Attempt at a pseudo worthless wood blank

[Drstrangefart]

So, I was trying to fall asleep and had one of those ideas. I'm pretty sure someone else has to have done this before. I figured I'd give a mix of 5 minute epoxy and Pearlex a shot, so I ran downstairs and cut some notches into a blank with a super fine bandsaw blade. I taped it up, and mixed and poured. I won't be too surprised to find a bunch of bubbles caught in there, but it looks like most any air came out as the epoxy heated up. I used curly maple as our dye testing showed that it would soak some liquids pretty deep. It looks like it definitely soaked up enough epoxy to keep it firmly in place. I can't wait to get downstairs and turn it tomorrow and HOPEFULLY have a nice pen to show for the lost sleep. It only took a few minutes to knock out. If it works well enough, I plan on trying again with funkier cuts and maybe a more planned out process. Maybe get Dad to collaborate since we seem to get some really unique stuff done that way. If anyone else has done one this way before, feedback would be great.

 

[robutacion]

I've used it many times, not only in pen blanks but in bowls or other pieces I'm turning where filling is required.

Sometimes is just not worth it to mix PR for such a small amount and the epoxy does a good job however, some epoxy's do better than others, Monty's epoxy is good for fillings as some other types I've used but some, ain't worth the trouble particularly some of that Chinese made ones you get in cheap stores as they never harden properly and a far too hot.

Depending of the temperatures your work environment is subject to, you find that the 24 hours epoxy has less chances to produce/trap bubbles and normally have superiors adhesion to the wood. Pearlex powders work well with epoxy, the liquid colorants not so much, in my experience...!

Good luck,

PS: You seem to be on a roll so, don't stop...!:wink:

Cheers
George

 

[watch_art]

I wanna see this one turned. Very cool.

 

[Drstrangefart]

I wanna see this one turned. Very cool.

I do, too. Provided the blank doesn't fail on the lathe.

 

[robutacion]

I wanna see this one turned. Very cool.

I do, too. Provided the blank doesn't fail on the lathe.

If you have any doubts/concerns about the fillings to come out/separate while turning/spinning, soak some thin CA on the joint of the wood and fill, that should stop any chances of that happening...!

Good luck,

Cheers
George

 

[Justturnin]

I use Epoxy w/ Mica's all the time to fill cracks and voids on blanks that are not bad enough to cast but to nice to toss. Assuming you cleaned the blank well enough and removed anything that could cause the bond to fail (Bark, Dirt, Wax) the bond between the wood and epoxy could be stronger than the bond between wood fibers. Many times when epoxy fails you will find that there is "mess" on the epoxy side and it was not a clean break between the Epoxy and wood.

 

[Drstrangefart]

Thanks for the feedback guys! It held together, results will be posted shortly. There were a LOT of bubbles trapped in it, which wasn't too much of a shock. I got most of them cleaned up. Just a couple of tiny ones left.