New Cast

[Buckeye]

Inspired by Brody's Tiger Blank and the good weather yesterday, I made a cast


I made a mistake with cutting the blanks and instead of 6, I got 5 and a bit. I thought I would turn one, but I need to take the top barrel back to the lathe.


Peter

 

[wm460]

Great looking cast, well done.
What did you use for the black strip in the cast?

 

[chas_41_uk]

Really nice looking cast Peter

 

[Woody]

Wow that looks the business well done I do admire you guys who do this type of thing

 

[rayf6604]

Could I ask is this fairly easy to do and what are the equipment costs and what does it work out at per blank? I'd quite like to try this especially if it's cheaper than buying blanks in. Thanks in anticipation :D

 

[Buckeye]

Great looking cast, well done.
What did you use for the black strip in the cast?

Just some black resin I mixed up, but I think I got the black leaching from the black resin as it was only cast minutes before I made the main pour.

Peter

 

[Terry]

That is a nice looking blank Peter!!!!

 

[Buckeye]

Could I ask is this fairly easy to do and what are the equipment costs and what does it work out at per blank? I'd quite like to try this especially if it's cheaper than buying blanks in. Thanks in anticipation :D

It is very, very, very easy to do. You don't need any special equipment, although there's plenty of it if you want to go that way. If you want to go minimal then you will need a mould to pour the resin into, this can be made from a cutting board (I have forgotten the type, but will post later if nobody else chips in). Some plastic cups Grade 5 (I get mine from Poundland), some lolly sticks for mixing and stirring, Resin of course and pigments. I don't know if it is cheaper than buying blanks, how much do you pay for blanks?

If I have forgotten something others will fill in.

Peter

 

[rayf6604]

I'm paying up to £4 each for some of the real fancy blanks Vince at turners workshop sells. Some of them are fab especially the inlace acrylester range.

 

[Buckeye]

At £4 each then I am sure you can make them cheaper, but I am not sure you will be able to make similar to Vince's blanks anytime soon, I don't want to put you off, there are plenty of blanks you can make with little effort and experiment to make superb blanks, there are quite a few people here who make blanks, have a look at what they make.

Initially it is probably better to buy resin in 1 litre and if you decide to continue then you can buy in 5 litres. I only cast resin in the summer or if it is a really warm day because the polyester resin stinks awful and if you did in in the house, you would be in big trouble with whoever else lives with you. It is so potent it affects my breathing so have to wear a gas/vapour mask.

Peter

 

[rayf6604]

I thought I'll have a look on YouTube for casting video s so I start watching one and the wife is next to me and he starts by saying 'you want to watch the resin as it stinks and the fumes can give you brain damage...' So the wife says 'you're not doing that, don't even think about it' sheesh

 

[Kardav]

Cracking casting there Peter, made a smart looking pen mate.

 

[Buckeye]

I thought I'll have a look on YouTube for casting video s so I start watching one and the wife is next to me and he starts by saying 'you want to watch the resin as it stinks and the fumes can give you brain damage...' So the wife says 'you're not doing that, don't even think about it' sheesh

You could always use polyurethane resin, it doesn't smell and shrinks less, but it has only a few minutes pot life and costs more.

Peter

 

[Jim]

Very nice cast Peter, i like the contrasting colours, i am like you in the fact that i only cast in summer due to the resin not going off etc, but i did consider using some heating in the shed but i soon gave up on the idea ..

 

[bassethound]

I thought I'll have a look on YouTube for casting video s so I start watching one and the wife is next to me and he starts by saying 'you want to watch the resin as it stinks and the fumes can give you brain damage...' So the wife says 'you're not doing that, don't even think about it' sheesh

I got nothing to worry about then! Whats Brain?

 

[Doug]

That looks excellent Peter.

 

[brody2123]

Lovely cast Perter mate. Your ribbons are better than the ones I did, I left em drying for too long, silly me
Looking forward to seeing the finished pen mate

 

[bluntchisel]

Very nice, Peter, they look good!

Bob.

 

[paulm]

I got nothing to worry about then! Whats Brain?

Brain is Brian just a little mixed up

 

[bassethound]

I think that's a brilliant cast!