Coffee?????

[Jerry Marcantel]

Hi folks, I think it's time for me to try some coffee grounds on a couple things I've just rough turned.... I've read that some of you using grounds, but I don't think I saw or heard any mention of what type of epoxy or glue you used. Is it that 5 minute stuff, or is it something different....Please help and thanks in advance for all your help.......... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Dick Rowe]

I just had an opportunity to try this for the first time. Here is what I did.

1. Took regular coffee from the can and ran it through a coffee grinder until it was almost a fine powder.

2. Mixed it with regular System Three, 5 minute epoxy.

3. Carefully added small amounts of acetone to the mix until it got just thin enough to pour.

4. Filled the cavity to the top and let it dry about 4 hours. Maybe it was just me, but thinning it with acetone must really mess with the cure time because it took quite a while to dry completely solid.

[Greg Just]

The times that I have used coffee has been the instant kind mixed with 5 minute epoxy. Works really well. This is about the only use for the instant stuff :D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have used crushed instant coffee crystals and the cheap 5 minute epoxy from my local Acer hardware store.

[Mark Burge]

I also have used the cheap 5 minute epoxy but I colored with some lamp black oil paint because I wanted it to blend with the spalt lines in the piece. Beware the 30 min epoxy. I tried it on one bowl recently and I can't get it to cure hard. It is still tacky after about two weeks. I tried it to get more working time because it was a large split. I don't know what I did wrong.

[Jim Underwood]

I use it with CA glue all the time. Pack the crack with coffee, then drench with fine CA to make sure it gets all the way down in, and top it with medium or thick CA glue. Or all three.

It catalyzes the CA almost instantly. You should wait for the interior to cure though... It's a pain getting the splatters off the face shield....:o

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use the 5 minute epoxy and instant coffee. Anything with oil blended in does not allow it to cure fully I have found.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...5 minute epoxy and instant coffee..."

I always wondered what that "instant" coffee was good for. Wood filler. Never would have thought of that. But it makes sense. No point wasting the good stuff...

[Cathy Schaewe]

Someone with a good deal of experience once mentioned that they use only CA, not epoxy, with the coffee grounds, because the epoxy will "creep" over time. FWIW.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

"...5 minute epoxy and instant coffee..."

I always wondered what that "instant" coffee was good for. Wood filler. Never would have thought of that. But it makes sense. No point wasting the good stuff...

David,

This is a "no kidder".

My wife bought a jar of instant Folgers some 25 years ago. I finally found a use for it!

I'm still working that same jar BTW.

[Thom Sturgill]

I grind my own beans, so I use some of the fine powder that accumulates in the grinder. I think there is an old jar of instant my wife bought years ago, I'll have to dig that out. Also have used 5 min epoxy. It does seem to cause problems with lacquer finish.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jerry, for me it all depends on the size of the void I am going to fill. Small stuff - I use CA, the bigger stuff I use epoxy.

Also, I use old (used) coffee grounds that have been dried out and I leave them in 'grounds' form and do not regrind them into powder. I find the size of regular grounds helps fill in the gaps and sands down just about like wood!

[Wally Dickerman]

Jerry, coffee grounds as a crack filler has a "natural" look that is much better that wood dust. Doesn't have that patched look.

I use used coffee grounds. I cover the crack with the grounds and rub as much into the crack with my finger as I can. If the crack is wide enough, I poke at it with a dental tool. (used, just ask your dentist for one...you'll probably get a handfull). I use thin CA after the crack is filled, followed by med CA. If the crack is large and you've used a lot of grounds, it's a good idea to use a power sander to level it off. Helps to keep the tools from digging the gounds out.

Wally

[Mike McAfee]

I was in HF a couple months ago and found some of the cheap (but pretty good) 5 min Epoxy mis marked at .99 per pack. They honored the price and I bought every tube in the store! I love making different void and crack fillers with the stuff!

MMc

[Allen Neighbors]

I guess I'm different than everyone else. I use fresh coffee... well, at least it's never been used before :D I buy the cheapest I can find in the store. Some of it, I grind it in a Vit-a-mix type blender, so it's fairly like powder. The rest I leave as regular grind.
If I have a narrow crack that needs filling, I put CA in the crack, and then rub the powdered coffee across the crack to fill it. Then I CA it once more.
If I have a larger void to fill, I use the regular grind, and mix it with Devcon 2-ton Epoxy that I buy at the Hardware store. I can't get it mixed into the 5-min epoxy quick enough to keep it from setting too fast.
Don't mix too much coffee with the epoxy, or it will mess with the hardening properties.

[John Hart]

I use used coffee grounds (folgers) and then sand some ebony,,,and mix the ebony dust with the coffee grounds...then mix it with 5 minute epoxy (loctite brand)

[David E Keller]

My wife's got one of those fancy coffee makers that uses little individual plastic cups for each cup brewed... I get the discards.

I use 5 minute epoxy and mix the grounds with the resin and let it sit for a minute or two to brew then I stir in the catalyst/hardener. That gives me the full 5 minute working time.

If the area is small, I use CA.

