Messing about with pewter

[zippyt]

this guy does some cool stuff with foam , you may want to try , lamguage is a bit "Shopish " so be ware

[glatt]

Originally Posted by zippyt

this guy does some cool stuff with foam , you may want to try , lamguage is a bit "Shopish " so be ware

I love AvE! Subscribed to him a while ago.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You ought to get a badge for that.

[zippyt]

and yes he finally got it

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're getting the hang of it but you have to streamline the operation before you go into full production for national distribution.

[glatt]

I started by placing a sheet of sandpaper on my flat table saw and trying to sand off all the high spots in the same plane to make it look really crisp.

But it didn't look great. Some of the letters were shallower than others and didn't get polished up.

So I switched to a dremel with a little abrasive bit and traced the tops of the letters. The dremel produces different facets, so it doesn't shine for the camera shooting from a single point. But it looks pretty good in person when you have two eyes and see it from different angles.

And I folded the loops back a little flat to grab the neckerchief securely. I gave it the hop up and down test, and it stayed put.

I'm pretty happy with it.

[footfootfoot]

Nice work. Try a maroon scotchbrite pad with a hard backer. That should help smooth the facets and not go into the black, depending on how deep it is.

Yeah, AvE is great fun.

[Happy Monkey]

Very cool!

[Griff]

Success!

[glatt]

We wore them to last night's scout meeting. Lots of "oohs and aaahs." I noticed the extra weight around my neck and didn't like it, but in short order I became used to it and forgot I was wearing it.

Now I kind of feel like trying it again, but pouring a thinner final product. I also noticed when I was digging around for some black spray paint that I had a partial can of Bondo in the basement. Does that stuff go bad? It must be ten years old. Bondo would have been a lot easier than plaster to shape initially. It starts off nice and soft when it sets up and doesn't reach full hardness for a while. I suspect I could carve a cleaner positive mold with some...

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by glatt

We wore them to last night's scout meeting. Lots of "oohs and aaahs." I noticed the extra weight around my neck and didn't like it, but in short order I became used to it and forgot I was wearing it.

Now I kind of feel like trying it again, but pouring a thinner final product. I also noticed when I was digging around for some black spray paint that I had a partial can of Bondo in the basement. Does that stuff go bad? It must be ten years old. Bondo would have been a lot easier than plaster to shape initially. It starts off nice and soft when it sets up and doesn't reach full hardness for a while. I suspect I could carve a cleaner positive mold with some...

Wax is good too. You can buy special wax for that, it comes in varying degrees of hardness, You can also soften paraffin with some microcellulose wax, available at your harware store in the plumbing section as wax toilet rings. They are very soft and sticky so only add a little bit at a time to the paraffin. Or just buy the right stuff.

https://www.smooth-on.com/

[glatt]

Cool. Wax is probably even easier. I have a couple extra wax toilet rings. Not sure if I have any paraffin. It's easy enough to get for cheap.

[footfootfoot]

The paraffin will hold the best detail but is somewhat brittle, adding the microcrystaline (not microcellulose) wax will help

[xoxoxoBruce]

Microcrystalline waxes are a type of wax produced by de-oiling petrolatum, as part of the petroleum refining process. ... It is characterized by the fineness of its crystals in contrast to the larger crystal of paraffin wax. It consists of high molecular weight saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons.

[footfootfoot]

I was just reading that same article