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Cracks after drying?

Joined
Jun 20, 2006
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Location
Cincinnati, OH
What is a good way to seal a crack that formed from drying that is less than 1/8" wide? This bowl is really pretty and I'd like to be able to use it for salads or chips, but this crack is irritating.

Is there an epoxy I can pour in to fill the crack prior to final turning? What finish would work along with the epoxy?

All thoughts are much appreciated.
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2006
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Location
Gaston, Oregon
Bowl Cracking

Hi...you do not say what kind of wood, but no matter. I don't try to hide a flaw or crack...I make it look like I planned it. I use one of two ways:
A.) Fill the crack, layer by layer, with dry coffee grounds and thick C.A. glue, using accelerator as you go. Build this up slightly above the bowl surface, then sand flush and finish your project. It will look like a bark inclusion.
B.) Treat same as above, but drill 1/16" holes along each side of the flaw and, using twine, lace it up like a boot. Best to do this AFTER final sanding. Looks different and strange, but cool. Definitely a conversation piece!!
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
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Central Florida
What kind of wood? There are lots of different ways to go.

Sawdust mixed with woodglue (Titebond III dries darker than II).
Woodfiller.
Epoxy alone or mixed with sawdust.
CA glue alone or with sawdust / metal filings.

Depends on what kind of look you are going for.

Ed
 
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
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Location
Cincinnati, OH
It's a piece of spalted maple.

I saw a bowl with the trussed look yesterday. It really made me chuckle and I thought about doing it to this bowl. However, I want to be able to use this piece in some fashion and I don't want salt falling off the potato chips and onto the floor through the crack.

The coffee grounds look would sure be a neat look.

"Starbucks. It isn't just for breakfast any more."
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2006
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Location
Gaston, Oregon
Bowl Cracking

Charlie, old boy....let me try this again...FIRST DO #A, then finish bowl, THEN drill and lace. If you are still worried about the salt, put a drop of C.A. in each lace hole. If this is all too complicated, send the bowl to me and I will deal with it. JEEZ!!!!
 

Bill Boehme

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I have just recently started using coffee grounds on mesquite and I really like the results. I have used both epoxy and CA with the coffee and I think it depends mainly on whether you need a structural fix or just a patch as to your choice of material. I have made a slurry of coffee and epoxy to fill spaces where there was not a great need for structural reinforcement and then sprinkled some coffee grounds on top before the epoxy set up. If you will turn the coffee down flush, then the last step may not be needed. Two good situations where sprinkling grounds on top of the glue works well are when you plan to leave it standing proud or when you do not fill completely flush to the surface. This works nicely where there are bark inclusions such as in crotch wood and you only want to partially fill a void.

Bill
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
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I like bark. Comes in a variety of colors, stores easily, can be used as flakes stuffed into broader areas, or ground in a coffee grinder to the consistency desired and looks as if it belongs with wood.

Stage your repair for best results. If the crack is wide open, thick consistency CA and bark flakes stuffed parallel to the edges and tamped with fine ground is good. Big flakes will absorb finish instead of mocking you with their shine and rejecting other finishes.

Tighter cracks get a run of thin CA first, then a fill based on thick if the crack is substantial, a second shot of thin if small. I always put the glue in and scrub the fill across the crack, leaving it proud of the surface. Stuffing and then gluing produces the same plastic streaks I mentioned above.

Coarser textured material, like the coarse dust produced while cutting end grain gives less of an opalescent walleye look to a sawdust fill if you're trying to sneak one by. With spalted maple, the natural fill would be black to look like spalt lines in the fine, or splinters bordered in black.
 
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