I've also used iron oxide powder(yes, rust) and aluminum powder for fillers. Graphite powder is the next on my list of things to try.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...mix the grounds with the resin and let it sit for a minute or two to brew then I stir in the catalyst..."

This works best if you are using a "French" or dark roast which will still have some of the character of the coffee left in the grounds after first being brewed for drinking. The lighter roasts like a "Full City" roast may not retain enough character to yield a truly good filler...

[Aaron Wingert]

I've done it three ways. CA, 5 minute epoxy, and mixed in clear inlace resin. All three worked just fine.

I've had better results with the inlace over the other two methods. It does take longer to dry but it works perfect.

[John Hart]

"...mix the grounds with the resin and let it sit for a minute or two to brew then I stir in the catalyst..."

This works best if you are using a "French" or dark roast which will still have some of the character of the coffee left in the grounds after first being brewed for drinking. The lighter roasts like a "Full City" roast may not retain enough character to yield a truly good filler...

Mrs. Olsen says that a rich columbian blend is best....and she's real good friends with that Valdez guy and his donkey....so..you know...;)

[David DeCristoforo]

"Mrs. Olsen says that a rich columbian blend is best..."

That's robusta. No way you can cook up a decent gourmet filler using robusta. Mrs Olsen and that Valdez guy need to hop on that donkey and head back to Starbucks...

[Thomas Canfield]

For large cracks and bark inclusion voids I have use a mix of coarse wood sanding dust and possibbly some wood shavings mixed with instant coffee for color and lightly dampened with DNA before mixing with 5 min epoxy. A little DNA really seems to thin down the epoxy and make a mix that will fill the small gaps and the solids tend to fill the larger openings. You can control the thickness of the mix with the DNA, but I don't encourage making too thin. Using the solids mix to pack cracks and then CA glue also works.

[John Keeton]

I was in HF a couple months ago and found some of the cheap (but pretty good) 5 min Epoxy mis marked at .99 per pack. They honored the price and I bought every tube in the store! I love making different void and crack fillers with the stuff!

MMcMike, I bought a couple tubes of that stuff, and it is some of the best I have ever used. Wish I had bought the bunch!!

[Jerry Marcantel]

Ok yall, since I saw a post yesterday from a newbie apologizing for "asking a dumb question", and being told, "Don't ever apologize because there are no dumb questions, and we were all newbies once", I think this question WILL fall into a dumb category..... If I use this container for drinking, do you think it will have that mountain grown full rich pure taste if I'm drinking water out of it??? Ok, there it is!......Jerry (in Tucson)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Have you washed the cup since you last had coffee in it?:confused:

[Karl Card]

I have a question.... i have never used coffee grounds yet but I do feel it coming on... but I have sometimes used wood dust or very small chips and I have alwasy filled the hole (or crack) with ca then stuffed the filler into the crack then topped off with ca. Let it harden then sand down and finish.... is there something better that happens if you fill with the filler first then ca? Just curious.

[Jim Underwood]

is there something better that happens if you fill with the filler first then ca? Just curious.

Well if you're using coffee to fill the crack first, then you don't have the CA hardening before you can get enough coffee packed in the crack. If I use the CA first and coffee second, I get my fingers stuck and the little coffee I get into the crack gets pulled out, or is just stuck on the top of the glue....

[John Hart]

.... is there something better that happens if you fill with the filler first then ca? Just curious.

I know you were just dying to hear my opinion Karl :rolleyes: So here it goes.

It seems to me that you would ensure complete coverage of your adhesive medium (Lacquer, CA, Epoxy, Lacquer...etc) to your filler medium...if you pre-mix it out in the open. It would give you greater consistency..and greater control over the density and color.

So...I think if there is anything "better"....it would have to be "the control of the process".

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If I have to fill a small split, I want it to be full of the filler material, not just glue.

So I pack the coffee ground in as much as I can, then to keep that material in there and also to try to strengthen the wood and glue that split, I will carefully fill the split with thin CA.

I did try wood dust once or twice, but didn't have much luck with it, as it likes to float out when trying to add the CA, and the repair didn't look very good either, so I gave up on the wood dust.

I have added splinters or thin slices of wood, and they can look very good also if you are able to fit them well.

The epoxy I haven't used for a long time, the problem I find with it, is that you can add only a limited amount of other material with it, rather than filling a split totally with that material and then only fill the remaining gabs between it with CA.

[Jim Underwood]

I've never had too much luck filling cracks with epoxy. It seems it just won't flow. It just gets too many air bubbles in it, and then if you try pushing it in the crack it's like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube... I suppose it's just because it's too thick. So I've never tried mixing something with it and then filling the crack.

[David E Keller]

I've never had too much luck filling cracks with epoxy. It seems it just won't flow. It just gets too many air bubbles in it, and then if you try pushing it in the crack it's like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube... I suppose it's just because it's too thick. So I've never tried mixing something with it and then filling the crack.

I've been known to steal a cheap rubber spatula when the wife's not looking... it's great for packing the mixture into cracks and holes. An old hotel room card will do the same thing but I typically need to sand/cut a curve on the end of it.

[Mike McAfee]

I've never thought to use small chips or shavings to fill a void, might just give it a try next time!

ANOTHER cool tip from The Creek!

MMc