snake skin pens

[PenPauli]

Anthony,

The pen does twist smoothly if I don't push the two
halves together all the way. Now I'm thinking maybe
there is still glue in the tube in the top half. I
forgot to clear it out when I glued the pen to the
bushings. I'll try to find a way to clean out the
glue in the tube but the pen is already together and
I would hate to damage the skin by trying to take it
apart.

Thanks for any opinion you may have

 

[PenWorks]

Here are some turnings I did last night in between chatting. Seems like everytime Don & I get together we talk snakes & casting, well here are some pics of the process.

One photo shows from the the casting block, rounded & finished, not bufffed.

The other is rounded, final cut, sand to 600

 

[JimGo]

Thanks Anthony!

What do you use to cut the skins? I tried cutting the stingray the other day with my kitchen shears, but the bumps on the skin make it very difficult to cut straight (so I get a clean edge). I was thinking of trying a paper cutter (one of those guilloteen-type things) or some pruning shears, but I'm open to other ideas, too!

 

[driften]

I assume it would be the same process with ray skin and others? I was looking at the stylus magazine and there were a lot of stingray cover pens.

 

[PenWorks]

Jim, we are not shearing sheep here [] Put the siccors down before you hurt yourself [] I use a razor blade, a steal rule and a hard surface for straight clean cuts.

Carefull, not all skins react well with glues and resin, my cobra skins were all discolored by CA and then turned dark brown when they got hit with the resin. Did not work at all.

 

[JimGo]

lol...thanks Anthony. I tried it with a razor, but the bumps made the blade wobble too much (there are some BIG bumps!), that's why I thought of the paper cutter. Maybe I'll give the razor another try, too. I tried CA on it, and it will work on the back without much of a problem. BUT, if I get any on the front, it will dry it out and form that white powdery stuff that is typical of CA. I have some black CA, and that was better, but still didn't look nice. I also tried carpenter's glue, and that worked the best. No visible gunk on the surface of the skin, wipes off easily (while wet) in case some oozes out by accident, and it sets up fairly fast (unlike Gorilla glue, which I also tried).

I found that winding a long strip around the tube, rather than wrapping it, tended to produce a less visible line than if I tried to cut it wide enough. Saw this in someone's bluejean pen on here (can't remember whose it was, but may have been yours or Frank's, IIRC). Plus, measuring the skin so it wrapped around the tube EXACTLY was, to say the least, very difficult. I also painted the tubes and the sides of the skin black using a Sharpie, which helps with any small gaps.

My other quandry is how to make the backbone section fit onto a slimline pen. The pen is for my mother for Mother's day, and I'd really like to include the backbone (really pretty, if you haven't seen one) but that section on the skin I have is both too wide and too long. If only she hadn't specifically ASKED for a slimline!

Driften, I'll have to see if I can find a copy of Stylus...might give me some good inspiration.

 

[driften]

Originally posted by JimGo
<br />
Driften, I'll have to see if I can find a copy of Stylus...might give me some good inspiration.

What I saw was diffrent colored stingray mostly with Sterling Silver. In many of the cases Only the cap had stingray on it with all of the rest made out of Sterling.

I look forward to seeing your pen!

 

[JimGo]

Thanks Jeff! That's interesting, because if they're using a capped pen, it means it is likely fairly large, which makes it possible to use the backbone I mentioned. The sterling on the bottom would be interesting, too; I bet it really emphasizes the skin.

I tried to do an online search for pictures like those you described, but I can't find any of stingray skinned pens! At least I know I'm off in a direction where few(er) have ventured! Hope to get to these this weekend, if I can make it to Harbor Freight early enough on Saturday (gotta cast 'em on Sunday). Will post the pics when I'm done.

 

[JimGo]

Originally posted by JimGo
<br />Thanks Jeff! That's interesting, because if they're using a capped pen, it means it is likely fairly large, which makes it possible to use the backbone I mentioned. The sterling on the bottom would be interesting, too; I bet it really emphasizes the skin.

I tried to do an online search for pictures like those you described, but I can't find any of stingray skinned pens! At least I know I'm off in a direction where few(er) have ventured! Hope to get to these this weekend, if I can make it to Harbor Freight early enough on Saturday (gotta cast 'em on Sunday). Will post the pics when I'm done.

Actually, maybe I'll try to cast the test pieces I did, just to see how they turn out...