Need advice on a save

[John Fricke]

I turned roughed out this walnut from a crotch piece. It is 15" x 6" x 1.5" thick. As you can see it has a major fault line through the center. I've soaked the fault with CA, applied the ratchet strap to hold it together. Any thing else I should do? I plan on bagging it with some shavings and putting away for a good while. It's gonna be pretty if I can hold it together.

[Scott Conners]

I'd say you're good to go for drying. If it does crack, I've had good results with coffee powder and CA on walnut.

[Mark Norman]

It will be a purdy piece iffn ya can. Maybee segment a stripe of maple through the middle of it prior to finish turning?

[Jason Solodow]

Really nice looking wood, here's my question though, how wide is the split? If it's hairline, you might get lucky. If not, there's lots of ways to salvage it. Personally, I would lean towards a dovetail inlay.

[Steve Schlumpf]

It will be interesting to see how well it fares during drying. If it survives - should make for a great bowl!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Lather it up with CA. Be interesting to see if it dries ok. Should make a nice bowl.

[Wally Dickerman]

Looks like a dangerous piece of wood to me. If you do get it back on the lathe, I suggest that you stay out of the line of fire.

Wally

[John Fricke]

At this point it is very solid, the crack hasn't opened up any. I've seen the dove-tail splices but I've never done one. Any pointers? I was thinking it may be a good idea to splice it with something before I return it to the lathe. Will I want to wait to splice until it is dry?

[Mark Norman]

At this point it is very solid, the crack hasn't opened up any. I've seen the dove-tail splices but I've never done one. Any pointers? I was thinking it may be a good idea to splice it with something before I return it to the lathe. Will I want to wait to splice until it is dry?


I would think it would be determined by the moisture content of the material you plan on complimenting it with. You would want both at a similar state. But thats just my guess.

[alex carey]

wow that is quite the crack, not sure what else you do but I am looking forward to seeing the finished product, should be interesting.

[Wally Dickerman]

At this point it is very solid, the crack hasn't opened up any. I've seen the dove-tail splices but I've never done one. Any pointers? I was thinking it may be a good idea to splice it with something before I return it to the lathe. Will I want to wait to splice until it is dry?

It's hard to tell, just seeing photos. Is this a crack or is it a flaw in the wood. If it's a crack and it's that large I would toss it. Getting whacked upside the head isn't worth it. If it's a major flaw and it doesn't go clear through to the backside of the bowl, then it might be a good challenge to fix and complete it.
If you do intend to do a repair job I suggest that you wait until the wood is dry and stops warping.

I firmly believe in the saying "Life is too short to turn crappy wood"

Wally

[John Fricke]

It's hard to tell, just seeing photos. Is this a crack or is it a flaw in the wood. If it's a crack and it's that large I would toss it. Getting whacked upside the head isn't worth it. If it's a major flaw and it doesn't go clear through to the backside of the bowl, then it might be a good challenge to fix and complete it.
If you do intend to do a repair job I suggest that you wait until the wood is dry and stops warping.

I firmly believe in the saying "Life is too short to turn crappy wood"

Wally
It is a fault line / bark inclusion from the crotch part of the tree. I'd take pics of the bottom but I just got it all nicely wrapped up and put away. The fault goes through on the one side about 1/3 the way down the side. It gets progressively better from there to the other side. I'll put it away until next spring, If it looks unstable at that point it can go in the bonfire pile.

[Jeff Nicol]

John, First I think I would have used some epoxy to glue it back tgether, but the CA should hold. I think you could lay out a couple/few bowtie pieces that spand the crack then glue in of a contrasting wood or some more walnut. You could do this after it has dried for a while, cut them in real nice and finish turning it and it will look great! You could cut them in with a coping saw then refine with chisels if you went all the way through or use a dremel tool or something like that to grind/carve out the areas to be inlayed with the bowtie. It will be some hand work but if the blank is worth saving to you do everything you can!

Have fun and be careful,

Jeff