What are your favorite ways to fill cracks before turning?

[Bill Bukovec]

What are your favorite ways to fill cracks before turning?

I pulled out a rough turned white oak bowl to check the drying process.

It has a one inch crack all the way through the wall, near the bottom. The crack is by a knot, so I’m not surprised it happened.

I have used sawdust and super glue on past bowls on knots, but not cracks.

How do you fill these kind of cracks?

Thanks,

Bill

[Dennis Ford]

I use any of several materials depending on the situation but my favorite is epoxy with graphite added.

[robert raess]

I too use CA glue of various viscocity.I usually don't apply CA glue when the stock is still too thick,when my design is going to take it past the point of the glue.When i get close to my design thickness then i apply the glue,but apply thinned shellac first to avoid CA stains.If it's a safety issue,then i will apply the CA glue before proceeding further tho i am used to pc.'s flying off while spinning.usually i rub in sawdust, so i can continue without getting flicked by CA,it also masks slightly the hairline repair.If it's on plain wood that will show the crack,i may rub turquoise with the CA as a design opportunity. Wish you well, Rob

[Jason Clark2]

Epoxy and coffee grounds.

[John Hart]

Epoxy and Ebony Dust

[Scott Hackler]

Normally CA and sawdust, but if the crack is 1" I would be grabbing the epoxy.

[David E Keller]

I've used a bunch of stuff, but sawdust from the same piece is my least favorite. There's almost no way to make the 'fix' invisible, so I prefer to make it really stand out. I like African blackwood dust(I save the stuff when turning finials) mixed with CA. The shellac suggestion is a good one to prevent CA stains in the surrounding wood. Kathy Marshall has posted some great looking crack jobs recently using Inlace. Crushed stone and powdered metals can work as well. I even used rust to fill some cracks a few months ago on a piece of camphor burl. Epoxy is a little easier for large defects and cracks in my hands.

[Bill Bukovec]

Thanks everybody.

I think I will start with the epoxy and graphite, since I already have both.

The bowl is for a coworker, so I don't need anything exotic.

Bill

[Al Wasser]

I don't normally fill a crack before turning. I may put some CA in it to try to stabilize the crack. After I've turned the bowl to near final size then I will decide on what to fill a crack with if in fact it needs it. If it has a 1" crack you may want to carefully decide if it should/could be turned safely.

[David DeCristoforo]

Something that large pretty much calls for epoxy or resin. what you mix with the material is really just a question of how you want to to look. But "some guys" around here would be looking for a way to make the crack bigger rather than trying to fill it!

[Ken Whitney]

I assume we are talking about a 1" long crack, not a 1" wide crack, right? If the latter I would make it firewood.

As Rob mentioned it is difficult to get CA or epoxy deep enough into the crack in a thick rough out. On a through-and through crack, though, I would use epoxy with sawdust or some other filler before re-turning the bowl. You can thin epoxy a bit with acetone and perhaps get better penetration into the crack.

For a "non-structural" fill/repair, has anyone used polymer clay?

Ken

[ron hossack]

Well my number one go to would have to be coffee grounds and CA or epoxy and specifically Starbucks. That stuff isn't fit for human consumption.

[Chip Sutherland]

tinted epoxy, tinted inlace, inlace+crushed stone, coffee grounds+CA, brass key shavings, rub-n-buff (gold or silver), exotic wood shavings, string, sculptwood....that's about all I can think of. I have used many in combinations, too. Like someone else said, I don't apply these until I am at the last steps of finishing turning. I will stablize a crack several times if needed during the roughing out to end form with CA and painters tape to protect the wood. I've screwed up a couple in which case I got out the dremel/foredom and clean out my mistake then re-did it. Sometimes it is easier to open up a fine crack a little to get the material in and accent the piece better.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use epoxy with some dust sanded from the wood if I want it to look pretty much the same. If not I use most of what others have said from brass key filings to coffee grounds.

[John Hart]

Ok....I'm working on a special secret project right now....shhhhhh

But in the process, I have discovered a kick-butt filler. I bought a gallon of resin for $33 for the project, and did some research on tinting, and it ends up that artist's oil paint is a good tinting agent.....so I bought a set of oil paint tubes ($15) In the course of using all this stuff, I've found that it is like the cheapest and most versatile form of filler I can think of. I can even use it for glue-ups and gluing blanks to homemade faceplates. It sets up hard in about 15 minutes....sandable in 2 hours, and it takes every finish I've thrown at it.
Considering the cost of epoxy....this is like 30 times cheaper.

Just thought I'd share this discovery

[Justin Stephen]

Which epoxy do you guys like for this?

[John Hart]

I mostly use Loctite brand because it's readily available at walmart and home depot. Gorilla is a bit more expensive and it seems to be a lesser quality.