21 BIG Pine Cones

[William Young]

While I was at the craft sale yesterday morning a friend that had seen my pine cone pen when I took it to the coffee shop one morning last week said he was at a garage sale an hour earlier and they had a box full of really big pine cones for 50 cents each.
Of course I couldn't get away right then so I asked him if he could go back and see if they are still there and if so, buy them and I would pick them up today (Sunday) . Sure enough , he got them and took them home. He lives down near the border and I had to go across the border for a tank of gas anyway for 32 cents a liter less than here so I stopped at his place and picked them up . He got all 21 for ten dollars .

I will definitely be making a real nice pen for him from one or two of them.

Pop can is there for reference of size.
I don't know where the person that was selling them got them from but that size sure didn't come from anywhere around here.

W.Y.

[Mike Crosa]

You know what would be nice Bill? A tutorial on doing a pen from one of these cones.

[Ramjet]

Hi William . We were returning from las Vegas a few years ago and took the 385 up past Lake Tahoe . There was a river that we drove beside towards Carson city coming out of the hills . I kept seeing huge pine cones on the side of the road by the trees . Just had to stop . We didn't get many as we were not sure what would happen at the Canadian border . If any one lives around Reno they should be easy to find . The time was in the spring and there was lots of snow at Tahoe .It will be interesting to see how the pens turn out .Cheers.
Roger

[minowevie]

Oh my Gosh. Bill don't you have pine cones in your area, I have tons, from thum tinny, to 1an1/2'. I just love them. you can get in troubale picking them up. but every one does. and there is still tons. I have pine trees on my property that I get some cones off of. gosh .50 cents a piece. I will sell you a truck load. your friend Evie

[William Young]

Roger;

It will be interesting to see how the pens turn out .Cheers.
Roger

I have only turned one just last week from a cone I got elsewhere . I am not really proud of this one at all because I know I can do better but it was a practice piece as my first one and was shown along with the pictures of the 48 year old lilac and eucalyptus ones I turned that day. Those three pens all sold in the first hour of the sale yesterday.
The 21 cones I showed obviously were brought into Canada buy the person that was selling them or someone from down south sent them to them . They are old and dry but that should be no problem when I get all the wings cut off and get down to the heartwood.

W.Y.






Evie.

Oh my Gosh. Bill don't you have pine cones in your area, I have tons, from thum tinny, to 1an1/2'. I just love them.

We do have tons of pine cones here also because I live in the middle of pine tree forsests and logging is our biggest industry but we do not have the same varieties of pine trees as you do way down south there. The biggest cones around here are from the pondorosa pines and they are less than half the length and diameter and there is not enough "core" in them to make pens with. Most of our pine trees are lodgepole pine and they have very small cones.

[greatdane2]

William,I have a couple of cones I picked up in California a few years ago. Just the size was worth keeping them. Anyway after seeing your cone pen I relize I will never use them so if you want these, pm me your address and I will send them to you. They are 9-10 inches tall
Alan.

[William Young]

Sure Alan, that would be great. 9 to 10 inches is a good size. The ones I have are all close to 8 inches.

You are in BC so there will be no over border customs hassle.
If you have no use for them , I will gladly pay you the postage for mailing .
I will send my address via PM.
W.Y.

[William Young]

Evie.

Oh my Gosh. Bill don't you have pine cones in your area, I have tons, from thum tinny, to 1an1/2'. I just love them.

Have you ever done any kind of work with pine cones where all the outside stuff had to be cut off ?

I just went out in my shop and cut this down to 1" x 1" . Talk about dust . . . These must be very old dry ones. I didn't wear my dust mask but I sure will next time. This is all that can be saved from a 8" cone and even then it is not long enough for a two barrel pen so two cones have to be used. They will however make a single barrel pen like a Sierra.
I will continue down to 3/4 x 3/4 and then trim off each end to get the best part from it.

W.Y.

[lucky788scroller]

Bill, how solid is that core? I assume you drown it in CA glue, or an epoxy ,and, is that done before you drill it, or at what point in the pen making process? There are no big pinecones in WI that I have ever seen, definatly none big enough to do a pen out if.

[William Young]

Dale .
The core is not solid enough to turn as is. It would fly apart.
I got basically the same inquiry on my own site and the member also wanted to know if they were green like wood and needed to be dried. Probably fresh off the tree they would need to be dried.
Here was my answer.

The cones are not green like green wood. At least not the ones I have seen. The 21 I got today are very dry and could be umteen years old because I don't know the history of them.
As far as turning goes , they have to have all the loose outside stuff sawed of on the band saw and get down to about a 3/4 x 3/4 blank just like for pens. Then drill the hole and soak the inside and outside with thin CA. It will soak it in with a sponge.
Hit it with some accelerator and re-drill the hole and glue in the tubes and you're good to go.
After getting it round, apply thin CA and accelerator as necessary . The shaping and sanding and finishing is just like any other pen. Very sharp tools and a light touch are orders of the day