the solitaire
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gbohannon wrote:
Buddy - super series! Love the shots with the dogs. The dice look terrific too. Would like to see an macro of them.
G
Thank you George and Samy, for taking an interest in the dice.
I used the 80-200 f4 Ai-S and some tubes (PN-11 and PK-13 stacked) to take some close ups
These are the very first dice I made. It took me 16 hours to get these two done. They were cut out of a big piece of buffalo horn using a hand saw, then filed down to a 3/4" quadrant. I used calipers to make sure they are as good as I can get them, with even sides.
Then I started block sanding with 150 grit paper, followed by 320, then wet sanded with 400, 600, 800 and 1200 grit paper and then polished with a 3000 compound. First with cloth, then microfiber and finally with tissue paper. To seal them, I used Carnauba wax.
By now they show quite a few scuffs and marks. I used these dice to demonstrate the game of Meier to colleagues at work. Most of the time, the demonstrations were given on steel work tables that were not exactly clean, so I scuffed the dice a little. Still, I think buffalo horn is a very resilient material
 DSC_2064 by b j, on Flickr
Then I got my hands on some Indian river buffalo horn, which is different in color, and made these two dice.
The long, 4 sided die is made after an archeological find dated 900 AD in Hejnum, Gotland (Sweden). My version is quite a bit rounder, more shaped like a rugby ball. I made a few prototypes from wood and found this shape to roll quite pleasantly and unpredictable.
 DSC_2070 by b j, on Flickr
Since I liked the 4 sided die so much, I made two bigger ones from cow horn
 DSC_2067 by b j, on Flickr
 DSC_2068 by b j, on Flickr
As you can see, the circle/dot pips are hit and miss most of the time. i make them using a small watchmakers screwdriver in which I made an incision so it works like a miniature circle. It's quite prone to jump out of it's intended track though.
And then there is this
 DSC_2073 by b j, on Flickr
A 12 sided die, made of buffalo horn. I am not quite certain how I will engrave the sides. It was already hell to get this geometrically sound.
Here is a photo of the whole bunch, with a leftover bit of buffalo horn in the background.
 DSC_2074 by b j, on Flickr
Last but not least, here is some interesting wood I sourced for another project.
To make a knife handle, I wanted something special.
I will use buffalo horn, elk horn and Kauri wood. The Kauri wood is from new Zealand, where, somewhere between 10 000 and 40 000 years ago some trees (Agathis australis) were submerged in a swamp. They emerged not too long ago, and when dried make for some spectacular wood for many versatile uses.
 DSC_2076 by b j, on Flickr
In this case, these two small pieces will form the mid section of a knife handle. They will be flanked by elk horn and on both ends, I will then add a section of buffalo horn. The knife blade is forged in Sweden, and even though it is a fairly modern full tang design, the blade has a very classic scandinavian shape and grind.
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