question on coffee grounds

[Charlie Reals]

What is the procedure for filling cracks with coffee and glue? I have some major cracks in the first of the almond turnings and refuse to toss it if I can save it.Do I mix the grounds and glue into a paste then fill the crack? I am new to filling with coffee lol.
Charlie

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Charlie,

I usually use epoxy and instant coffee. I crush the instant coffee crystals in a spoon and then mix it with the epoxy and fill the cracks with the colored epoxy.

My wife bought a jar of instant coffee some 25 years ago and I finally found something to do with it!:D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Charlie - really depends on how big the cracks are. For smaller cracks - I use dry (old/used) coffee grounds and CA. Just put the CA into the crack - pack with coffee grounds and then touch up with some more CA.

For cracks that are larger - I use epoxy and just when the stuff is starting to set up, stir in the grounds and pack into the cracks.

On the grounds - I use old dried up used grounds that I have run through the grinder a few times to make it into an espresso grind - very fine powder. Works better when the grounds are smaller!

[John Keeton]

Charlie, I have used both instant coffee and regular coffee grounds. The instant coffee is a little lighter and browner, and the instant coffee may bleed a little color - but both work well.

[Wally Dickerman]

My method for cracks that aren't too big is to pour some coffe grounds on the the piece and hand rub them into the crack. Poke at them with a dental tool, rub some more, then pour med. CA glue into the grounds. If the crack is small I sometime use thin CA, then med.....works for me.

Every turner should have some used dental tools on hand...just ask your dentist for some. I sometimes wonder about how some of them got bent???

Wally

[Allen Neighbors]

I've mixed it with Epoxy, and I've used it with Super Glue. I powder my coffee in a Vita-Mix Blender. for use in cracks, and use whole grounds in Epoxy.
For cracks, I just put the CA in the crack, and rub the coffee back and forth across the crack (wear rubber gloves). Then more CA, followed by more coffee. Repeat as necessary until the crack is full, and a little proud of the surface. Follow up with one last bit of CA. Let cure a few minutes. Sand. If the sanding dust gets into the crack, it wasn't full. :D

[JerHall]

All of the above, but on smaller cracks I will seal first if using thin CA so it doesn't stain the bowl, and wet the crack well with sealer too. Then cram Sanka in. The sealer helps hold it in, and might even act as an accelerator for the CA to some degree.

[Charlie Reals]

Thanks one and all, I will attempt this tonight Can't end up any worse than it is lol. There are two major cracks as I fowled up and left the pith in.
Charlie

[Mike McAfee]

Charlie,

Sorry to hear about your almond crackage! I've roughed out 5 almond pieces since we "met" on here and as of yesterday I had zero crackage and minor, minor warpage! I'm not sure what you're doin wrong or what I'm doin right (pure luck I suspect)! I'll cut up a few different almond blanks tonight or tomorrow and pay close attention to my methods and try to detail it for ya!

Go have yerself a "Cafe Amereto";) and dig into another hunk o wood!

MMc

[Charlie Reals]

Charlie,

Sorry to hear about your almond crackage! I've roughed out 5 almond pieces since we "met" on here and as of yesterday I had zero crackage and minor, minor warpage! I'm not sure what you're doin wrong or what I'm doin right (pure luck I suspect)! I'll cut up a few different almond blanks tonight or tomorrow and pay close attention to my methods and try to detail it for ya!

Go have yerself a "Cafe Amereto";) and dig into another hunk o wood!

MMc

Mike, I left all of the heart wood with pith when I cut the round. It is pretty but about center of the bowl on both sides. The cracks started in the pith. Oh well It's all fun and the wood was free.
Charlie

[Mike McAfee]

Mike, I left all of the heart wood with pith when I cut the round. It is pretty but about center of the bowl on both sides. The cracks started in the pith. Oh well It's all fun and the wood was free.
Charlie

Doesn't that just pith you off!:cool:

[Charlie Reals]

Doesn't that just pith you off!:cool:
Yeah, but you know the saying"rather be pithed off than, well you know lol

[Paul Atkins]

I live in the middle of thousands of acres of almonds and know it cracks. However, that being said, it can be dried very slowly and is very hard and beautiful. The sap shrinks quite a bit more than the heart and can be tricky. I have 4 or 5 carving mallets drying for over a year just wrapped in layers of paper and no cracking. Nice for handles and butter knives too.

[Ray Bell]

Never tried any of this, but from the quality of folks replying I'm sure it is all good advise. Do you ever wonder where some of this stuff originated? Like "beer-butt chicken". Anybody ever try this? Very good, but how did the first person come up with it. I can picture a few inebriates around a campfire and somebody saying " lets stick this beer can up this chickens butt, and throw it on the fire". Think that's how it happened?

[Cathy Schaewe]

I always wondered what prompted someone to decide to eat a lobster for the first time. Yeah, sea spider, yum. What were they thinking? (of course, it turned out to be a great idea ...)

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use epoxy for big cracks and CA for smaller ones. I save sanding dust from like Cherry, Walnut and Maple just for mixing with epoxy and filling cracks. Sometimes I use india ink to dye the epoxy.

[Hilel Salomon]

Sorry for getting on this so late. Haven't had much of a chance to get on the internet lately.
I followed Bernie's advice and use epoxy with grinds. Rather than mess with used grinds, though, I have bought the compressed bricks of espresso from Walmart. They carry two brands of cheap (one is Porto Rican, the other Mexican) espresso which are very fine and do not need any more grinding. They each run under 3 dollars a brick, and in my experience, a brick will last for hundreds and hundreds of cracks. If, as I do too frequently, you wind up making a funnel instead of a bowl, you can tape one end, fill the hole with the mixture of epoxy and espresso coffee, and the results turn and sand easily.
Hilel.

[Curt Fuller]

One more tip on the coffee grounds. Turn your self (or buy) a mortar and pestle to grind the grounds even finer than they come in the can. You can get them just like powder and then mixed with the regular grounds they fill the voids better.

[Jeff Willard]

I always wondered what prompted someone to decide to eat a lobster for the first time. Yeah, sea spider, yum. What were they thinking? (of course, it turned out to be a great idea ...)

How 'bout the guy that first said "Y'know, I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes out of that chickens butt"?