Redwood Burl box...

[Michael Stafford]

Here is a troublesome little piece of redwood burl that I decided to violate all the rules and turn into an end grain box.

First there was a large bark inclusion that kept crumbling on me and finally I decided to fill it with epoxy and coffee grounds. Solved that problem until I got inside and was hollowing and started hitting the bits of epoxy that had seeped into the various voids in the bark. Let me tell you that was exciting. Then the box ended up taller than I originally wanted as I had to keep hollowing deeper to find some solid wood.

This box is 2 1/2" in diameter and 3 1/2" tall. It was hard to photograph as it was dark and all the wild swirling grain was hard to capture in the photos.

[John Hart]

Mike...I think you captured its beauty just fine!!! Very pretty piece and you did well with the fallout!!:) Coffee Grounds???

[Gary Max]

One of my favorite woods---great job.

[Mark Singer]

Mike another great one!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Beautiful Michael.

Question: I've heard of and seen pictures of redwood burl. Is it burl from a regular redwood tree like we use to build decks and the sort? If so, is it soft like that? Seems like that would be hard to finish smooth.

Ernie

[Michael Stafford]

Yes, John, coffee grounds. I learned this technique from Glenn Hodges who posts beautiful work on here frequently. I just mixed used and very dried coffee grounds with epoxy and shoveled them into the voids. Then I worked them down into the voids with a toothpick and removed any air pockets. Once the epoxy dries it is hard and very turnable.... ;)

Ernie, yes, you are correct. The wood is soft and that is why I said I violated all the rules. It took many, many coats of finish sanding with finer and finer grits between coats to achieve a good finish (such as it is :o ). If I can find another piece with less bark inclusions I will try it again as I like the look of the swirls in the wood.... ;)

[John Hart]

Yes, John, coffee grounds. I learned this technique from Glenn Hodges who posts beautiful work on here frequently. I just mixed used and very dried coffee grounds with epoxy and shoveled them into the voids. Then I worked them down into the voids with a toothpick and removed any air pockets. Once the epoxy dries it is hard and very turnable.... ;)


That is very cool Mike!! My thanks to you and Glenn then. I haven't tried any types of epoxy fills yet and that certainly seems to be the most intriguing. I have some major tearout on my latest project but I don't think the voids are large enough for the coffee method and I don't like the way wet sanding with BLO is coming out...But it sounds like I can use sanding dust and epoxy and get a good match. Is that right?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

John,

I have tried the Sanding dust and epoxy trick. It has only worked okay for me. It is not a very good match. It seems that the epoxy darkens the sanding dust, much more than the finish darkens the wood around it.

[John Hart]

John,

I have tried the Sanding dust and epoxy trick. It has only worked okay for me. It is not a very good match. It seems that the epoxy darkens the sanding dust, much more than the finish darkens the wood around it.

Hmmm...grrrrr Thanks Jeff!!