brass filling

[colin macdiarmid]

I have seen some lovely bowls/pieces, where there has been a split, crack a natural hole in the side of the turned pieces and it has been filled what looks like brass powder and glue etc can somebody give an idea/link as to how this is done, many thanks

 

[jasonB]

You mix a paste from General purpose resin and a metal filler - brass, aluminium, copper etc and then turn down the excess with a scraper befor sanding & finishing, Should look like this

I get my materials from Tiranti's

Jason

 

[colin macdiarmid]

really helpfull many thanks, the bowl looks great with the filler,

 

[duncanh]

I've just finished my first turning with brass powder.
The wood had an area of bark inclusion that went quite deep below the surface. I didn't want to fill all the hole with brass and glue so filled it to approx 2mm below the surface with a mixture sawdust and white glue.
When this was set I poured brass powder over the top leaving about 1mm standing proud. I then poured thin super glue over the powder - this soaks into it and sets (don't rush it with accelerator).
Once set I locked the spindle and power sanded the brass so it was close to the final surface and then power sanded the whole piece as normal with the lathe turning.

The piece had 2 holes to fill and I treated them both the same way. Unfortunately I didn't put quite enough brass into one of the holes so added more and more glue. This looked ok until I came to the final sanding and I saw that there were thin dark lines around the areas of brass I added the second time.

I'll post a photo when I get round to taking one.

Before deciding to use the super glue method I experimented with powder mixed with epoxy and mixed with fibre glass resin. In both cases I found that unless I measured how much powder I added it was harder to get consistent results, and it was tricky judging how much to mix (usually I made too much and I hate waste!)

Duncan

 

[twister]

Hi folks,
just joined the forum last week & have found it very informative. Absolutely love the bowl JasonB posted. I've had a look at the Tiranti's site & am definitely going to place an order. Would 500g of metal powder do a couple of projects or should I save time & get 2.5KG?
I've got a lot of spalted beech wich is unfortunately heavily wormed. i've cut it into 4 inch bowl blanks but have only turned one as I was a bit disappointed with the amount of worm hole

.
Could i use the resin to fill these holes if i mix it thin enough?

Twister

 

[CHJ]

I would try using Low Viscosity CA Glue and fine sanding dust first.

You may find a dust from darker wood (contrast) looks better than a bad match.

Some may fill with Cellulose Sanding Sealer or PVA and fine dust.

If the holes are regular and round, abusing them with a sharp blade to make them run with the grain before filling may assist them to blend in more.

Large Cavities filled with UHU Clear Glue and Dust can also look good once hardened and finished, but this will take several hours to harden.

Don't tell ColinC I said that. 8-[

 

[jasonB]

You can't really mix the resin/powder "thin" as it needs to be heavily loaded with powder to get the best results.

A small pack will go a long way.

I don't think it will be that good in soft spalted timber, better used in cracks and bark inclusions.

JAson

 

[Duiker]

Nice one guys, ordered and waiting ;-)