>I'm just about done with a big bowl but the inside has some pretty deep tearouts where the grain was crumbly and didn't hang together during turning. The piece is not dead green but it is not dead dry either, so there is enough moisture in it to give me problems if I fill the pits with any of the fillers I can imagine. Those would include epoxy and dust, waterbased wood putty, Durham rock hard with colorant in it, etc.
What can I parge the pits with that won't fall out or fail in some other way? And how best to color the filler to match the grain?
>Pits?!? Grain tear-out?!? I've never heard of such things. {8>)
I use Famo-Wood to fill voids on almost everything. On wood such as Alder, where grain tear-out is a fact of life, it can be relatively thick and over a large area. It is easy to use, quick drying, easy to sand, and accepts any type of finish. I have never had a problem with it being too soft or falling out with time.
As for the color, I am an advocate of using an accent color rather than trying to hide the defect. Trying to make such things as grain tear-out look like the rest of the wood is an exercise in futility and it will always look like something that was patched. Accenting it with a darker color, or using a complimentary color, will leave it looking like something that might belong in the wood.
Another filler that I have been using is Gold Gilt Creme. Filling the voids in burl and darker woods with an "Antique Gold" adds an interesting accent to the wood.
What would I do to the wood in your photo? I would use the Walnut Famo-Wood and purposely do a poor job of filling it, particularly leaving some gaps around the edges. Then I would take it through finish sanding, fill the voids the rest of the way with the Gilt Creme, clean it up with a wipe-on oil finish, and then put on whatever finish I want.
I have done well filling stuff like that with sanding dust from the piece mixed with a drying oil. Since I use Watco on just about everything, I would get some sanding dust togther, fill the holes with dust, and then give it a good soaking with Watco. Most of the time the repair is virtually invisible.
By the way, I hope this tearout didn't happen because you didn't wait for my Stewart tool scraper. ;-)
>...but, of course it would work. I'm thinking this might be a salad bowl, though, and I don't know which of the above suggestions would hold up best under those conditions of use. Decisions, decisions.
And, no, I made a 2' handle for my big bowl scraper and it was very easy to control. Little fluffy shavings floating away as I cut. I could probably scrape it down to solid wood if I was willing to stand there for the next couple days (and make the walls too thin). Thanks anyhow for the Stewart tool offer. I'll try it again sometime soon. Hope your session went well the other night.
>Any glue and sawdust makes a good filler for larger holes in a salad bowl, but moisture resistance is important in a salad bowl. CA is faster but it can wick into the surrounding wood; and the brittle bond can break in the presence of moisture, salad oils, and wood movement around a large repair. Epoxy and sawdust is good for the harder woods, but there can be the same bond problems as with CA, and it isn't good for the softer woods because it doesn't sand easilly. White or yellow glue and sawdust is the better filler for most wood. White glue dries clear, but I prefer Titebond-2 because it is easier to sand and it is moisture resistant.
By Watco I mean Watco Danish Oil. Just the oil itself and the dust do the job. The oil hardens as it dries, the dust gives it some body, and the two combine to provide a repair that is virtually invisible. I cannot say with authority whether or not it is harder than glue, but since it is of the same substance as the piece along with the finish on the piece, it camoflages the repair a bit better than glue will do.
>I use Starbond that is about $5 for 2oz so no need to be shy. If I see that the wood is punky to begin with, I use the super thin and let it soak up into to the wood to stabalize it. I use medium for fillind small cracks and chips. Good luck and I hope it turns out nice whatever you do. =o)
