Tagua nuts for carving

[hexnut]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but feel free to move it if I guessed wrong...  Anyway, someone on this site mentioned tegua nuts, and I picked up a smaal bag of them at Woodcraft supply to mess with a bit.  It turns out they are very freindly to carve, and will take a nice polish. I didn't get all that far, but I started roughing out a little figure of Amphitrite.  (I had a tough time photographing it, my camera is getting pretty elderly.)

The only draw back to the material, is that at least on the one I started with, there is a stem that goes pretty deep down the center of the nut and leaves a bit of a void. I had to modify the pose a bit to clear it.  All in all, a really nice material, thanks for introducing me...

Edited April 26, 2013 by hexnut

[Jim Lad]

That looks a very nice little figure - and I mean little if that's a No. 11 scalpel blade in the photo.  How big are these nuts?

 

John

[hexnut]

Thanks!  The ones that I got in the bag were about 50mm (1.9") by about 30mm (1.2") The figure is roughly a vertical quarter of the nut. 

Now that I know the material a little better, I could get a larger object out of it, but I still don't think it would quite work out for a1/6 scale Cutty Sark figure head ...

It also turns and machines very well at slow speeds, push it a bit and it starts to burn. (smells fantastic, like roasting coffee, but the surface will brown just like wood)

Edited April 25, 2013 by hexnut

[RiverRat]

Looks very nice!

I am waiting my order of Tagua nuts to arrive and I am looking forward to it.

Janos

Having seen your collection of carvings, I was going to point out this post to you..........too late!

 

Bob (hexnut),

 

What tools did you use to do your carving?

 

Brian

[Anja]

That looks great Bob,

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Take care,

 

Anja

[Garward]

Hi, Bob!  You how these nuts look couldn't show?

[hexnut]

Janos, thank you for spelling "tagua" correctly, which I failed to do!  ( I don't know how to edit the topic title ) I can't wait to see what someone with your skills can make with these things.

 

Brian (RiverRat), I was mostly just experimenting with the material, so I played with everything from bandsaw, belt sander to a couple of different Dremel bits, but most of the detail work (so far) is just a #11 hobby blade, spot polishing with Micro-Mark sanding pads.

 

Thanks, Anja!

 

Brian C, yes, it's a Palm tree-type plant. This site gives a bit of an overview: http://dharmabeads.webs.com/taguanuthistory.htm

[Garward]

Thanks for the link.

[Garward]

It is a pity that these so small fruits...

[JPett]

Ahoy Hexnut

  ( I don't know how to edit the topic title )

 

Go to your first post "edit" and then use the "Use Full Editor"

 

it will be right there

 

Chuck "schooled" me on this yesterday 'lol'

 

 

[hexnut]

J. Pett, many thanks!  (Now, if I only had that "full edit" button on some of my modelling projects...)

 

Garward, yes, the small size is the only negative that I have found so far. I haven't tried gluing it yet, I don't know how it reacts with CA or epoxy.

Edited April 26, 2013 by hexnut

[Garward]

The correct and provident approach, is better to try effect of glue on trial samples and not to risk to spoil such beautiful finished product!

[JPett]

Ahoy Hexnut

 

NP

 

I use a heat gun and alcohol solution for my editing work. Well there's two alcohol solutions

 

Your carving is wonderful, if I can use that word. After reading about the Tagua nuts in a Woodcraft magazine I tried drying some avocado nuts. Lets just say there wasn't anything worth posting.

[wefalck]

Didn't know the English name of this nut, In German it is called Steinnuß, i.e. stone nut. The Latin name, Phytelephas macrocarpa, means big-fruit plant-ivory. I knew that until the middle of the 20th it was used to make buttons. Didn't know you could still buy it. Could also be an interesting material to make very small blocks from. By heat-treatment you seem to able to change the colour into a light brown,

 

wefalck

[Garward]

I remembered where I already saw these nuts http://forum.modelsworld.ru/topic166start165.html

where about them wrote that it is interesting alternative of an ivory, it is very good for a small carving.

[Garward]

Nuts on a palm - it is possible to estimate their size.

[Garward]

A little cleared nuts.

 

[Garward]

Nut section.

 

[Garward]

The author of the message to which I referred above, writes, nuts are well painted by a spirit pigment (see the small painted part of a nut on the last photo).

[wefalck]

Garward, liked your Estwing geologist's hammer ! Bought one like this in my first year at university ...

 

wefalck

[Garward]

Wefalck, It is a hammer of my colleague geologist, he likes to use it, but with age expeditions decreased and the hammer slightly rusted   

[hexnut]

Garward, thanks for the nice photos.  I like the ones that you surface polished. 

 

Crackers, to be honest, if I were going to paint the surface, I would probably use renshape or a sculpting medium.  To me, the best feature of this stuff is the resemblance to marble, ivory or bone.  As a matter of fact, the translucent white color makes it a bit hard to see details, so i rub a little graphite (6h drafting pencil lead) on the surface and scrape it away as I cut in details.  Did you have a specific piece in mind to replicate?

[Garward]

Hi, Bob! Unfortunately, I have no own experience of work with this nut, but I agree that it needs to be darkened much more better to see details.