CA glue question?

[Dan Forman]

I'm turning a slightly spalted birch bowl, and found about a 1" crack about midway down the outside of the bowl. It isn't visible from the inside. I dribbled some thin and then medium CA to fill it, noticed that it sucked it up pretty fast. When I looked inside, the glue had penetrated all the way through and showed as darker than the surrounding wood (it was in the end grain).

My question is, once the bowl is given a final turn and a finish is applied, will the area treated with CA still be darker than the surrounding wood?

Thanks,

Dan

[Gary DeWitt]

Throw some mineral spirits, naptha, alcohol on it to see what it will look like, more or less, after applying a clear finish.

[Aaron Wingert]

I often use CA to stabilize and fill cracks and inclusions in the wood I use for my turkey calls. I've experienced what you're describing and in my experience it hasn't been a problem. The CA kind of gives the area a wet look, but the finishes I use do the same thing. So when everything's finished it is pretty tough to tell one from the other.

[David Walser]

Dan,

As you return your bowl, sand, and finish it, the CA should disappear. Where the CA might give you a problem is if you were to try and stain the bowl. The CA might block the stain's penetration, leaving a blotchy surface color. Note: Many "Danish oils" have a stain mixed in (such as Watco's medium walnut). If you plan on using DO as the final finish, you might want to seal the wood with sanding sealer or clear lacquer (sanding down to the bare wood after application). This should allow the wood to take the stain evenly.

Good luck!

[George Guadiane]

Before you start sanding the inside, try rubbing some acetone onto the area.
Acetone is a solvent for CA and might disperse the mark, making it less visible to start with.
G

[Wally Dickerman]

IMO you're stuck with a stain. The thin CA penetrates quite a bit, especially if it's end grain. In the future, I suggest that you seal the area before applying thin CA. If it isn't end grain, finishing oil or wax will do it. If it's end grain, applying some lacquer will sometimes do it.

If you're intent on saving the bowl you could use a tool like a dremel to widen the crack to eliminate the stain. You could then fill the crack with a suitable material such as inlace, turquoise, or just coffee grounds. Sometimes, rather than trying to hide a defect you can accentuate it and make it a feature of the piece.

Wally

[David Drickhamer]

I have to agree with Wally with this one. I turned a bowl a few months ago, had the same problem and couldn't get rid of the staining. I now use the bowl at the lathe for holding small parts. You might try putting ca on everything and try to stain the whole bowl. I would have tried this but decided to try the oil finish first, didn't work and now can't go back. Now when I use ca to repair a crack I put a coat of sanding sealer on the wood first.
Dave

[Mark Pruitt]

Dan, it kind of depends on how much trouble you want to go to and whether or not you have spray equipment. If you are set up to spray, you can be creative and disguise the CA with a detail gun. Then follow up with clear finish. Honestly, it's seldom ever worth that kind of trouble, and I think I would learn to like it without going to all of that rigamoro.

[Dan Forman]

Thanks to all who responded. Luckily this bowl is kind of bland, so it's no big deal if it doesn't work out, it can still be used for "stuff". I'm curious to see how much that area stands out once the rest of the bowl is finished. Maybe I can draw a black line around it and call it spalt. :D

Dan