Question Re. Filling Cracks

[BILL DONAHUE]

Am finishing up a natural edge cherry bowl that's about 9" x 6" that has some cracks near the bark. I've tried filling some with inlace - my 1st attempt and it looks at best so-so. I have two cracks that the inlace fell out of so I thought that as an experimant I'd try to use sawdust & CY glue but I'm concerned that the glue will stain the wood. What's the best way to fill the cracks? (BTW - the cracks are very small) Thanks.

[Daniel Berlin]

Am finishing up a natural edge cherry bowl that's about 9" x 6" that has some cracks near the bark. I've tried filling some with inlace - my 1st attempt and it looks at best so-so. I have two cracks that the inlace fell out of so I thought that as an experimant I'd try to use sawdust & CY glue but I'm concerned that the glue will stain the wood. What's the best way to fill the cracks? (BTW - the cracks are very small) Thanks.
Instead of mixing sawdust with CY glue, mix it with shellac (i use zinsser sanding sealer for this purpose).
Add enough shellac that you have a little sticky ball, but not dripping wet. Before it dries, shove it into the crack, and then let it dry for an hour or so.
Then you should be able to sand off any excess.

The nice thing about using shellac is that the result is stainable.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bill - I've had great success using 400 or 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and whatever finish (Minwax Wipe-On Poly or Watco Danish Oil) and working it into a slurry to fill the smaller cracks. That way there are no CA stains to worry about and the finish blends right in.

[John Landis]

I use sawdust with two-part epoxy. Anything you do will probably look just a little different, so I sometimes use ebony sawdst to give it a nice contrast

[Bernie Weishapl]

I mix sanding dust with 2 part epoxy. It doesn't stain the wood like CA does and when finished looks pretty close to the color.