JPH Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Howdy ya'all!! OK IK have been doing a good bit of of scrounging here and there and I have, after doping a good bit of chasing around.. some bowling ball material that "acquired" and that I decided to try to use for a grip on some stuff... I tell yas.. did I learn a bunch as far as working, finishing and polishing this.. Yet Geeze Louise.this stuff was totally and completely different from I have been using for the last 40 plus years...but... So be that as it may.. I went ahead hammered out one of my quick and dirty Ladder Pattern shortsword blades and put this stuff on it.. All I can say is WOW...this stuff looks like a cross hybrid between gold Tigers-eye and Baltic amber...(my pics ain't all that hot but) when I saw where this was heading... well.... DESIGN CHANGE!~ Went all out and went and finished/mounted this one up real spiffy like.... Specs: Double edged 21 1/4" long x 1 1/4" wide blade.. L-6/1095/meteorite iron.. Ladder pattern.. 4/5ths blade length fuller each side. Forged and file worked phosphor bronze mounts and that bowling balls stuff that I fluted for the grip (this is just mind blowing stuff).. Mounted the leather sheath with a chape and locket and set a 33.10 Ct star ruby (I cut this one myself) into it... Didn't turn out half bad for a blade made on a whim/what the Heck, why not ?? sorta project... At least I don't think it did anyways... But what do I know?? I am still trying to figure this stuff out... So...If ya ask me this one turned out OK for what it is...an experiment...So...ya'all... Let me know what ya'all think.. JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hay River Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Wow. Stunning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 H.R. : THANK YOU Sir!! As I said before..I don't think it turned out half bad for a "What the Heck" sorta project.. Thanks once again.. JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Sometimes you just gotta say What the hey! I've often wondered what was going through the head of the first person to try riding a horse. Bet it didn't turn out this pretty. So, what was the trick working bowling ball material. The last time I did any bowling the balls were rubber though some had stripes and on RARE occasion the fancy folk had white ones. Are the fancy colored ones no longer plastic? Your doodlin around looks so cool. Thanks for letting us peak now and then. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 (edited) Frosty, Mi Amigo... I scrounged and did a whole LOT of research and SLTT and I found a couple of guys that make custom bowling balls and who do re-hab on BB's as well.. So... As they say...this stuff that you all can see up above is..on most B balls about 3/4" thick.. MY contacts that make these balls can do all sorts of " interesting" stuff as they say and this is...more or less..the results as far as what we have come up with. JPH Edited August 3, 2017 by Mod34 Removed inappropriate typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubalcain2 Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 wow. that might just be the prettiest sword i have ever seen. SWEET! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Lovely handle and the fluting must have been interesting to get just right and polished. Did it stink much when being worked? I scrounged some of the clear yellow bowling ball stuff a couple of decades ago to use as a knife handle but ended up giving it to a person who collected "fake amber" materials as part of a research collection. I've noticed an amber coloured reflector knocked loose and off the road at the border crossing but have been waiting till they have a guard out there I can ask before picking it up. It should be good strong high impact stuff from it's use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 On 8/3/2017 at 6:37 AM, JPH said: I scrounged and did a whole LOT of research and SLTT and I found a couple of guys that make custom bowling balls and who do re-hab on BB's as well.. So... As they say...this stuff that you all can see up above is..on most B balls about 3/4" thick.. MY contacts that make these balls can do all sorts of " interesting" stuff as they say and this is...more or less..the results as far as what we have come up with. Oooh, will these guys make up colors and patterns for you? . . . Interesting stuff indeed. Ladder pattern or tubular surf for the divers, to. . . I'm enjoying mental boggles. Did you grind it and what was the atmosphere like? Special PPE? Thanks, Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 5, 2017 Author Share Posted August 5, 2017 Frosty...the grip was mostly done by hand tools and the flutes were cut using my Foredom flex shaft...the usual PPE was all that was needed.. Now the funky part is the way this stuff came off during the fluting..instead of a regular "dust" like a wood saw dust this stuff formed a very coarse and rough grain about the size of reject sand...really odd...and I had to polish it wet to keep it from melting... Still I think it turned out pretty good when you factor in the fact that I have no clue at all as to what I was doing with this... JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 Yeah, that sounds like plastic rather than a cast resin alright Jim. I assume you used a burr in the Foredom? I use my miter saw and cross cut blade to cut ABS and PVC pipe, the faster you feed the blade the less melting and funky sticky reject sand cuttings you get. People look at me funny when I pull the trigger and slam it through the pipe but it cuts clean, never a chip and minimum bur. Trying to go slow can actually jam the blade. I've also had luck lubing the area with vegetable oil. The cuttings come off clean and don't stick to each other or the cutter. Wet polishing follows. Maybe do the shaping wet? You can pull that off safely with a flex shaft Foredom. Neat stuff. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 5, 2017 Author Share Posted August 5, 2017 Frosty..Mi Compadre.. OK...now remember I am NOT all that experienced in using this stuff so...I was using a 1/2" Dia "sanding arbor" and those little wittle sanding bands.. I cut these flutes "free hand" not using anything other than the old "eye ball" measurement as I was going along using a 40 grit band on the Foredom.... did some refining with a 180 grit and the final shape and "blending" with a 360grit... after that it was wet 600, wet 1500, wet 2500 and wet 3600 grit..and during the wet polish all the colour and character started to show up. This was followed with a black grease based crocus on a semi hard muslin and then a 6000 grit white pumice on a hard muslin buff.. the buffs were a wet buff (using WD-40 as the slip..worked GREAT) and this is what I got...I was gob-smacked at what I was seeing as it was being buffed... YOW_ZAAA! some really different stuff as far as I am use to.. So all in all and SLTT I think this one turned out pretty good for an ignorant old "Hammer Head" like me that had NO idea at all as far as what he was getting into... As always.. JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 6, 2017 Share Posted August 6, 2017 Jim San Tomodachi: It turned out more than "pretty good" it's beautiful. You can save yourself a lot of work if you use burrs and save the sanding till the finish. Use carbide burrs plastic are loaded with bits of abrasive stuff even the transparent stuff. Plastics are a lousy conductor of heat while tending to have a pretty high specific heat so once it gets hot it tends to stay hot and most only need about 300f. to start getting gooey. When it gets time for sanding it's time to go slowly and keeping it wet helps to keep it cool and prevent stickage. Ask your contact about drilling finger holes in bowling balls, they use a LOT of fluid. As much of a PITA plastics can be to work with, cutting, sanding, polishing, etc. I think the potential is probably worth it. I know this example is stunning. Please allow me to encourage you to put in all that work so I can look at more. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 7, 2017 Share Posted August 7, 2017 Book #5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted August 7, 2017 Share Posted August 7, 2017 Still waiting for book 4, we aint getting any younger....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 7, 2017 Share Posted August 7, 2017 And Christmas is coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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