# Had a go at casting a banksia nut!



## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

As the title says.....had a go at casting a banksia nut. I'll probably do things a little differently next time, but for a first go I thought it came out pretty good. On a Jarrah (for a change) split frame.















I usually just Titebond the swells on, but in the case I went for some of that expanding poly glue.









Some nice patterns came out!!


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

:drool: Wombat that is bad to the bone amazing brother! :drool: is the banksia nut a softer wood that requires the resin cast? something that would be brittle or come apart easily probably. anyhow, great idea and just so you know, this is one of the most awesome swells I've ever seen. Awesome dude. After I look at it a bit more, I see the red coloring you used has filled the voids of the wood there. Cool.


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## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Gorgeous :wub:


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Holy smokes -- that's downright gorgeous, Wombat!!!!!


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## Rayshot (Feb 1, 2010)

Never saw that before and it is great.


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## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

Btoon84 said:


> :drool: Wombat that is bad to the bone amazing brother! :drool: is the banksia nut a softer wood that requires the resin cast? something that would be brittle or come apart easily probably. anyhow, great idea and just so you know, this is one of the most awesome swells I've ever seen. Awesome dude. After I look at it a bit more, I see the red coloring you used has filled the voids of the wood there. Cool.


Actually it was quite hard, but the whole idea of casting a Banksia nut....is that you get to fill the voids with an interesting colour or medium. I've got a buddy working in the local hardware store and now have him collecting the brass fillings from the key cutting machine. It'll be interesting to see if that turns out??


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## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

Outstanding work!


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## Waldschrat (Feb 5, 2012)

that looks great! I have never worked with that nuts but now i need to get one too


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## AnTrAxX (Jul 18, 2012)

So THAT is how you work with that stuff 

I stumbled ocross those nuts in several online stores before, but because of all the hollow parts i always imagined it to be not usable.

I think you sawed the slice and then filled the slice only? Not the entire nut?

Came out really great! Very nice Shooter.


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## Saderath (Jan 1, 2013)

bullseyeben! said:


> Outstanding work!


+1


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## BrokenPins (Feb 10, 2013)

This is really cool, never heard of a banksia nut before but quite a unique medium and result. Looks great!


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

';';';''';

\ /

iiiiii

(o)(o) my mind is blown. brilliant!

\

---


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## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

AnTrAxX said:


> So THAT is how you work with that stuff
> 
> I stumbled ocross those nuts in several online stores before, but because of all the hollow parts i always imagined it to be not usable.
> 
> ...


yep, you just cut what you need.


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## porcelanowy (Oct 16, 2011)

Hello


wombat said:


> Actually it was quite hard, but the whole idea of casting a Banksia nut....is that you get to fill the voids with an interesting colour or medium. I've got a buddy working in the local hardware store and now have him collecting the brass fillings from the key cutting machine. It'll be interesting to see if that turns out??


Like Wombat said  Pretty cool stuff to work with when you manage to fill in the cone's gaps.
Fellow polish knifemaker made a neat looking knife using a banksia cone to make a handle:
















http://www.knives.pl/forum/index.php/topic,101968

@ Wombat - beautiful piece of work  Hope to see more of that banksia in action 
Cheers
Rafał


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## Quercusuber (Nov 10, 2011)

What an awesome material!!!

And you are a brilliant craftsman!!!! OUTSTANDING slingshot!!!

Cheers ....Q


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## hickymick (Feb 23, 2011)

here is mine ... needs polishing nd some varnish


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## Mr.Teh (Feb 28, 2012)

Looks awesome this nut palm swell, nice craftsmanship :wub:


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## Mujician (Sep 8, 2012)

Beautiful! I believe it is possible to impregnate the whole thing with resin if you put it under pressure. I heard a knife maker on the radio recently saying he does it with his burr handles. I wonder if anyone knows of a way this could be achieved?
So did you just slice of a bit that you wanted to use, and poured resin onto that?


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

How'd I miss this!

Nice work dude.

That resin sure looks familiar


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## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

Mujician said:


> Beautiful! I believe it is possible to impregnate the whole thing with resin if you put it under pressure. I heard a knife maker on the radio recently saying he does it with his burr handles. I wonder if anyone knows of a way this could be achieved? So did you just slice of a bit that you wanted to use, and poured resin onto that?


I roughly cut the size I needed, poured the resin over it and then put it under pressure. About 40 PSI


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## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

Hrawk said:


> How'd I miss this!
> 
> Nice work dude.
> 
> That resin sure looks familiar


Hahah yeah that was my first thought when I saw your post!!


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## Jim Williams (Jul 6, 2011)

Awesome work Wombat!


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