A while ago I poured some epoxy over cholla canes to make some pen blanks. But the epoxy went exothermic and made enough of a mess that I thought about just throwing away the blanks.
Instead, I cut them apart and turned them most of the way, then filled the bubbles in them with pink epoxy or red mica powder, or wood dust from sanding and some CA glue.
I think the results were worth saving. Lots more work than they should’ve been, because filling those bubbles is putzy work, but I’m betting someone will like these pens enough to take them off my hands.
The other three blanks are probably goners. There are too many bubbles and they’re awkwardly placed for filling, but better to save something than nothing, right?
Just make sure to knock any loose stuff out of the middle of the canes before using them, Pottz. I’ve forgotten to do that before, and the results are not great.
Am I seeing just the wall of a branch or did you use pen-diameter branches? I know Cholla tends to be fairly fat early on, wondering if some of the "Pencil" cactus I have menacing me has a similar bone structure, its maybe 1/2" in diameter.
Splint, I grabbed cholla canes that were under ¾ inch diameter (which is most of what grows up here). So on pretty much all of these, I turned away most of the branch to make a pen. Give the pencil cactus a try, and let us know what you find!
Wikipedia says pencil cactus is a kind of cholla, so I’m guessing you’ll find similar bones if you go check out a dead one. I generally try to let nature clean my cholla bones as much as possible before I harvest it. Means less messing about with stabby bits.
Just had a look, the pencil cactus has solid bones, no weaving. The smallest cholla bone I see is, as you say, about 3/4". Seems like the best pattern would be to keep the pen centered on the cholla and hopefully it doesn't get cut past the inside diameter when you do the turning.
Looks like you have that in hand! Makes for a nice NM product 🤠
Thanks, guys! As for things going wrong, nearly everything I make has something go awry somewhere in the process. I’m thinking I may do more on recovering from mistakes, thus this series.
Yeah, Splint. Cholla bones typically have a hollow in the middle. It’s smaller than 8mm pen tubes, so as long as I get pretty well centered when I drill the hole for the tube (on the lathe), I generally will get a decent turning. But all of these had a curved bone, and I tend to put that “resin only” side of the finished turning under the pen clip.
I might have to investigate some pencil cactus at some point. Bet there’s a way to make it work.
