Coffee grounds? and other questions.

[Toney Robertson]

I have seen coffee grounds mentioned many times as a filler. Why? What is the advantage?

Excuse me, I am not a coffee drinker, when you say "grounds" is that after it has been used to make coffee?

Can either CA or epoxy be used? If so, is there an advantage to either?

I want to fill a crack and make it black, would it work to add black ink to the epoxy?

For those who use DNA. Is there any reason not to soak bark edge pieces? Does it loosen the bark at all?

How do you turn beads on bowls? I have seen it said that you should not use spindle gouges on bowls and that is what I normally use. My spindle gouge has a round shank, does that make a difference?

Can you use a detail gouge on bowls? I have one but the LONG point makes me nervous.

TIA

Toney

[Chip Sutherland]

Coffee grounds....I have only used them after the coffee. I'm a coffee addict so it makes sense to use them first. The real difference is that they are completely dry when I have used them. Why use them? They make a great filler and are still aethetically pleasing in just about any application. Looks like a bark inclusion. And they turn easy if glued well. I use thin and thicker CA to bind and fill the gaps between granules. I have also made a paste that was okay but that was with colored epoxy for a longer open working time.

CA - I have colored thick CA before but the open time is too short so I will opt for epoxy and I always color it. I've used oil paints before and didn't have any problems. Nowadays, I have some artist tints that I use. I use CA for smaller cracks and thicker CA for larger cracks/pits. CA is expensive so the bigger jobs call for epoxy.

Beads - there's several ways I've done it. 1) I've cut the sides using a thin parting tool to define the sides then used either a spear tip or small bowl gouge to round over and blend it 2) Larger beads I can do with my smallest bowl gouge and some shearing cuts 3) spindle gouge....yep, I heard you're not supposed to use one on bowls but I use tools that seem comfortable for the cut I want. A spindle gouge can definitely make a nasty spiral catch if you get lazy.

DNA - I have certainly soaked bark. Had a bunch of wormy mesquite and needed to kill them because I wasn't going to turn the wood for several months. Damn thing get big, too. So I pickled them. Never had a problem with the bark flying off but I turned it off anyway. Air drying natural edge bowls is a bigger problem. I want the bark to stay on but the drying rates of bark vs sapwood are different. So I resort to CA or wood hardener to help keep the bark on

Detail gouge - not really sure about this one. I don't have one. I guess my spear point tool may be the closest to one. I believe I saw David Marks using a detail gouge on a platter on one of his shows. If I had one and it seemed right for the cut I needed/wanted....I'd probably try it.

That's this turner's perspective. I'm sure others will chime in. It's a great community.

[Curt Fuller]

Toney, the reason I've used coffee grounds is that they're a good color to compliment most woods and they're already ground to about the consistency to fill voids. I've found that to get them into a really fine crack or void I either have to grind them finer or just rub them over the crack until they break up and fill in the crack. Then I drip a little CA on them. Otherwise, I've mixed them with epoxy and even with titebond glue. In this piece I turned several years ago I actually cut a groove in it, glued in some small pieces of bocote, and used coffee grounds mixed with titebond glue as a grout between the pieces of bocote. You can do a lot of things with coffee grounds.

Also, Travis Stinson has turned pieces and mixed charcoal with CA or epoxy as a black filler material. Both the coffee and the charcoal can be turned, sanded, and finished much like the rest of the wood.

Oh, and it doesn't matter if the coffee grounds are used or not. But I tried instant coffee once and it didn't work very well at all.

[John Shuk]

Personally I prefer the look of ground tea leaves and I like the way it packs in better.
It is a bit darker and looks s bit like a bark inclusion.