A few SS Cable casts

**dai sensei** · 24th January 2010, 05:22 PM

Gawdelpus (John) gave me some of the SS cable off-cuts he scored the other day

. So I thought I would have a go at casting a few. Basically, due to the thickness of the combined cable and resin, the only kits that will work (from Aus anyway) are the Cigar and the Dayacom Elegant Beauty.

I plugged the brass tubes with home made silicon plugs that extend beyond the tube to support the SS cable. I secure the cable on the tube/plugs with cable ties then cast in resin under low pressure. To do something different, I also added some tint to the resin on some of them. I also used blackened tubes, so the brass didn't show through the cable weave.

Biggest problem with these casts is the trimming of the blank. Tried the bandsaw first, but it tended to tear the cable weaving slightly, so ended up using a fine toothed metal cutting blade on the scrollsaw - too lazy for the hacksaw

. The main thing is to cut them as close as possible to the sleeves, as the sanding/trimming process heats the cable, and can discolour it. So little bits at a time dunking in water regularly to ensure the cable stays cool. The clear Cigar shows the one cut with the bandsaw and overheated

, live and learn.

The other problem that became obvious after turning, was a straight tube is better on the tinted casts, as the thicker the pen the darker the colour

. I'll stick to clear now on the Cigars, and only colour the EBs. Might also get some more tint, this stuff was starting to go off and didn't mix too well (it is over 5 years old

).

Cheers

**gawdelpus** · 24th January 2010, 06:26 PM

WOW!!! That worked a treat Neil

I know the clear ones have a lovely shine to the metal in sunlight ,do the colored ones have that same shine ? . I sold a couple of these at the markets today in the clear, most people are rather impressed with them .and I bet you feel just a little impressed yourself lol. So now we know that cigars and EBs work , the W/shop pencils work as well as the sierra vistas .I am sure that more kits will turn out to be suitable as time allows for more experimenting .I do like the colored ones as well ,bugger now I have to get some dyes lol. Cheers ~ John

**MBUMIK** · 24th January 2010, 09:23 PM

great effort guys, they look very impressive

thanks for the run down on how you did them also

MIK

**dj_pnevans** · 24th January 2010, 09:29 PM

Neil I don't know about them maybe you should send them to me

David

**Sawdust Maker** · 24th January 2010, 09:49 PM

noice

**poulso** · 24th January 2010, 10:44 PM

Very nice

**shazzkim** · 24th January 2010, 11:16 PM

great work. look fantastic.
Are they available to purchase for those of us that are not set up for casting???
Kim

**artme** · 24th January 2010, 11:33 PM

Wonderful wor there Neil!!!

Demo in the offing at the GTG???

**Ozkaban** · 25th January 2010, 10:02 AM

they're awesome!

If you feel like selling kits, put me down for several... I reckon you'd have a steady market for them!

cheers,
Dave

**Rum Pig** · 25th January 2010, 10:19 AM

WOW and they were just the offcuts well done very nice

**I_wanna_Shed** · 25th January 2010, 11:12 AM

Excellent job there! I'm loving the look of these SS braided hose pens.

Honestly, they are some of the best Cigars I have seen. I don't know why exactly, but I'm not a fan of them. But the braided hose just does something different to them.

I wish I had some of these blanks!!!

Nathan.

**dai sensei** · 25th January 2010, 02:49 PM

Thanks for the comments.

Originally Posted by shazzkim

Are they available to purchase...

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

If you feel like selling kits, put me down for several... I reckon you'd have a steady market for them!

Originally Posted by I_wanna_Shed

I wish I had some of these blanks

Orginally I was thinking of making them to sell, but after the trouble of cutting and prepping them, not sure if I will. There is a lot of mucking about with them and my hands need to heal from all the pricks from the sharp SS wire ends

. I'm going to do one more batch of them to try using the metal cutting drop saw. If I go into production of sorts, I would have to also work out a better way of holding them in the moulds,

Originally Posted by artme

Demo in the offing at the GTG???

Guy has asked me to bring the Woodfast with me. I will have Banksia/WW/SS cable/coffee bean/ etc cast blanks with me for demos (and sale? Sorry, but I've got to stop giving them away

).

**Dorno** · 25th January 2010, 09:43 PM

I mean this in the nicest way Clever Pr*ck lol

Cheers Ian

**JTTHECLOCKMAN** · 26th January 2010, 12:54 AM

What are you using to mill the ends??? You are probably using something to get close to finish size but have to clean up the ends and for that what seems to work best for you?? I really like the colors. I may have to try that in the future. Thanks for showing.

**BoomerangInfo** · 26th January 2010, 08:05 AM

Certainly gives a nice finish. Great job. Sounds a bit too fiddly for me though.

Russell.

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