Void fillers

[Brent Grooms]

I have seen a number of approaches to filling cracks and other voids in turnings but I have no practical experience in doing so.

What should I use to fill a void/crack that is approx 1/4in wide and have it be black in color? Also, how well does it polish or appear after sanding/ finishing?

[John Keeton]

Brent, that is a pretty good sized crack. Does it go clear through? That may either limit choices, or call for some additional preparation.

[Greg Just]

Brent:

Like John said, that is a big crack. If is more than on the surface, I would throw it in the burn pile. If it is a surface crack, I would probably mix instant coffee with epoxy. Smaller cracks can be filled with CA and coffee, but 1/4 inch is pretty big.

Be careful wit cracked wood! It isn't worth the risk of a serious injury.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree that if the crack is a 1/4" wide and goes all the way thru it would be in my firewood pile. Al Stirt told me at a symposium one time that life is to short to turn bad wood. If it doesn't go all the way thru I have used epoxy mixed with sawdust and filled them. Let it dry 24 hrs and finish turning. Works very well but a surface finish is needed as oil doesn't work well with CA or Epoxy.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brent - I have used epoxy mixed with Ebony shavings, coffee or even metal powder when filling cracks. First thing you have to do is to determine if the crack is a safety hazard or not. If you figure it is safe - then you can apply the epoxy mix but make sure to allow it to cure before turning.

Also, like Bernie mentioned - epoxy will not take an oil finish, so you are looking at some type of surface finish like wipe-on-poly or lacquer.

Best of luck with this and seriously - make sure you are dealing with solid wood and it is safe to turn!

[Kevin Lucas]

I have tried coffee grounds and CA and it worked nicely... until I sanded the CA talk about noxious fumes. Eyes watered and chest burned, maybe I was just sensitive to it. Epoxy I haven't tried yet but will the next time.

Ebony and epoxy dust should probably work nicely. If you need ebony let me know I salvaged some vintage piano keys taking up room in a drawer in the garage.

[Brent Grooms]

Well actually.... its a small piece for a flatwork project and the crack is in a knot. The remainder of the knot is sound. The reason I posted here is that I see more turners with experience in this kind of thing than flatworker (most have a habit of removing "defects")

[Kyle Iwamoto]

You can try different color super fine glitter. Available in craft stores. NOT the kid's type glitter. A mentor of mine said if you can't hide it, highlight it. If you use coffee/wood dust/CA/epoxy, you will get a result that looks like a patch. IMO it MAY be better to use glitter, metal powder, turquoise etc. Make it a feature. That said, I use wood dust/coffee a lot. Just depends on what the crack/knot looks like. Sometimes black looks "real".

Just my $0.02

[Dennis Ford]

For a black filler, I use epoxy with graphite added. The graphite works well and a little goes a long way.