Long term durability of resin/wood turned items

[John Hicks]

I'm wondering lately about the long term durability of turned vessels/bowls that have partial resin fills. Since wood is always moving, won't the resin eventually fail? I use resin to fill inclusions, large cracks and so forth. When I'm dead and gone will someone be cursing the thing I turned thats falling apart? I imagine that CA glue with things like coffee grounds (which I use on walnut) are even going to be more prone to failure due to the unmoving hardness of CA glue.

 

[Richard Coers]

In my opinion, resin exposed to UVA light will have a pretty short life. Resin doesn't live on a wood boat, so they always top coat over any resin fix with spar varnish.

 

[Steiph Zargon]

A very valid question... and one that I have asked myself many times as well.
I guess, "Only TIME will tell..." and it will surely be long after we are all taking the "Dirt Nap!"
It has been written somewhere that all things will "return to dust".
'Don't think I'll see that either.
It does cause one to ponder... But enough of that... back to work now!
I'll be cutting 2.5" slabs from a fallen / spalted sugar maple in my hood today.
There is a second log... about 30+" dia. that I might try to make a few slabs from.. and then am toying with the idea of cutting it up for bowl blanks.
I'll try and post some photos later.

Merry HoliDaZe to all... and a Happy & Prosperous (and less war ridden) New Year to us ALL!!!!

 

[bbergst]

We have our woodworking club Christmas diner at a local country club. There ae 5 tables in the bar area that have 1 1/2” thick walnut boards glued up to make 5’ x 30“ tables. Every epoxy seam on every table is cracked. our club had a well known turner demo hybrid vaces of wood and resin. He baked the wood at a low setting for 30 minutes before casting the hybrid blank. Move a turning from the Midwest to Arizona and the cracks will show.

 

[John Ames]

It seems thick, flat work (tables) are more prone to delamination especially if they aren’t finished with epoxy. A person can mitigate nearly all the wood movement by “entombing” the piece in resin. Air can’t get in or out. But most people find that kind of finish looks too much like plastic.

Bowls are perhaps more stable in that they are thinner. Epoxy will move/stretch a tiny, tiny bit. It is ever so slightly pliable especially when turned thin.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Harry Nohr used a process of soaking the wood with epoxy and baking it in the oven so the piece essentially became epoxy. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS11148 David Lori studied and adopted Harry's method and is selling bowls on his website and one art fair per year I'm told. https://davidlorybowls.com/bowls_72017_003.htm We have a walnut bowl from Harry and it's holding up beautifully.

 

[Brent@TurnRobust]

That's right Dave, but the difference is that Nohr and Lori treated and coated the entire bowl with a thin layer of epoxy on a very dry wood. The epoxy greatly slows the moisture take up of the wood, and it is slow enough and minimal enough that the thin epoxy treatment moves with the wood.

This is different from the current practice of large chunks of epoxy adhering to a wood. These two materials move differently from both moisture and temperature. I also worry about the longevity of these pieces, as measured in decades.

BTW, I'm jealous that you have a Nohr piece, I've been coveting one of those for many years. I met him when I was just a kid.

Harry Nohr used a process of soaking the wood with epoxy and baking it in the oven so the piece essentially became epoxy. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS11148 David Lori studied and adopted Harry's method and is selling bowls on his website and one art fair per year I'm told. https://davidlorybowls.com/bowls_72017_003.htm We have a walnut bowl from Harry and it's holding up beautifully.

 

[Dave Fritz]

My only regret is not having enough money at the time to buy more. He and Laura were the most gracious to our fourth graders when we toured Mineral Point. Later I was on the board with Harry when we formed the local Trout Unlimited Chapter. I remember Harry's words: "Make sure everyone knows where the money goes and never make the resource into a contest, it cheapens it." Words that are honored still, almost fifty years later.