my brass has no class

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Isnt it wickedly strange how a pothole will appear in your workpiece just as you are about to reach your desired wall thickness of the bowl or platter? What to do? Aha, coffee grounds, brass filings from the local hdwe. store key-making machine and ca glue. I did this and allowed it to cure for a couple days, so as not to tear out a chunk. Appled the smoothing knife till everything seemed smooth and ready for sanding. Stopped the lathe and, YEAOURGGHPHFTPHFT.[a sound similar to what a large bird of prey in a deep, dark prehistoric forest would make].
What to do with this escapee from the firewood pile to turn it into a ,well, you know, phenomenal work of art.
Signed- confused in Cowtown.

[Dennis Peacock]

Hey Harvey....
Why not post a pic or two so we can better see in detail and be able to help you out better?

Normally, when I use coffee grounds, I mix it with epoxy or just put epoxy in the hole and then fill it with coffee grounds.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Harvey
You lost me in the story somewhere. But...

When using CA and brass key shavings to fill a natural or carved hole:

1) Overfill the hole slightly with the filler 'brass'

2) Gently drip the CA on the hole. Depending on your other plans for the piece it may be a good idea to put a coat of sealer or wax on the piece to keep the CA from staining the surounding area. This coat will likely be turned off.

3) Wipe off any CA quickly that spills or runs on the piece.

4) Let it cure a few minutes and/or hit it with accelorator.

5) Sand or turn off the excess immediately. I don't know why but CA/brass continues to get harder over time. Spot sanding the area is very effective.

I suspect that the 'Lack of Class' in your brass is that you did not fill the hole to the top so the smooth surface is just polished glue. This look just doen't shine at all.

My altnernative theroy is that after drying for two days the lump of CA/brass was so hard that it popped out as soon as in touched your tool probably taking more wood with it.

Try again, I do alot of inlay work. It really adds to the artsy look of a piece.

Frank

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Hi Dennis,
This picture thing has ne stymied. I asked how to post pictures and got a tutorial webpage that was 22 pages long. Not being very literate in computer lingo, I couldnt digest it well enough. seems there should be a simple way to do it, given the no. of pictures that are posted.
Hey, I am an Arkansas boy, myself. El Dorado for 8 yrs, then Junction City till the 8th grade.Kinfolks in Malvern, Mountain Home, to name a couple.Thanks for responding, Max as in the M in my name.

[Bill Boehme]

Max,

I think that epoxy might be stronger than the CA, but I found out that brass filings and epoxy does not really look all that great (I tried it on a piece of myrtle burl with a natural void in the wrong place) -- maybe if I had sprinkled the brass on top it would come out better, but when stirred in with the epoxy, it just comes out as a brownish gray without much shine. Maybe you could try some Inlace -- I would be happy to borrow some from you and do a product evaluation.

Bill