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Buck
1159 posts
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in almost 2 years
in almost 2 years
More from Buck
First attempt epoxy
This has been a long journey with this bowl.
I had rough turned this bowl over a year ago. I decided to fill the void with a deep pour epoxy. That was a schooling in itself. Three pours later I finally had it sealed up enough that the epoxy didn’t run out over night.
Turning the excess epoxy out was another lesson on proper technique. I used hss tools only.
As I was getting the bowl turned to where I wanted it I had a catch that resulted in a large piece breaking off. I decided to glue it up and then while finishing I had another catch and another large piece break out.
Again I glued. This time i decided to just sand a little to salvage the bowl as my first attempt at epoxy. I figured a rough bowl was better than one for the burn pile.
I do like it. Next time I will dye the epoxy.
Hope you all like it.
I finished in a couple coats of shellac and then used Howard feed n wax for a nice polish.
This was from a young walnut tree.
I had rough turned this bowl over a year ago. I decided to fill the void with a deep pour epoxy. That was a schooling in itself. Three pours later I finally had it sealed up enough that the epoxy didn’t run out over night.
Turning the excess epoxy out was another lesson on proper technique. I used hss tools only.
As I was getting the bowl turned to where I wanted it I had a catch that resulted in a large piece breaking off. I decided to glue it up and then while finishing I had another catch and another large piece break out.
Again I glued. This time i decided to just sand a little to salvage the bowl as my first attempt at epoxy. I figured a rough bowl was better than one for the burn pile.
I do like it. Next time I will dye the epoxy.
Hope you all like it.
I finished in a couple coats of shellac and then used Howard feed n wax for a nice polish.
This was from a young walnut tree.
10 Comments
Yeah, looks like some serious learning on that one. Turning epoxy with HSS tools is possible, but you want them to be as sharp as you’ve ever had them. No, even sharper. And they’ll dull quickly, so set your grinder right next to your lathe and use it frequently for touch-ups.
I mostly use carbide tools on epoxy now, especially for roughing. I’ll go back to HSS for finishing, where I’m taking small cuts and not removing much material, as I can get closer to finished that way, but I often use my HSS gouges as scrapers (which dulls them fast, but gets a pretty good surface) as I get close to where I’m going.
It’s a handsome bowl, but it looks to me like you stopped sanding before getting all the scratches out. If I have large areas of epoxy to sand, I will do 80, 120, 180, 220, 400, and maybe some 800 wet/dry before I switch over to the one-step polish which works pretty well as long as I remember to shake it up thoroughly before using it, and the spout hasn’t clogged shut, so I need to hunt down my thinnest awl. I also, more than once, have put some tung oil and/or shellac on to see better what still needs work, and then clog up sandpaper as I remove it again. I suspect alcohol might work as well and would be easier to take off again without wrecking some sandpaper. In any case, finishing isn’t a quick process.
I mostly use carbide tools on epoxy now, especially for roughing. I’ll go back to HSS for finishing, where I’m taking small cuts and not removing much material, as I can get closer to finished that way, but I often use my HSS gouges as scrapers (which dulls them fast, but gets a pretty good surface) as I get close to where I’m going.
It’s a handsome bowl, but it looks to me like you stopped sanding before getting all the scratches out. If I have large areas of epoxy to sand, I will do 80, 120, 180, 220, 400, and maybe some 800 wet/dry before I switch over to the one-step polish which works pretty well as long as I remember to shake it up thoroughly before using it, and the spout hasn’t clogged shut, so I need to hunt down my thinnest awl. I also, more than once, have put some tung oil and/or shellac on to see better what still needs work, and then clog up sandpaper as I remove it again. I suspect alcohol might work as well and would be easier to take off again without wrecking some sandpaper. In any case, finishing isn’t a quick process.
May you have the day you deserve!
Interesting learning experience. Never turned large epoxy. You took a much larger project than I ever would.
Ron
Yeah Dave I wanted to turn it down as the amount of sanding I thought was more work than I really wanted given the two breaks.
Once I got the hang of it the hss tools did a good job.
It was a good learning experience and I do love the grain
Once I got the hang of it the hss tools did a good job.
It was a good learning experience and I do love the grain
Nicely done! Yeah, I’ll echo the comment that HSS for epoxy sucks. I’ve never been able to make them work well for me. I bought a small set of carbides for just that purpose. They work awesome! Although I still prefer HSS for pure wood turning. I just did a couple pens the other day, one of which was solid resin. The carbide just makes short work of it and the polishing is much easier when you don’t have to deal with a chip here or there! Nice bowl…that’s a big one to take on as your first resin turning!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Wow, that is a bold goal for "first" large epoxy fill!
I agree with that wood being very cool, nice mix of heart and sap woods. You have access to some really neat materials!
I agree with that wood being very cool, nice mix of heart and sap woods. You have access to some really neat materials!
yeah i think some color added to the epoxy would look a lot better. and i agree about using carbide for plastics is much easier. over all, well done buck!
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Thanks guys. The bowl is 8”x 2-1/2”
Very nice bowl. The epoxy filled the void very nicely. To avoid catches inside a bowl , I always have the tool support higher to have the bowl scraper come it at a negative rake angle and never get a catch that way.
Cheers, JIm
Cheers, JIm
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
Looks great! I'm messing around with a couple blanks now trying to figure out where potential failures might arise. I may just get the circumference round then hog them out spinning over the table saw blade risen very slowly. Catches and centrifugal explosions can't happen @ 60 rpm.
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