Filling lots of small checking

[Dave Jones]

I do mostly found wood, and like it that way. After about four years of this, I'm really tired of filling all these tiny checks, one by one.
I know I can't be the first to deal with this, so what's your favorite solution? And I'm not putting it in the burn pile until I have to.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Depends on type of finish. For oil, poly, etc, create plenty of sanding dust, apply the finish, keep sanding to push the dust into the cracks, then wipe off. May take 3-4 coats with this method to get it smooth.

 

[Michael Nathal]

Doug Freeman's method also works with CA glue

 

[hughie]

I routinely use CA to fill small cracks and leave them as a feature, or turn them away. I find if I try to hide them it lloks exactly that, OK it may take a couple of goes to fill them.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Another technique that works is to put some Titebond in the crack and then sand—the dust mixes with the glue and it hides it fairly well.

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

I used to use the Titebond method that Alan mentioned, but I always felt the color looked off once it dried. Now I prefer to fill the cracks with dust (personally, I think 220 or 240 produces the best granularity) and run a thin bead of thin CA over the crack. The dust will condense when saturated by the CA, so it takes 2-3 passes to completely fill the crack and achieve a flush surface.

Now, given the number of splits you’re dealing with, any method of filling is going to be very time-intensive. If you’re trying to prevent or avoid splits, you’d do well to a) exclude the pith from your pieces, b) more carefully control the drying process, and/or c) source woods that have a lower T/R shrinkage ratio.

 

[Steve Doerr]

If you use CA to help fill the cracks besure and put a sanding sealer on first. If you don't, the CA will stain the wood and leave a notifiable stain.

I have recently tried a new method. I have taken Minwax Woodfill and mixed some black leather dye and used that to fill some cracks. Yes, the filler is noticeable but it does add to the characteristic of the turning. Even with this method as a precaution, I put the sanding sealer on first.

 

[Richard Coers]

My favorite solution is to split it down and smoke a pork loin with it. I detest cracked wood, but that is never a popular stance with hobbyist turners. Most will spend lots of time to fill cracks, and that draws a person’s eye first. I prefer them to look at the proportions and design of my turnings. My other artist friends don’t sell cracked ceramic, glass pieces, or cracked paintings. Go ahead everyone, give me hell

 

[Ron Solfest]

My favorite solution is to split it down and smoke a pork loin with it. I detest cracked wood, but that is never a popular stance with hobbyist turners. Most will spend lots of time to fill cracks, and that draws a person’s eye first. I prefer them to look at the proportions and design of my turnings. My other artist friends don’t sell cracked ceramic, glass pieces, or cracked paintings. Go ahead everyone, give me hell

I’m with you. I just turned through cracks like that making a ~9” blank into a ~4” bowl by the time I got through all of the cracks. I do have a few bowls from years ago that I filled some cracks on…every time I look at them I’m disappointed

 

[Kevin Jenness]

"Life's too short to turn crappy wood" - John Jordan

Seriously, if the wood is full of checks before turning I use it for heating the shop. If checks show up after turning and the piece is worth saving for its form I accept them and look to improve my drying methods. You can't hide them or make them go away. Where I live the wood grows on trees.

 

[Darryl Fective]

I mostly turn found wood as well. I think if you can avoid including the pith, you will have a lot less checking to deal with.

 

[John K Jordan]

If you use CA to help fill the cracks besure and put a sanding sealer on first. If you don't, the CA will stain the wood and leave a notifiable stain.

I’ve used a method from John Lucas to use CA to fill something like a bit of tearout and avoid staining - put a bit if thin CA on a piece of sandpaper and sand across the spot. The sandpaper picks up sawdust, mixes with CA, and stuffs it into the void. There is not enough liquid CA to stain the surface. The fix is usually invisible since the sawdust comes from the wood near the defect. I’ve done this on places where a small chip popped out of the wood. I haven’t tried it on end-grain checking/cracks shown around the pith. I would be afraid the cracks would keep changing with further wood movement.