Advice needed: maybe this won't work?

[Dan Gaylin]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to do something that I thought would be easy but is proving challenging. I have used a straight sided plug cutter to cut some 0.75" long and 1.25" diameter plugs with face grain on the ends (so end grain along the sides) out of hard maple. I am using a Forstner bit to drill 0.75" deep and 1.25" diameter holes in a 10" diameter, 4" thick round bowl blank made of walnut. The holes are equally spaced around the circumference of the blank. I want to glue the maple plugs into the holes in the walnut bowl blank and then turn it. So the idea is that once turned, I will have a ring of contrasting maple circles in the walnut bowl. I am using Titebond II glue

I have had two failures so far: first time, I didn't make the plugs deep enough AND I didn't apply sizing (watered down glue mixture) to the the end grain sides of the plugs: result the plugs got too thin too fast and the glue joints failed and they fell out of the sides of the bowl.

My second attempt was to use a Forstner bit that was 1/16" bigger diameter than the plugs. This resulted in holes that were just too big in diameter, and the glue lines would have looked terrible, even if the Titebond would have filled the gap effectively, which I doubt.

So now I went back to the same sized Forstner bit, and have "sized" the plugs, but because the sizing has made the wood swell, there's no way the longer plugs will fit into the holes. So my thinking is that I will use something to find the center of each plug, insert a 1/4" dowel into the plug ends, mount each plug on my drill press and use some course sandpaper to slightly reduce the diameter and THEN apply sizing and hope they fit in the holes.

But I am getting tired of failed attempts and so thought I would see if the more expert folks here think this is a fool's mission....or if you have other ideas about how to accomplish this.

Thanks as always!

--dan

[Dave Mount]

What about hollowing out some of the bowl before drilling and putting in the plugs, then you won't be dealing with a deep blind hole.

If you glue the plugs in with epoxy (perhaps tinted walnut brown) the plugs won't swell and the epoxy will fill gaps.

My $0.02,

Dave

[roger wiegand]

I guess I'd rough turn the bowl then use a tapered plug cutter and put them in using epoxy. You could use a tapered reamer or just sandpaper to match the taper of the plug closer to the taper of the plug. That way you could achieve a tight fit.

[Dan Gaylin]

Dave, Roger,

Thanks for the helpful replies. Trying epoxy makes a lot of sense as does pre-hollowing/rough turning first. I used straight sided plugs because I want the circles on the inside of the bowl to be about the same size (approximately -- they will not look exactly the same due to the curve of the bowl). I never would have thought you could use a tapered reamer on a 1"+ diameter hole, what am I missing?

Thanks again,

-dan

[John K Jordan]

Dave, Roger,

Thanks for the helpful replies. Trying epoxy makes a lot of sense as does pre-hollowing/rough turning first. I used straight sided plugs because I want the circles on the inside of the bowl to be about the same size (approximately -- they will not look exactly the same due to the curve of the bowl). I never would have thought you could use a tapered reamer on a 1"+ diameter hole, what am I missing?

Thanks again,

-dan

If the the bowl is turned in the typical "face" mode rather than endgrain such as a vessel AND wall thickness is not thin I'd worry about wood movement, even if the wood is initially very dry. If all the plugs, for example, were cut from cross grain as from the surface of the board those glued into areas of end grain might causes stress with normal seasonal movement, in some cases might break the glue bonds depending on the amount of humidity change and the type of wood. I guess some plugs could be cut from end grain, some from face grain, and some at an angle but that would add complexity.

I've seen some solid wood inlays that didn't look so perfect after a few seasons.

JKJ

[Jim Morgan]

You could turn your bowl, part it in half, and glue in a segmented "feature" ring, with some of the segments drilled to accept plugs. Drilling is easier, can be done on a drill press, and plugs cut from face grain have the same orientation as the segments. You will get movement at the bowl to ring joints; a small v-groove at the joint will disguise this.

[Dan Gaylin]

John, James

I have read some prior posts by John about this kind of wood movement and not totally understood. Now that I have context on a project that I am working on I get what you are saying and admittedly had not thought of that.

Which brings me to James’ post. That is a great idea. I started on this project because I have made some segmented bowls which I have enjoyed but as a weekend turner they are long projects for me. I wanted a “simpler” way to add some interesting detail to a bowl. Can you say more about the v-groove at the bowl/segmented ring joint? I am not sure I understand the orientation of the groove nor how I would make it?

thanks!

-dan

[Jim Morgan]

To make a little v-groove, you can use the point of a skew or a spear-point scraper, with the deepest part of the vee (doesn't need to be very deep) right at the joint between the ring and the top or bottom of the bowl. Solid wood will move differently than a segmented ring; if you initially turn the ring flush to the top/bottom, over time portions of that joint will get out of flush. The v-groove just helps disguise effects of differential movement.

-- Jim

[Tim Elett]

Also I have used a small piece of paper or wood to burnish the slot where the sections meet.

[Dan Gaylin]

Tim, James, got it! Sorry I was being kind of thick (no pun intended). You are literally saying make a little notch on the outer face of the bowl where the segmented ring meets the solid wood blank. At first I thought you were saying to make it on the top surface of the bowl blank where the glue goes to attach the ring, and I couldn't figure out what that would do other than make the joint weaker. I'll give it a shot. I may also persist with some of the other ideas for inserting the plugs. Thanks everyone.