Pine cone?

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A dry one.......

I honestly dont know if one kind is prefered over another. I've seen them made from several types. I've made some from the pine tree in the back yard. I never knew there were so many varieties until people started casting them.
 
You don't have to cast the Afghan Cones. They stay closed when dry, just have to use CA during turning to keep the seeds from going airborne!
Afghan Cones can be found in New Mexico/Arizona area in abundance.



Scott (got a few 50 of 'em) B
 
I have not cast any yet. I've been collecting the long skinny cones. I like the density of these cone, compared to the larger more open species.

They are coming off of long needle pines, but as for the species I have no idea.
 
The ones here are opened up when they fall. They have sharp points on the ends. Now do you try to close the cones back up? I'm having a problem visualizing how they are turned.
 
We shave the tabs off with a bandsaw, hit em with a belt sander to remove a lot of unnecessary material, and stabilize the core with CA repeatedly as we turn. Just use the cores on my pens.
 
I use Southern Yellow Pine cones. I don't know that they are the best choice, but down in Georgia, you can't swing a dead cat over your head without knocking down 10 or 20 cones out of the trees. So the supply is plentiful.
 
renowb said:
The ones here are opened up when they fall. They have sharp points on the ends. Now do you try to close the cones back up? I'm having a problem visualizing how they are turned.
Click to expand...

You get or make a 7/8x7/8x5 mold. You trim the sides of the pine cone so it fits nice and snug into the mold. Then you mix up 3 ounces of Alumilite and pour it into the mold and pressurize it to 60 lbs.

The smaller cones, you need to put a piece of wax paper over the top of the mold and a block of wood on that, to keep the cones from floating up.
 
Plenty of useful info being posted, thank you guys for helping. My problem is that the cones that we have here open really wide and leave no real girth or meat so to say in the center once the needles are trimmed off. I am going to try picking the green ones and allowing them to season. Has anyone ever tried this? I think it might work, only time will tell if no one has tried. If I get no response I will let you guys know when I pick one and when it is seasoned and whet the results were. Joe
 
I have thought about this for a while now. My plan is to trim the outside of the cone off and submerge it in some kind of thin epoxy. After curing, the cone should be fairly stable. I think. . .

Doesn't anyone sell these? I checked with all my turning sites and haven't seen them anywhere.
 
I've seen a few guys in the classifieds sell the large core cones where they did most of the stabilizing for you..they are not cheap, and I don't remember who was doing it. They have some resin cast pine cones at Exoticblanks.com if you prefer to try those..they cheaper and are much easier to spin when cast in resin, but the look is different...not bad different in any way, just different different. I like them either way they are done, equally impressive in my opinion.

I have tried sticking a wet cone in a piece of pipe so it would dry while staying closed and it did eventually dry, but it was then near impossible to stabilize it in the closed postition without a vaccuum set up and something real thin like wood hardener or plexiglass. Just pouring thin CA over it will work, but that gets real expensive in a hurry.
 
A WORD OF CAUTION::: John (desertrat) and I have done quite a few pine cones and we used a lot of closed ones and some open ones. The caution is the closed ones:: we have found that after stabilizing turning and sealing with CA and finishing with CA, a few of them when exposed to direct sun light (like on a display table outside) the cone starts trying to open up thus cracking the finish and running the pen's finish and any sale. I guess sometimes it's not nice to fool with mother nature. And no we haven't solved this issue yet. Sorry!!!
 
No pitch coming from it...or at least, very little. You could meter it with a moisture meter.....





Ideal cones are those that stay closed until subjected to extreme heat. A lot of the western pines keep the cones closed(waiting for fire to open and help the seeds for germanating in a dry climate). The pines in the south don't have that problem...it's always wet, so the cones open to scatter their seed.
So by getting 'green cones' from a tree, and waiting for them to dry...they will still open.


Scott (just get the Afghans...it's easier) B
 
My method is simple. I take a cone like below cut the tabs off down to the core of the cone. Soak with CA, drill hole, soak inside the hole with CA redrill the hole make a pen. You will need to apply more CA as you turn.
There is really no need to cast these as you can see. btw the second shot is after the tabs are cut off.
 

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papaturner said:
My method is simple. I take a cone like below cut the tabs off down to the core of the cone. Soak with CA, drill hole, soak inside the hole with CA redrill the hole make a pen. You will need to apply more CA as you turn.
There is really no need to cast these as you can see. btw the second shot is after the tabs are cut off.
Click to expand...

Beautiful pen and thanks for your method.
 
I'll have to gather some cones and play around. I am thinking of using the microwave or one of my kilns to dry them. Has anyone tried weighing the cones when picked and then again when dry? I wounder if they loose water weight??
 
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