Filling holes.....

[Dan0741]

Afternoon all - I'm a very novice woodturner and and trying to turn a spalted beech blank- I have used hardener to provide some solidity to some of the softer areas and all is going well. On sanding the base and outer edge I have noticed a number of very small holes and cracks which I would like to fill as I would like a good shine on the finished fruit bowl. I have tried this trick before and used a "light" filler from screwfix that eventually dried a rust colour which completely spoiled a huge very light coloured chestnut bowl I hade spent hours on!

What is the best way to approach this as I would like the holes and and cracks to just fade away into the rest of the bowl - they are very very small so shouldn't be too complex.

This is currently sanded to 240 - pencil for scale.

Any pointers gratefully received,

Dan

 

[CHJ]

Thin CA glue and sanding dust, collect your sanding dust in small jars and you will end up with a wide variety of shades.


For large defects you can build the filling up in stages with thin CA so that you don't create too much heat or use thicker medium or slow setting CA to mix up a dust paste to use as a filler.

You will never match colour, dust is always a factor of 10 darker when wet with glue so consider a contrast by going to extremes of darkness mimicking natural wood defects if it is a plain wood or in this case the spalting.

For finishing I would suggest Cellulose sanding sealer, it will harden the surface.
Fine sanding after coating to de-nib and a second coat may be beneficial as it's spalted.

 

[Chris152]

Those appear to be worm holes - it may be worth taking that into account in terms of how you proceed, too.

 

[Dan0741]

Thanks gents - I can give the ca glue a go. In terms of proceeding if they are worm holes, do you mean making sure they are all dead before I bring inside the house or something else - if so what is the best method of despatch given I'm halfway finished on the outside?

 

[Chris152]

It depends on its moisture content and how it's already been treated (in my experience, spalted wood doesn't get kilned) but assuming it's only air dried (maybe 18-20% moisture content), my method - right or wrong - would be to bring it into the heated house after turning it down to close to finished thickness inside and out, let it dry down to below 12% moisture content (maybe a month or two, depending on thickness and temp?), then finish turning. To my understanding, the beatles [Sp! ha] won't appear this time of year so you're safe.
If it's already below that level, then just turn and finish as Chas has suggested.
A cheap moisture meter is a worthwhile purchase.

 

[Woodbloke]

I fill holes and cracks with fast setting epoxy mixed with good dollop of green or gold glitter flakes; results in a very unusual appearance - Rob

 

[Dan0741]

Cheers gents very helpful and much appreciated.

 

[Phil]

Thin CA glue and sanding dust, collect your sanding dust in small jars and you will end up with a wide variety of shades.


For large defects you can build the filling up in stages with thin CA so that you don't create too much heat or use thicker medium or slow setting CA to mix up a dust paste to use as a filler.

You will never match colour, dust is always a factor of 10 darker when wet with glue so consider a contrast by going to extremes of darkness mimicking natural wood defects if it is a plain wood or in this case the spalting.

For finishing I would suggest Cellulose sanding sealer, it will harden the surface.
Fine sanding after coating to de-nib and a second coat may be beneficial as it's spalted.

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