Powder / Gem / Mineral Inlays?

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Dino

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Hi guys, me again.

I want to make something special for my mother and I am looking into inlays again.

What are my options here? I've seen powdered ones but I have no idea where to purchase them. What gives the best results?

Thanks again!
 
I've seen the stuff on turners retreat but I am looking for other options. Has anyone used the metal powders from turners retreat? they any good?

Anyone have any experience buying / making their own metal filings or shavings? I can't seem to find any resources of making them yourself online.
 
Dino":ebaf9ghg said:
...
Anyone have any experience buying / making their own metal filings or shavings? ..

I collect a small percentage of metal debris from the metal cutting bandsaw and use occasionally for filling, in the main though the debris is not as fine as one would like.
DSCN3105.JPG

Comes with territory, efficient cutting with a bandsaw results in coarser debris.

Suspect you would need a process that wheel cuts or grinds large volumes to get a fine contamination free debris.
 
I got some brass powder from eBay which was quite fine. I carefully loaded it into some cracks inside an oak bowl I'd made and dripped thin CA glue onto the surface of each mound. The glue formed a ball that rolled off the powder and soaked into the wood before eventually soaking into the powder. The end result was slightly proud ribs of brass and CA. When dried these were so hard that they were an absolute bu%%er to turn to the level of the surrounding surface. Scrapers and gouges were used and were quickly blunted and the ribs eventually got down to the level of the wood before sanding. Nonetheless, the final finish was more or less what I wanted although I think I could have used a darker metal (bronze?) to give a more contrasting result.
A previous attempt was to mix the powder with Araldite and heap it into a groove I had cut into a bowl. When cutting the mound back, the epoxy cut much better than the CA mix but it still blunted tools quickly. The end result here, though, was a dark grey fill with bright, metallic sparkles. Not very attractive. I suspect I could have used a higher powder to epoxy ratio, but the CA version is much closer to a metal vein in the wood.
Good luck in your endeavours and let us see pictures of your results with explanations of how you got there and what you'd do different next time.
Steve
 
Using metal powders with CA glue is nt as difficult as made out. Fill the crack or split with the powder a little at a time and put the glue on. make sure that you give the surrounding wood a coat of sealer first to stop discolouring the wood. As said the glue can just rub off the powder but if you use dentist tools as I do (cheap on ebay) then you can mix the glue into the split. Shallow grooves etc can be done in one go, deeper ones need to be done in layers to ensure full penetration of the glue.

These were done with aluminium powder
wood anniversary goblets.jpg
 

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Absolutely gorgeous work you've all shown.

I've seen a lot of the techniques and that is not so much what I am worried about it is actually finding the stuff.

I might buy from turners retreat and see if their stuff goes, £10 isn't too much for a test run.

I've seen some people use copper wiring, not sure if I will give that a shot.
 
I get mine fromhere. You get a fair bit and it lasts a long time as you don't need much to fill with. I have also tried mixing it with epoxy but found that I couldn't get a metallic, polished look with it unless I had so much powder in the mix it lost a lot of it's adhesion.
 
Thanks! The price actually seems reasonable. Turners retreat don't list weight so I've had to email them to see how much their powders actually weigh.

I think I'll try some aluminium. Kind of related but what kind of abrasives do you use for this? (And...any place to buy decently prices abrasives that aren't terrible? Ones from B&Q seem quite expensive)
 
I use rhyno-grip from Richard Finlay but any decent quality abrasive will do. Leave the mix to dry thoroughly, at least 10 mins and then sand back locally. If you try to do it with the lathe running you will end up with a ridge as the mix is harder than the wood surrounding it. If it is accessible you can take it down with a file as well. make sure that you put the sealer on before using the mix though as CA glue stains are a pain to get out if at all.

pete
 
Afraid good abrasives are not low cost, just like any other cutting tool.

Try the brand Richard Findley sells if you want to buy on-line or if you have a stockist locally the Chestnut Brand is quite good value for money and of a similar spec.

Take care when using abrasives on metal in-fills, very easy to cross contaminate local areas of wood with the dust and other work if you pick up a contaminated abrasive sheet.

Don't concentrate on an abrasive that appears to last a long time, personally I've found longer life or higher cost does not always equate to better performance overall.

Good free cutting abrasive that is a reasonable cost that encourages you to dispose of it when worn gives me better results.
 
A tip I picked up recently to prolong abrasives especially when using them on metal fills is to have a small brass wire shoewbrush handy and give a quick brush off the abrasive. gets rid of the impregnated dust etc and really does work.

pete
 
Fantastic advice all-round. I'll have to pay £2 on postage for a £0.79 brush from amazon. Wish I knew where to get one in the city.
 
Dino":3j5mw0zq said:
Fantastic advice all-round. I'll have to pay £2 on postage for a £0.79 brush from amazon. Wish I knew where to get one in the city.


Local £1 shop, often have 3 on a card, steel, brass, bristle as small shoe/swede brushes.
 
I got some brass powder filings from my local key cutters. I cleaned it with a magnet in a bag to remove any steel
 
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