Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Dried Wood
Stephen DiCenso
>I am fairly new to turning. I have set aside some wood such as Sweet Gum, Cedar and Jacaranda. Because I didn't seal the pieces right away, some of it has either cracking or is cracking while I am turning. I have since sealed most of the wood. Is there anything I can do about what has started to check or even crack as far as bringing it back to a usable stage?
Re: Dried Wood
Joe Herrmann
>You might try to fill the cracks that aren't so large to become unsafe with superglue or some sort of contrasting material like brass filings or colored epoxy. However, it's been my experience that there isn't a whole lot you can do with wood that's already cracked. If it's bad, the only recourse is to fill it or cut it off. Just becareful, you don't want the piece falling apart while it is going round and round!! It's better to throw it away rather than wear it.
Re: Dried Wood
Ken Platt (Granby, CT)
>Stephen -
I've been turning for a few years, but am a pretty "low-volume" turner, as I alternate flat work with turning. I also am a serious pack rat/wood hoarder. The upshot of this is that I have accumulated a large pile of logs and pieces thereof that sit around forever and dry and crack, despite sealing. So when I finally am ready to turn a piece, if I don't want to trim the ends or just finish the crack by splitting, I use a lot of epoxy to fill and seal, then turn as though it were whole. Sometimes it works great, sometimes I lose chunks of wood. I need to be wearing full face protection anyhow, right?
Finding stuff to mix with the epoxy is another aspect of the enjoyment of turning. I have a box filled with little containers of various materials I've found, made, or bought. Right now I'm trying colored sand, but so far I'm not getting the look I was after.
Anyhow, you're not alone in trying to turn cracked blanks.
Ken
Re: Dried Wood
Stephen DiCenso
>Thanks for the info. CA glue and epoxy seems to be a partial answer.
Re: Dried Wood
adrien
>I've heard of soaking the stuff in a mixture of half glue (white, titebond type) and water. As the wood swells back, the cracks sometime reseal. No guarantees.
