Silver scales (big mess)

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bitshird

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
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10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I'm trying to ascertain where I fouled up, I did a set of copperheads for Jr's and 2 for Sierras, and a couple of Prairie rattlers, I've done these before and had no problems, BUT this time nearly all of the blanks have the dreaded silver scales showing up.
They were done in Silmar41 (fresh can) the copperheads were a skin I had tanned, and the Rattlers were done by a fellow that is amazing,.
The process I sued was I glued the skins to the tubes, they all had a nice fit, All of the transparent scales were removed, I first painted the skins with thin CA then after it dried I painted them lightly with uncatalyzed PR then I put them in my Resin Saver mold, heated the remainder of the PR in a water bath to warm it up, when it was nice and warm and quite thin in viscosity, added 3 drops per OZ Gently stirred and gently poured the resin over the tubes, which had been mounted in the mold. I then took a fine piece of wire (about 20 Ga) with a bend in it and carefully wiped the bottoms of the blanks to eliminate air bubbles from adhering to the skins, This morning Andrew broke them out of the mold, and sure as heck I had silver scales showing , Mostly on the same sides if the tubes. I'm really bummed, I have 15 or so Rattler hides from Steve Thompson and his are incredibly soft and well done, BUT that was the only Tanned Copperhead I had. Any one have any suggestions why this happened this time, I've done a dozen or so before and no problems, I didn't even heat the resin untill this time, and they all turned out great.
HELP PLEASE.
 
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Wow I surly thought after 140 viewings some one would have an Idea or or suggestion, but I guess every one else is perfect, and never encountered any problems like this, how odd.
 
Ken, join the unhappy world of snake casters. Don (Its_virgil) and I a few years ago discussed this same problem and found it was my purple sock on my right foot that caused this problem. Never really could narrow it down it seems to pop up every now and then.
I think that Don's new method of no pressure pot used as virtually eliminated the problem. Not forcing air that could get between the skin and the resin while it's semi cured. As my snake skin sales have dwindled over the last few years I haven't cast any in a year.
 
Thanks Roy, I agre I don't even own a pressure pot, and since my Vacuum chamber is at home, (I don't have room for it at the shop,) Normally I would vacuum the PR just before I poured it, but this is on every one of the blanks, and I cast them just the way Don describes in his Tutorial.
We've done about 12 or 14 pens, and this is the first time I've had any trouble, don't mind loosing the rattlesnake hides, but Copperheads are even getting scarce around here, and I had two ordered.
 
When I have the silvering happen on the feather blanks I look for changes in the weather. I use PR. I used to be able to pull the blanks out of the PP after 8 hours, which means I could cast every 8 hours. Now that the weather's gotten colder I have to leave the blanks in for 24 hours. I had to throw out 16 blanks on the weekend!! :crying:
 
Marla, you may be on to something, Friday when we cast the weather was changing to a bit of a cold front , and we did have the heat on in the shop. That's the only variable I can think of that would influence any thing, All of the straight PR blanks we cast came out fine but they had dye and mica powder, Thanks, I'll bet that was the problem..:handshake:
 
Glad to be of assistance. I know how frustrating it is when you put so much time into something like that and have it fail. It makes me want to stamp my feet and cry! :wink: Not a pretty sight. :eek:
 
Ken,
I just saw the post or I would have surely added to the thread. I, like Roy, can understand your frustration. It has happened to me on so many occasions. As Roy mentioned he and I have discussed how to solve this problem on more than one occasion. Yes, I still get the silver crap but not near as often as I once did. I have stopped coating the skins with CA and no longer paint raw resin on the skins. But at some point I will start getting the silver layer again and will go back to paint skins with CA. I wish I the process were 100%.

I zap the resin in an ultrasonic cleaner with a heat function. I use the heat. While the resin is being zapped I have my mold loaded with the tubes and inside my toaster oven heating. I remove the resin, add the MEKp (3 drops), stirr gently, pour, use a wire like you explained. The mold goes into the oven at 150 for 15 minutes.

Using the toaster oven I made 10 sets of slimline blanks last weekend. I had previously glued the skins in place. I poured the 10 sets and had totally finished in 4 hours using a mold that holds only one set of blanks. They come out of the oven hard and dry ready to be removed from the mold.

I have not used my pressure pot for almost two years now.

I do hope this helps and wish you all the luck Roy and I have failed to get at times. Casting snake skins produces some gorgeous blanks but, as you know, also produces some excellent paper weights from time to time. Welcome to the "I'm bummed" club.

Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
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Moisture? I wonder if puuting them in a dehydrator to fry them and then immediatley into the PP or molds would make a difference. Noob at this just a thought
 
also this will happen to you if you pull them out of the mold too early, a good indication that that is the problem is if the silverscale is emanating from the ends
 
I started having the same problem. Actually, the blanks I made with CC turned out good and when I got my gallon of Simlar I got the scales. I plan to not heat my resin next time and just make a couple at a time.
I will let you know how they turn out.
 
Ken, I have enjoyed 100% failure rate with snake skin casting in all types of weather. I have tried many times, it's a heck of a lot of work prepping snakes, and then to have silver scales, not pleasant. Some guys got the skills, some don't I guess.
 
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