# The Australian Kurrajong tree pod seeds...!



## robutacion (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi peoples,

A few weeks ago I made a series of pen blanks castings and one that seemed to please a lot of you, ,including myself, was the one I made out of the Kurrajong tree pod seeds that I had collected a week prior.  I have made a couple of samples, one was a pen blank short the other was a pendant blank and while they were finished immediately, and have the pics taken, only recently I shown the pen blank short, on my 2012 PITH tease thread.

Let me tell you a little about this Kurrajong tree...!
The first time I saw it, not knowing for sure what is was (no pods then...!) was about 2007 when I started using the Medical Practice building, situated in McLaren Vale-SA, for my regular medical check-ups with my private GP Doctor.  This is the major town near me (27km away) and one that I keep mentioning all of the time.

On the corner of the buildings back, near the car park, I stared at it for years and wonder what it was, and what sort of wood it had inside but this thing never gave me a dead branch to try and see.  In the mean time I started taken some pics and send them to some friends for identification as I was not familiar with this type tree...!


The pods gave it away and the tree was immediately recognised as an Australian Kurrajong tree, a relative of the interesting looking Australian Bottle tree.  This year about end of September, I decided to request permission to remove some pods as they looked nice and yellow inside.  Little did I know that these damn thinks are like Oysters to open, they show a little gap, just enough for the seeds to fall through when ready but, a very hard job to open apart, any further from that point.

I first collected a large shopping bag full, not that many pods really, as they take a lot of space with all the stokes attached however I got home and started removing the seeds, that when I realised you much of a pain in the A@$$ that was...!
Anyway, I endup with a small container of seeds that looked promising for casting as the bright yellow colours of the outer surface, was pretty.  Grabbed a round piece of PVC and packed the seeds on top of each other as compact as I could, mixed some clear PR and pour in till covering the seeds.

The pendant mold was a lid of an empty spray can, with the little pin hole sealed with masking tape and both down in the pressure pot they went for an overnight sleep...!:wink:

Next morning got them out and I saw what I was expecting, little tinny bubbles around the seeds , why...??? because the seeds were green(ish)/full of moisture when cast.  This is just something that you can't get away from, when casting anything that isn't dry properly or moisture free however the possibility, I want to see it the seeds would get affected by the resin and how they would look inside after casting.

The first thing I noticed as soon as the seeds got in contact with the resin was that, the pretty yellow skin surface went away and became a brownish colour, instead.  I later find out that soaking in anything, including water, the yellow darkens considerably and that was a real shame, I thought...!

The other thing that I was to finding was, how much shrinking the seeds would have after casting as I was not sure at what stage of maturity the seeds were when I first got them so, I waited for that shrinkage but that didn't seemed that was going to happen by them was 4 weeks later and looking into the container where I had the other seeds, I noticed that they looked a little more shrivelled up on the outer skin so opening a few I realise that, the rest of the seeds were starting to change colour inside, sign that they were starting to died of and decompose into a brown colour.

Caught by surprised, I decided to go and get as many pods as I could before the seeds were no good, come home hours later with nearly 4 nylon full bags that are about 4' tall...!
Poor wife got a bashing with seeds removal from those nasty tight pods for a couple of days, she was glad when the last bag was empty, I helped here and there but, she done most of them.

I sorted and clean them, many never made it and I couldn't believe how small container I had from all the 4 bags (about 3 black dishes/containers as the one shown if the pic, ridiculous...!  The first half of them were put in the oven @ 100°C for a couple of yours to dry any moisture and cast that same evening into various colours, the rest was done the following days.

Now, these blanks are not for the "faint hearted" they require much care and attention when worked, the seeds have 3 layers 2 of them hard shells, these don't allow any sort of soaking, even with the Cactus Juice so, the seeds or part of, tend to flick off when turning.

The trick is NOT use too high lathe speed, CA soaking as you got and sharp tools.  I also recommend that the blank should be wrapped with masking tape from the moment you decided to start working on it.  From cutting to drilling in particular, the tape helps to keep everything together, until is time to start turning, the tape will come out after a couple of passes...!

Now, what is the best way to fix a seed that come off and left a big whole...??? CA soaking as you go, minimises the chances of that happen but if it does, any blanks that will be sold will have a small bag with 3 or 4 seeds in it, they are for there, just in case.

Starting turning these blanks with your lathe and working areas clean, is your best chance to find the bit that flew off, CA will glue it back and you carry on but, if the bit can't be found, no problems one of the spare seeds will fix that whole and a couple more if necessary, as this is what I suggest you should do...! 

A little extra time and care, can go a long way with these type of blanks, in my opinion, well worth it...!

