Decorative finishing?

[VikingAl]

Hi all, I know I keep bombarding you all with questions and for that I apologise!.

Now, I have several items that upon drying have developed some cracks etc & as I'm a bit of a perfectionist I'd like to fill these with a decorative filler type of finish. I've perused Turners Retreat & got a few ideas so here's the question....s!,

Has anyone on here done this?. If so can you recommend & perhaps explain to a novice the preferred way?. Do I have to buy the powder & some form of glue, mix it up then insert it into the desired place?.

Also, I have looked on eBay at metal powders. You seem to get more for your buck on these but are they the same type of thing as you would get from Turners Retreat?. If so is it a case of mixing it with some type of glue again?, if so which glue?.

Is there perhaps ( this I'd prefer! ) a place where I can buy a pot of the stuff that's pre mixed & just ready to rock n roll this saving me a potentially expensive & very messy science lesson?.

Any help would be greatly appreciated on this!!.

Al.

 

[woodyturner]

The stuff on ebay is as good as any you will get from T/R
There are several methods you can try one crush some charcoal / coal or sand stone anything will do some use dry rise or dry peas and mix it with epoxy resin which takes some time to fully cure or fill the void with the crushed powder and go over it with a cheap thin supper glue from the £ shop almost instant drying sand and finish in the usual way
Another method is car body filler from Halfords it polishes up black fill the void let it cure then sand it back and polish as normal
Hope this helps

 

[VikingAl]

Cheers woody, as ever a great help!. I put the blame for these questions on Bills doorstep as when he popped round last week he was talking about it & as such had inspired me!. Cheers mate, glad to hear you are on the road to recovery, look forward to seeing some of your new work very soon!!.

 

[woodyturner]

Your welcome mate Bill told me about his visit to you perhaps you could come up with him next time we could have a day turning pic attached with coal infill

 

[VikingAl]

Lovely piece there woody, amazing finish with the coal, looks fantastic, definitely be giving that a go!. If I get the chance matey I'll definitely come & see you with Bill, look forward to that one!.

 

[Bodrighy]

i use flea bay metal powder and CA glue and also have jars of different wood dusts from various woods for more discrete filling. As Woody says pretty much anything can be used though I find that the mixing with epoxy method can be a bit hit and miss as regards getting a decent uniform colour, possibly me an my lack or measuring though.

Pete

 

[VikingAl]

Pete, if you don't mind me asking, what metal dust did you go for?. I was contemplating copper as the others seemed to be, well, very metally if you get what I mean!, lol. I do like the shiny black finish that woody has demonstrated a lot so will be giving that a go but also I do like quite vibrant colours, copper seems as though it may have some of the desired effect?. Good tip with keeping the saw dust for filling, an old carpenters trick & something that I hadn't given much thought to, cheers!.

 

[Bodrighy]

I usually use either brass or aluminium depending on the wood, copper is usually a coarser powder and IME is more difficult to get a good finish with. The brass powder works well with darker woods or light.
This is aluminium

This is brass

Pete

 

[VikingAl]

Fantastic Pete, thanks. They look as though they have metal bands on them, really draws the eye. Brilliant effect, cheers!.