Help with a banksia pod

[Joe McMahon]

I was watching Popular Woodworking with Tim Yoder where he did a banksia pod and inlaid it with turquoise crystals. I liked the way it turned out so I thought I would try making a few of them as Christmas gifts.

I turned the pod, cleaned the holes, put in the crystals, then used thin CA glue. I got clumps of the turquoise hardened on top of the holes. I then sanded with some 80 grit sandpaper I had. After about twenty straight minutes I got most of the errant turquoise off the pod, but I also had ragged turquoise surface in the holes. I then had to re-install the crystals and start over again. The extensive use of the 80 grit is very hard on the pod, but if I use a higher grit, either it won't remove the ca encased crystals or it will take a year.

Any thoughts on how to do this better?

[robert baccus]

Try epoxy--it cuts much easier.

[Wes Ramsey]

Like pretty much anything else worth doing right, inlacing is a process, not an event :) Same goes for learning how. If the holes are ragged the results will be, too. I've never turned pods, but I understand they're stringy, so there was probably some stringy material left around the holes. The best way I've found to take it down smooth is with a good quality gouge. My Benjamin's Best bowl gouge can't finish a single light pass against turquoise, but my Thompson tools hold up very well. Using a gouge will also help you keep from sanding away too much of the wood in that area and flat-spotting it.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I made a bottle stopper with a banksia pod. I think I put almost a full 2 oz bottle of CA in it to hold the "wood" together..... I joke about that, when people ask what wood that is, I tell them "Super Glue". Just saying the pod itself is porous and hard to work. Good luck! Post a pic when done, sounds interesting. Oh, I used lots of 100 grit paper. I think thats the proper tool vice 80 grit. :eek:

[Steve Peterson]

What are turquoise crystals? It sounds like they are very hard.

Natural turquoise is very soft. They do something to harden it and would then label it as stabilized turquoise. All jewelry is stabilized. Most of the cheap turquoise jewelry that you can buy as a $10 necklace is artificial. Some is colored all the way through and is good to crush and glue in with epoxy.

You can buy real turquoise dust or crushed stones. You can also buy inlace that is designed specifically for gluing and sanding smooth. It is probably artificial even though it looks very real. I usually just buy the largest necklaces at Michael's when they are on sale and crush them.

Steve