Next year, I will need to remember that, the pods have to be collected at the end of September, the latest, this should provide a lot more seeds with the pure white inside however, they will have lots of extra moisture that I have to dry off, some how.  They will need also to be cast as soon as the moisture is removed, if not, nature will take its course and the seeds will die off and darken...!:frown:


Well, I think that I have covered pretty much the whole "event" and provided valued information about this seed species, some of its uses and how to handle it, I like what they do/look in resin, I hope you do to...!:wink::biggrin:

Enjoy...!

Cheers
George


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## philb (Oct 31, 2012)

Looks like fun....

Really liking the look of the dark green cast one!


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## Randy Simmons (Oct 31, 2012)

Very very cool! You should talk to Ed Brown. Are they for sale?


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## mikespenturningz (Oct 31, 2012)

Those look great. Nice article thanks for posting this. Gives some of us new casters a look at what you did. I will have to look around and see what we have here for that!


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## Jim Smith (Oct 31, 2012)

They look like a lot of work, but I love the look of these blanks.  If you ever have any for sale or trade, please let us know.

Jim Smith


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## robutacion (Oct 31, 2012)

Randy Simmons said:


> Very very cool! You should talk to Ed Brown. Are they for sale?



G'day Randy,

Thanks for the advice but I should be able to handle it from here...!

The ones that know my work and how I do things know that, I like to provide as much information as possible about the products/wood/blanks I have/do/sell however, there are rules on IAP that I have to follow to the best of my ability and some reflect upon the "advertising" of products for sale.

There are also now rules that prevent me and other members to enter into dialogue on the commercial adds so, any info and/or "presentation" of the blanks/woods, have to be done outside of those Adds.

Selecting the right subject area for that, can be a little tricky and does allow for "assumptions" of various natures however, not everything I do goes on sale and I still like to show you all and talk about it, allowing also others to participate, ask questions and learn something.

Selling or not, my main priority and enjoyment is to create stuff, try new things and experiment...!  I make no secrets of what I do and how I dot it, I want others to realise that, there is nothing that will stop them from trying also, either the same thing or different, the principals are the same.

Some things don't turn out how I wanted, either when the blank is done or when I try using it to make a pen, there is were many of the nice looking samples, fail...!  There are many factors that can contribute for that the main one is, what is left when you get to pen barrel finished size, as many blanks loose it nice effect, then...!

So, not every trial is a success, but each one has provided a lesson of some sort, those lessons are what make us improve and try again and again.  There is also the inventive side of it, the fun and excitement that provides, in the process so, any bad result is just forgotten quickly, as a result...!

Can you do it...??? absolutely, you just need to try using you own imagination and "stuff" that you have around you, believe me, you will be surprised how much you will find, when you start looking...!

For those that, for whatever the reason, are unable to produce their own castings, I hope that I can help out a little with the stuff I come up with, and that I decide to sell, either here or on my eBay store.   Either way, I really enjoy doing what I do...! 

So *Jim* and others, be on standby, anything can happen...!

Cheers
George


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## Dai Sensei (Nov 6, 2012)

Those blanks look amazing George 

Being a nut though, what's the chance it will still rot in time?  I know roasted almonds rot in time.


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## robutacion (Nov 6, 2012)

Dai Sensei said:


> Those blanks look amazing George
> 
> Being a nut though, what's the chance it will still rot in time?  I know roasted almonds rot in time.



G'day Neil,

That is a valid question, and one that I don't have a definitive answer however, most of the seeds were stabilised under full vacuum for 3 hours, and then cooked for 90 minutes.  This was done not considering or thinking of that possibility but, because I knew that the seeds have 3 layers and one is a tough one.

What I tried to achieve by stabilising them, was to harden the seeds through and provided a better adhesion to the PR, that you know is not as good in that respect as the Alumilite however, when make the samples I had seeds flying off, a couple from the very contact with the PR, leaving a much deeper crevasse.

Interestingly, reducing the lathe speed did help considerably, the samples made from seeds that have been stabilised, seem to do no better than the ones that I soaked in the un-hardened PR for a couple of hours, before I added the colour and hardener.

I have also noticed that, the juice didn't penetrate through the full seed, failing to transform the 3 layers seed into a single solid hardened seed so, stabilisation was no benefit in this case...!

What would be the reaction of the cast seeds to ageing...??? I'm not sure but, I would thing that, but the time the blank is taken/turned to pen barrel size, with the suggested constant CA soaking to make sure everything is kept in place, the very thin layer left, will be glued from the inside, and also saturated/soaked from the outside before the full CA finish is achieve so, would be fair and reasonable to believe that, the seeds left, will be solidified by the CA and encased for ever...!

I may have to come back to you, in 5 or 10 years on that but for now, this all I can come up with...!

Cheers
George


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