First attempt at .....

[rdabpenman]

An Afghan Pine Cone with a Black Titanium/Titanium Gold Sierra.

The stabilized blanks were generously sent to me by Doug.
Thanks Doug!
Hope I did it justice.

Drilled Sierra tube hole, knocked off the corners, turned and filled voids with Med CA, applied 6 coats of Med CA, sanded to 400 grit, buffed with fine steel wool and polished with Huts Ultra Gloss.
Hopefully the next ones will turn out a bit better.

As always comments and or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks for looking.

Les

[maverick31]

turn out better, I think it turned out perfect. Great job.

[Doug B]

Yeah me too Les, I don't see anything that needs improvement. You definitely did a bang up job on that pen. I just wish you did not make it sound so easy I really have to put in a lot of effort to get a pine cone pen turned.

Fantastic job, as usual Les.

[sdb777]

Pretty fun to turn, once you get the 'hang of it'....

I see absolutely nothing wrong with that....






Scott (use to seeing it on a cartridge) B

[boodrow]

Great job on it Les , looks excellent IMO
Boodrow

[TDHofstetter]

Pine trees grow in Afghanistan? Or... are those bullet holes?

[Doug B]

No bullet holes Tim

These trees must have come originally from Afghanistan - they do extremely well in our desert southwest climate. And, it is absolutely the hardest Pine I have ever seen. Tough, tough stuff, and very good for firewood. And, of course you see what the cones are good for.

[maverick31]

I am curious do these cones ever open up or do they only open under a high heat source like fire?

[Doug B]

Mav, the vast majority of them open up before falling from the tree. The very few that do not are the ones I have to search for. I'm guessing that about 5% do not open up.

It seems to me that I have heard of some pine cones that only open up after a forest fire and that is when they release their seeds. So, it may be one of those things that have evolved so that the trees will make a comeback after a forest fire. Makes sense to me anyway.

I have looked at other Pines and they do not seem to have the same characteristic of some cones staying intact even when they mature and fall from the tree. At least, none of the ones I have found so far seems to do that.

Joe Lyddon sent me some Monterrey Pine cones that seemed to be identical to the Afghan cones I get. Those are native to California, so maybe we can recruit some of our CA members to see if they can find another source (and hopefully more abundant one than mine) for us turners. I have this dream that there is a forest of Monterrey Pines somewhere in CA with millions of unopened pine cones all over the ground just waiting for a fellow WoW member to pick them up

[admin]

May 10, 2010 20:26:17 GMT -6 Doug B said:

Mav, the vast majority of them open up before falling from the tree. The very few that do not are the ones I have to search for. I'm guessing that about 5% do not open up.

It seems to me that I have heard of some pine cones that only open up after a forest fire and that is when they release their seeds. So, it may be one of those things that have evolved so that the trees will make a comeback after a forest fire. Makes sense to me anyway.

I have looked at other Pines and they do not seem to have the same characteristic of some cones staying intact even when they mature and fall from the tree. At least, none of the ones I have found so far seems to do that.

Joe Lyddon sent me some Monterrey Pine cones that seemed to be identical to the Afghan cones I get. Those are native to California, so maybe we can recruit some of our CA members to see if they can find another source (and hopefully more abundant one than mine) for us turners. I have this dream that there is a forest of Monterrey Pines somewhere in CA with millions of unopened pine cones all over the ground just waiting for a fellow WoW member to pick them up

Can the cones be green? If so, I've got a stand of pine dropping closed ones by the bucketload some parts of the year. I got stupid one day, mounted one to my lathe, and tried to turn it just to see what it was like; I got a free sap shower.

[Doug B]

I tried them green and got the same results you did TJ. In fact, I could not even drill them to take a tube much less turn them.

However, I had someone give me some green ones thinking I could use them, and I have had them for over a year now and they seem to have dried out. I recently drilled one successfully and it is ready to turn but I just have not gotten a round tuit yet. Still, waiting a year for them to dry will not be convenient, but if it works...

I'm just concerned about what it will look like inside...hopefully I will soon find out.

[mcbryde]

I was wondering if the long leaf pines from down south would produce a cone that would be big enough even after it was opened to yield enough heart in the cone to turn with. Anyone know the answer to that one?

E

[Doug B]

I don't know Emerson, but I know some folks cast the opened cones in resin and they make very unique looking pens too.

[mcbryde]

Doug, are you talking about your cones, or longleafs?

E

[Doug B]

I don't know what kind the cones were, but I have seen some that are cast in resin and made into pens. In fact I bought several from a guy at IAP and made a couple of them myself. The ones I got were called "Dragon Hide" or something similar and look very interesting, but nothing like the cones I turn.

I have cast a couple of my opened cones in some resin that I got from Hobby Lobby just to try it out, but I have not gotten around to making anything with them yet...I don't have a whole lot of hope that they will be anything that is really going to be eyecatching, but you never know.

[boodrow]

Im not sure what yall are talkin bout when u say a long leaf pine tree. Here in etex we have pine trees everywhere. I looked for hours and cant find one that has not opened on the ground. Or if I did it was rotten. Ive had some co-workers bring me closed cones and within a couple days they were opened. Go figure.
Boodrow