Hot doggie it works VERY WELL

[Shawn R. L.]

Sculptors, you gotta try this!! I made some simple pointed tips of different shapes out of Teflon and used them for the first time today. WOW, I was doing some real fine, small work and it didn\'t stick AT ALL. Problem I have had for a long time. Tiny stuff was hard because either the clay would stick to the tool or the water would dissolve the clay being that the piece was so tiny. I worked about 1 hour and didn\'t have to clean the tip at all, didn\'t have to wet it, and it left a very smooth surface. I had tried a high density poly-vinyl and it was less sticky than my regular tips which are polished copper.

The Teflon was easy to shape into the different tips. One draw back was that Teflon was hard to come by. I found some at a real funky junkyard here but prior to that I had seen some Teflon rod on Ebay that wasn\'t too expensive...............GO FOR IT, IT\'S WORTH THE EFFORT!!

 

[lizcam]

So Shawn a side business for you could be making teflon tools and selling them. You could do fairly well with it!

 

[Dragonsreach]

This makes sense. Might try to get hold of some.



As an aside..I used to work with a Guy called \"Teflon Tom\"..........Nothing would ever stick to his desk and Sh*t wouldn\'t stick to him either.

 

[usurpator]

the question is: where can we find teflon?

 

[Jericho]

Like he said, eBay seems to have everything.

Amazon might be a good place to look too, heck they were selling Uranium Ore, anal douches, lingerie and Futurama DVD\'s all on the same page, as we found out yesterday on the forums here

 

[Einion]

Great to hear Shawn. I didn\'t even know PTFE was available in blocks/rods w00t! I don\'t think anything will beat this as far as non-stick is concerned so this may be the final word.

Dragonsreach, usurpator, found this place with a quick search and the prices look brill.

You guys in North America are on your own

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

how did you make a tool out of it? did you use the whole rod or make a tip and stick it on something? i\'m really interested now!

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by usurpator
the question is: where can we find teflon?

Check here - http://cgi.ebay.com/Plastic-PTFE-Teflon-round-rod-5-8-625-dia-12-long_W0QQitemZ200181267336QQihZ010QQcategoryZ61797QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

@freak - I have a slab about 1/4 inch thick (about 1/2 centimeter thick) by 5 inches by 8 inches. I cut strips off that were 1/4 inch on a side. Taking that and a graduated set of files and sandpaper I just shaped it down to the shapes I wanted. Final polishing was done, I think, by vigorously rubbing it on denim.

As far as connecting them to a handle, what I did was to cut off lengths of the finished tips that were about 1 inch long, then cut grooves AROUND the bottom 1/4 inch or so. I took a wood dowel, drilled a hole in it, put glue in the hole, around the grooved part of the tip and put that in the hole in the dowel. Since nothing sticks to the Teflon the grooves allow the glue in them, attach to the dowel and thus hold the piece in place mechanically.

Used the things last night for about 3 hours on some more really fine detail (watch Armorcast in the first of next year.........if you thought the mushroom and Buddha were peculiar.........you aint seen nothin\' yet!!) and it worked fantastically. I\'m sold.

As an aside..I used to work with a Guy called \"Teflon Tom\"..........Nothing would ever stick to his desk and Sh*t wouldn\'t stick to him either.

Workplaces....................interesting microcosm of life.......

 

[freakinacage]

nice one shawn. i\'d really appreciate it if you would show me a pic of the ones you have made, jut to get some ideas

 

[PegaZus]

Ever the engineer\'s friend, McMaster Carr has lots of teflon rods.

$6.05 per foot for .25in hexagonal rod. Six inch square 1/8in thick for $9.26. Shipping is... dunno. Standard ground rates, probably UPS or something. Still, might be worth a look. Plus they\'ve probably got lots of other little itty bitty cool things that one could pad into the order to help spread out the shipping cost.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

If you\'re really into sculpting, this one is REALLY worth the $ and effort.

@ freak - Will do.........soon?

 

[freakinacage]

no immediate rush shawn, no need to rush, i know how busy this time of year can be

 

[Yetie]

I was talking to my Dad about this and he came up with the idea, \"what about Teflon spray\" I know you can get it.

Could you use this I\'m not sure my self was going to try it as soon as I get chance to get some spray.

 

[usurpator]

thanks for the linksx guys!!

 

[skarekrow]

ptfe teflon rods should be available at your local piercingstudio worldwide, theyre commonly used.

or any online piercing jewelry shop should sell them.

cheers
Dennis/skarekrow your friendly neighbourhood bodypiercer.

 

[usurpator]

Teflon piercings? Mine are in titanim, I never heard of teflon, must research it

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by Yetie
I was talking to my Dad about this and he came up with the idea, \"what about Teflon spray\" I know you can get it.

Could you use this I\'m not sure my self was going to try it as soon as I get chance to get some spray.

There\'s also a plumbers tape that\'s teflon. It\'s easy enough to get the real deal though, it would be worth the effort to get it.

Ebay - \'teflon rod\'.

 

[usurpator]

I just bought some teflon spray - careful, there are a lot of brands out there, most mix oil and stuff with the teflon.
The one I got is for fishing rods.
I\'ll try spraying an old tool and see how it works.
Will keep you posted!

 

[NINJAWIZARD]

Shawn, you\'re an irreplacable part of this site. Never leave!

Thanks for the info, I\'ve had the same problems before. I\'ll definately give this a go.

 

[Ray]

PTFE sources

Guys,
Here are are a couple links to sources of PTFE rods. I\'ve used both these places for various supplies before with never a problem.

http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/zrt%2Ecfm

http://www.mcmaster.com/

The first link should take you straight to the material list, the second will require that you search the raw materials section for the material.

Hope this is of some help.

I\'m going to order some rod myself to try it on my next sculpt. Thanks Shawn for sharing your experience and idea.

Ray