that small containers are a lot more expensive, and unless you only use very small quantities, which small containers are the best option for resins and other materials that has a shelve life particularly after being open a couple of times, the larger containers can be a good option if you are thinking in using a fair amount of this stuff.
As an example, buying a 20kg=approx 21lt of PR resin in a drum, will cost you not much more than 3 x 1 gallon (4kg) tins = 12lt
, yes...! precisely...!
There is only one major problem with this criteria, if something happens and this stuff goes "bad", you lose a considerable amount of money...!
:wink:
What would life be, without some risks, huh...???:biggrin:
Well, I hope my post didn't put you off of your idea, casting is a extremely exciting thing to do, most of us have some sort of reaction to the resin chemicals (fumes, smells, etc...!) but that can all be easily resolved with some proper breading mask, if that become a need.
I will find lots of people here that sell all sorts of pen kits and accessories, you will not find tough, anyone that has Cane Toads skin already casted into pen barrels, as the majority of our membership is in the USA and Canada. You may have better luck finding these blanks already casted for you, in the Australia Wood-working Forum, many of the fellows there have these creatures hopping around their backyard, I know that some of these folks get good Golf practice with them so, anything is possible there...!
Any other questions or concerns, simply ask...!:wink:
Cheers
George
