Holey Hickory Bowl - Need Ideas

[Eric Jacobson]

I just turned a piece of Hickory crotch. Beautiful wood but full of too many worm or beetle holes for my taste. What ideas do you have to decorate this? I thought maybe I could fill the holes with grain filler or ebonize it or something. I've never done any of these decorating techniques but feel like this may be a good piece to experiment on. It's kind of ugly.

[David Christopher]

Eric, theirs so many ways to embelish....turquois, coffee, colored wood filler..but I like it the way it is

[Steve Vaughan]

My vote for as is too. I think the holes are the embellishment, and beautiful at that.

[Cathy Schaewe]

I like the fillers, myself. I think brass or copper shavings would look neat in that. JMO.;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Eric I either use coffee grounds or sawdust from sanding the wood. I save it to fill holes and cracks.

[Richard Madden]

I think I'm with Cathy on this. Fillers, whether metal or stone would look good.

[David E Keller]

I'd clean all the worm poop out of the holes and then consider it done. The embellishments can look nice, but I think I'd leave this one as is.

[Bob Bergstrom]

David has it right. Clean those holes out with a dental pick or better a Dremel. it is really a nice piece of wood.

[James Roberts]

Weird. I just finished a hickory bowl of similar shape the has a number of worm holes in it, too. I used a dental pick and cleaned them out as best I could. I like the way it looks (nature has a way of filling a canvas, doesn't she?) and don't plan on any fillers or man made piercings.

I notice your bowl has a lot more worm damage than mine and I would let your taste be your guide since you will have to stare at it far longer than we will. I'm not against fillers mind you, I've seen some stunning pieces that have turquoise, brass, coffee, etc. as fillers. It can never hurt to try something new.

[steven carter]

Eric,

I have use brass shavings left over from cutting keys at hardware store to fill cracks, and it looks nice, but if this were my bowl, I would leave the worm holes. I think it gives it a very rustic look and I like it a lot. If you don't think you can bear to look at it, you can send it to me, I will look at it for you:D.

Steve

[Allen Neighbors]

I'd clean out what I could, and leave it. It would make a nice fruit bowl (I think - I didn't catch the size). If it were mine, I would put a price on it, and I would bet it'd sell!

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

I think it would look better, if the holes weren't so much lighter than the surface.. you might consider staining the holes. If it were mine, I wouldn't fill the holes.. I like them, and I've turned many pieces of mesquite that have holes as well.. I think if the "through edges" were darker, it might look better.. just something to consider.

[Eric Jacobson]

Thanks for all the good ideas. I'm tempted to just send it to Steven Carter but these 3 ideas sound fun too.

1. Dental picks? Really? Are these commonly used for this sort of thing? I see a 4 piece set for $3 on amazon. Is that what that white stuff is, worm poop? It sounds quite tedious and time consuming to clean it out. Does it just pop out cleanly? There must be 50 holes in this bowl. Can I cheat by soaking it with mineral spirits or something to coax the poop out?

2. Kaptan J.W. Meek, is there a way I can just stain the white poop in the holes without staining the outer wood? I agree that would look nice. I just hate the white, it looks like I tried to fill it with white wood filler and messed up.

3. Coffee grounds, huh? I guess you grind it as fine as you can. How do you apply it and get it to stick? Mix is with CA glue or something? Can anyone post a picture using coffee grinds as a filler?