Worm holes?

Re: Worm holes?

John Lucas

>Carol

I either leave them or patch them with Brass brazing rod like you did the copper. You have to sand and/or polish the copper to at least 600 grit and then use steel and sometimes chrome polish or very micron grit abrasives to get it to shine like metal is supposed to shine.

Re: Worm holes?

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Carole,

If they are small, fill them with cinammon powder, if they bigger, with coffe grinds, and use CA glue to hold that in place, to my eye both look like they are suppoused to be there.

Jorge

Re: Worm holes?

Barbara Gill, Remlik VA

>Depending upon the wood, I use coffee grounds, epoxy with black pigment, brass filings from key making machines, black inlace crystals with CA glue, etc. Any large void is filled with epoxy, samll- CA.

Re: Worm holes?

Carole in VA

>Barb, do the brass filings shine? Guess it's time to start saving my coffee grinds! Wish I had some little gold nuggets...but I guess that gets a little pricey. Maybe some fools gold? LOL

Re: Worm holes?

Ruth in So. Cal

>Carol, don't forget the free brass filings from the key cutting section of places like the Home Depot. They don't shine though unless I turn rather than sand the final finsih.

r

Re: Worm holes?

John Veerkamp, Western Mo.

>Carole,

I almost always leave the holes in. I love the look of natural defects in a finished piece. Worm holes, knot holes and the like add great interest to an otherwise formal piece.

John

Re: Worm holes?

Dick Hines

>Yes they shine. You can use them just as they come out of the key cutter or grind them into a powder with a coffy bean grinder.

I also use turquise or lapis crushed stone. I get them from Craft Supplies.

Charcoal mixed with Ca Glue

Dominic Greco at home in Richboro, PA

>Carol,

I've been turning a lot of Ambrosia Maple lately and it's had a good amount of worm holes in it. I've taken Russ' advice and mixed some charcoal (from a charcoal pencil) with some CA glue to fill the hole (for purposes of structural integrity), but still make it look like the hole is still there.

I've also used powdered malachite and turquoise mixed with medium CA glue to fill voids and holes in my latest Maple Burl Box. You can get the powdered stones from Arizona Silhouette. And Bill Baumbeck runs one top notch outfit (aside from being one of the nicest people you'll ever meet).

See ya around,

Dominic

Funny you should mention worms

Dennis J. Gooding

>I've had the same problem. The vase is from a Madrone burl blank that I left lying around too long. The critter is fully turned from a piece of maple burl and a bit of tagua nut for the jaws. Dennis

Re: Worm holes?

GaryG in MD

>John,

Do you turn the brazing rod? I would think that that would be hard on the tool. Or not?

...Gary

Re: Worm holes?

John Lucas

>Gary

It's easy to turn but if your ever in doubt about copper or brass just heat it red hot and quench it. The softens it. I know this is exactly the opposite of steel but it does work.

Re: Worm holes?

Carole in VA

>I would usually do that too John, but this was a really fresh hole (the guy was chomping away trying to outrun my gouge) and it was so perfectly round it looked like I had drilled the hole with a 3/16 inch drill bit! LOL

Re: Funny you should mention worms

Carole in VA

>LOL I love it! They really feasted on that piece!

Re: Worm holes?

GaryG in MD

>John,

That's very interesting; I didn't know that. Good info. (That's what I love about this forum -- so much good info from helpful, friendly people.) Now you've got me interested -- I'm going to have to look up the phase diagrams. ;-) Thanks.

Gary

Re: Worm holes?

Barbara Gill, Remlik VA

>Hmm, they are not bright like freshly polished brass but that is what I want. They look pretty much the way they looked when in the bag. I sand to 600.

coffee grounds w/CA glue

Jennifer@Indy.USA

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