Advice for filling voids / making blanks

[hobbymad]

Hi all, thus far I have been using ready made blanks, but just got hold of my first small slab. It's a beautiful burl wood, from the Ceylon Oak. I would like to process it down into blanks for small bowls and pens, but as you can see in the photo its full of cracks and holes and in some cases they go all the way through (kinda looks like brains ;) I was wondering what you would do in this situation? Cut the wood up, then individually seal each crack? Or leave it whole and pour some kind of filler over the whole thing or paint it into the cracks? What would be the best filler to use? Seems like it would eat up a ton of cyanoacrylate if I went that route! All advice greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Bammer]

Don't leave it whole and try to fill it, there will be more voids inside.

Bowl. leave them, they look cool on a finished bowl.

Pens, cut the blanks, drill as normal but don't use polyurethane glue to glue the tubes in or it will expand into the voids.
Go careful when turning them down until they are round, then you can start filling the voids as you go and keep turning them down. Again you will find more voids will appear and some you'' turn away

You can use CA or 2 part epoxy and colour it with mica etc, or you can use powder of any description.

 

[flexi]

As above
Great call on the PU glue, never thought of that.... 2 part for me on my burl blanks

 

[Phil Dart]

Looks like a fantastic piece of wood Rob @hobbymad . Good advice from Bammer above though.

Welcome to the Forum, by the way.

 

[yorkshireman]

If I’m in that situation Rob when penturning I use CA glue and powdered aluminium or powdered brass to fill the holes. A really dark wood like bog oak can look quite spectacular with aluminium in it, looks like silver!

 

[hobbymad]

Thanks all - much appreciated! @yorkshireman I will look into that - powdered brass sounds like it would pair well with the gold and red in this wood :)

 

[pittswood]

Good advice all round.
Kelvin

 

[howsitwork?]

good advice but if it’s a bowl try tung oil as a lubricant when fine sanding. The slurry will match the colour prefectly and void fill really well.

 

[alpha1]

All good advice. I learn some thing new every time I visit the forum.

 

[Gadget-UK]

With Pen Blanks I use Cactus Juice and a Vacuum Chamber

*Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin - 1.89 Litres (1/2 US Gallon) - Revised Formula!

Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin is a premium, professional grade, heat cured resin. Use it for stabilizing and hardening wood and other porous materials. It is especially effective on those beautiful, punky, spalted woods that are just too soft to work with! Cactus Juice is easy to use and does...

houseofresin.co.uk

Works a treat as it gets into all the tiny holes and dries clear so no messing with the finnish

 

[alan morrison]

Welcome to the forum, Rob.
Good advice above. There are a lot of materials you can use.
I tend to use CA with the sanding dust from the timber or coffee grounds on occasion.

Alan

 

[howsitwork?]

With Pen Blanks I use Cactus Juice and a Vacuum Chamber

*Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin - 1.89 Litres (1/2 US Gallon) - Revised Formula!

Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin is a premium, professional grade, heat cured resin. Use it for stabilizing and hardening wood and other porous materials. It is especially effective on those beautiful, punky, spalted woods that are just too soft to work with! Cactus Juice is easy to use and does...

houseofresin.co.uk

Works a treat as it gets into all the tiny holes and dries clear so no messing with the finnish

Colin

Might be my technique but I found the juice crystalized and left bubbles as I cured it in the oven after vacuum treatment.It does work really well at stabilizing soft or punky timber though ! That’s why I got it so cannot complain