James Nugnes
03-19-2015, 8:29 PM
I have a couple of different topics here relating the same basic piece of work.
I have been doing a set of carvings for a customer. Four in total....two in Butternut. I needed to add some size to one of the butternut blocks that I had. Just not to forget it, one of the things you have to be wary of when gluing up blocks for carving purposes is making sure that the grain runs the same way in all cases because you are going to end up carving across the line of adhesion.
So I have been interested in trying Weldwood in this application. There are some oddities and some things you have to be wary of using Weldwood. But the bonds tend to be scary good if you do everything right. So I bonded up the material and took the new block out to my 14 12 bandsaw intending to square it up. I was taking off slices less than 1/16" with ease. Taking off such thin slices of wood is pretty neat just for kicks. Not only did I notice how easily and precisely my band saw was but when done it was clear that the Weldwood bond was stronger than the wood. Now clearly the bond was going to be stronger than the wood itself with the grain as it was easy to get the wood to sheer on the grain. However even against the grain, the bond was far stronger than the wood itself. I could not get the bond to break even on the very thin line of adhesion you end up with when cutting 1/16" and thinner slices of wood.
Butternut is pretty porous. Entirely possible that the Weldwood really was not challenged because it ends up with a good deal of wood to work with to establish the bond.
Also, with the exception of one corner, you really could not tell that there was any bond line at all. I really had to hunt for it and I knew its exact location. So I stuck that one corner in the back of the carving and am carving such that it will fall into a fold. Carving acroos the line of adhesion is no problem at all. Amazing as it may seem, even when I was carving across the bond line, I could neither feel nor see it except in that one corner I described earlier.
While gluing up small blocks to make bigger blocks is an accepted practice for woodcarvers, I had never tried it before. I have no intention of making a practice of it. But nice to know it works as well as it does when you need it.
Anyway I used Weldwood on occasion before this. Really a believer in the resulting bond now.
I have been doing a set of carvings for a customer. Four in total....two in Butternut. I needed to add some size to one of the butternut blocks that I had. Just not to forget it, one of the things you have to be wary of when gluing up blocks for carving purposes is making sure that the grain runs the same way in all cases because you are going to end up carving across the line of adhesion.
So I have been interested in trying Weldwood in this application. There are some oddities and some things you have to be wary of using Weldwood. But the bonds tend to be scary good if you do everything right. So I bonded up the material and took the new block out to my 14 12 bandsaw intending to square it up. I was taking off slices less than 1/16" with ease. Taking off such thin slices of wood is pretty neat just for kicks. Not only did I notice how easily and precisely my band saw was but when done it was clear that the Weldwood bond was stronger than the wood. Now clearly the bond was going to be stronger than the wood itself with the grain as it was easy to get the wood to sheer on the grain. However even against the grain, the bond was far stronger than the wood itself. I could not get the bond to break even on the very thin line of adhesion you end up with when cutting 1/16" and thinner slices of wood.
Butternut is pretty porous. Entirely possible that the Weldwood really was not challenged because it ends up with a good deal of wood to work with to establish the bond.
Also, with the exception of one corner, you really could not tell that there was any bond line at all. I really had to hunt for it and I knew its exact location. So I stuck that one corner in the back of the carving and am carving such that it will fall into a fold. Carving acroos the line of adhesion is no problem at all. Amazing as it may seem, even when I was carving across the bond line, I could neither feel nor see it except in that one corner I described earlier.
While gluing up small blocks to make bigger blocks is an accepted practice for woodcarvers, I had never tried it before. I have no intention of making a practice of it. But nice to know it works as well as it does when you need it.
Anyway I used Weldwood on occasion before this. Really a believer in the resulting bond now.