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one more filling cracks question

O

Old Bolivian

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South Carolina and Virginia
Long before I ever started turning, I stockpiled some eucalyptus which I had cut down for a friend. After sitting ten years in my carport, the pieces all had substantial cracks in them. I found that I liked the wood so much that I turned several into bowls-all of them having cracks (some as much as 3/4 inch long and 1/4 inch wide. I like them, my granddaughter likes them, but several of my turning friends suggested that I fill the cracks with metal.
Question: Have any of you done that with such big cracks?
Where do you get the powdered metal and what do you mix with it.
Thanks in advance. HB
 
I have seen all sorts of material used to fill cracks and inclusions in turnings. Most popular, of course, is the "Inlace" material sold by most turning vendors. I have seen craft glitter, coffee grounds, ground sea shells, artist's charcoal, and brass metal filings, among other things Any locksmith, or hardware store that duplicates keys would be a good source for finding brass filings. (I guess they just discard the metal filings, mostly brass, from grinding keys?) While the inlace material is sold with an epoxy type binder/adhesive, I would use a 2 part epoxy for anything else. CA glue would work too, but I would limit it's use to smaller cracks. I have been using artist's charcoal and CA glue for small and medium cracks. I think for larger cracks, coffee grounds look about as natural as anything, and the price is right too! Good luck with your repairs! :)
 
Brass Filings

I won a coffee can full of brass filings in a drawing at our woodturning club last year. I don't know where they came from, but it is probably at least a lifetime supply. Makes the shop floor really sparkle if you accidentally punt the can across the shop -- don't ask!

Bill
 
You could also use crushed or powdered stone to fill the cracks with, too. You could use something complementary or contrasting.

Heck, you could use Eucy dust and glue to fill 'em or something to give contrast, right??
 
If you have a sander it's easy to get metal powder for filling gaps. Just hold the metal against the sander(you need gloves, don't ask how I know) I find larger shavings better than the powder. There are sources on the web to buy powdered metal but some of them have minimum quantities that are way over what we need.
 
you can also use artists acrylic paint to color the epoxy. One other thing I have been doing in large cracks, fix large rough patches and finish the inside of hard to finish punky pieces is use the make it (insert name) textured paint and spraypaint. One of my favorites of late has been the tintable make it leather. I have been using it to cover the inside of punky spalted maple hollow forms and rough patches on the outside which would have caused me just to chuck the piece in the burn barrel before. Bleached spalted maple and box elder looks really cool with red leather inlay.

Another metal inlay you can use is lead or pewter. Just melt in an open air area (not only is it bad for you it also smells bad), I use the propane burner for my turkey frier and an old cast iron kettle. When all melted pour the melted metal into the cracks of the unturned or rough turned pieces let it cool overnight atleast. though I have never melted lead on its own to do this only pre bought pewter, I have turned several pieces from trees near a firing range and a polished piece of lead always is an interesting look in a turning. The dangers of lead should be self evident to all of us with any brains and I shouldn't have to mention it, but I am doing so simply to save us a long post by an annoying rodent with nothing better to do than detailing the dangers of lead and bitching about the fact I didn't start the post with a big warning label saying in the subject line and at the beging of the post saying "WARNING LEAD IS DANGEROUS!" and this post may real, dead, unboned, uncooked frogs, artificial flavors & colorings, monosodium glutamate and larks vomit!
 
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