My John Hammond cane - Jurassic Park

awol007

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
My weekend project. Turned out pretty well I think. The cane is wood. I turned it on a lathe. The topper is resin and I got the bug from a spider web on my porch. :)

I definitely enjoyed building this one. For the cane I used wood stain for the paint. It's a white stain and worked really well. For the weathering I actually used lead from a pencil. Once I stained it and it dried, I put it back on the lathe and used a pencil to put in the black highlights between the "bone" pieces. Then I just rubbed it in with my fingers and it created some nice weathering on each section. Poly was the final coat to make it shine and lock in the weathering. The cane is three pieces (my lathe is only 18") but each piece is secured by hanger bolts so it is solid and totally useable.

The topper was just a standard resin pour in a mold I made from a puddy egg. I did half the side and let it dry a bit then added the bug and rightened the mold together and poured in the rest. Then a lot of sanding and polishing.
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Thanks. It was definitely a fun build to do and I think it turned out great. I'm probably going to gift it to a friend of mine and maybe try another one with a couple different techniques. I have the mold so I could make a bunch of toppers no problem (just need to find some bugs). :)
 
We have two wood lathes at our makerspace and one metal one and I've never seen any of them used. This is totally the reason for me to learn how.

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We have two wood lathes at our makerspace and one metal one and I've never seen any of them used. This is totally the reason for me to learn how.

It's not hard really but can be dangerous :) Just make sure you everything is secure. When you spin something up that quick and it's not secure it becomes a projectile. But once you learn how to do it you'll be hooked. Soft metals can be turned pretty easily too and make a variety of things.
 
Great job. I made one but it was my first time using resin so the plastic mosquito melted when the resin heated up.

Thanks. I didn't have any problems with heat and I actually used a little more hardening fluid than normal to make it gel quicker so I could place the crane fly in there. I poured half of it, let that half get somewhat hard (it was a jelly like consistency), put the crane fly where I wanted it, put the other half of the mold together, mixed up the rest of the resin and poured in the rest of the resin in the mold to complete it. Worked perfect on the first try.

Let me know if I can lend any more advice.
 
I posted this in another thread but thought I would add it here as well: Another thing I liked about using wood was, after you turn something to smooth it would you sand paper the hell out of it while turning. Well I only did a little and it created some nice grooves for weathering and texture.
 
Awesome! Love it. (Huge JP fan here. Read the book three times before the movie came out... and I was in middle school when that happened.)

It looks like that may be a Mosquito Hawk that you found.
 
It looks like that may be a Mosquito Hawk that you found.

Thanks. Although I think it's just a standard crane fly. Found it in a web on my front porch.

I enjoyed making this for sure. I might put a sale thread up and see if anyone want one.
 
It certainly is amazing enough that I'd expect you'll get at least a few nibbles. (If money were no object, I'd even consider throwing my hat in the ring. ...but alas, for now all I can pay are compliments.)

Yup, it's a bug ;- ) I laugh, because we have an immigrant friend who calls all birds pigeons. (Long story, but even in his native tongue he does the same.)
 
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