Spalted Pecan bottle stopper blanks

[sdb777]

Prizes?!?!?!?!?

Whoa....could afford a brothel visit for myself! So I don't think I'm going to foot the bill for someone else to get a disease!!!!



Think I need to discuss the possibility of 'something' to the winner with Emerson.....






Zac, BTW....you can't just cover the bottle stopper with burnlines. Unless you can figure out how to make them go lenghtwise?




Scott (hope they are at the PO) B

[boodrow]

LOL Scott , man I think the prize thang was a joke anyway , it was a challenge not a all expense paid trip to the Bunny Ranch ;D
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

I agree - no prize needed, all three of us got ourselves a prize with the wood!!


Zac

[boodrow]

The Ranch visit would have been a good place for us to meet up though.
Boodrow

[boodrow]

OK yall im done with my 2, Zac did u ever get urs?
The 2nd one turned out better than I thought it would. Looks like I mite be goin to Nevada. ;D
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

Alright guys - quit sweating, I got mine today!

HOPEFULLY I will get something turned tomorrow - if not I will Sunday.

Want to shoot for Monday to post pics? Doug is gone all weekend anyways.

Thanks Scott (and E) I'm just hoping I don't muck it up something fierce before I get a nice lookin' stopper!


Zac

[mcbryde]

Zac, I'm sure you won't muck it up, I haven't seen one you have posted pics of yet that I would call a muck up!

What do you guys use to finish your stoppers? I'm betting CA would get quite expensive having to use that much, so figuring you don't use that. How do you finish them? I have 10 kits headed my way to try out stoppers, so need to know how to finish them.

E

[sachbvn]

I think Boodrow used to use Shellac and a nice wax - he passed that info along to me and that's what I still use. I think he does more of the lacquer dip method now - I've tried it once but didn't care much for it.

Some use CA glue - especially on the pine cones and anything that really needs help holding together.

I put on three coats of shellac (the zinser stuff you buy at Menards) - then use EEE polish, then I wax with Mylands clear. Key is - the shellac has to be dry before you start the EEE or you'll have a mess.


Zac

[boodrow]

Em Zac is correct , although I still use the shellac some , the 2 yall sent me I turned one with shellac the other wit laquer dip. I honestly think the shellac looks better of the 2. When we post Ill let u guess which one is which. ;D
Also with the price of CA , thay aint no way im goin to use it to finish anything but pens and pine cones. On the stopper cones I figure I have 3 to 4 dollars worth of CA on each one. Maybe I use to much , but after talkin to Doug on a prob I was havin , I lay the chit on the cones now.
Boodrow.
EM one other thought , if ur new at turnin stoppers , cut some of that stuff so the end grain is on the ends and not on the sides. Without skew skills or a ton of sandin it would be hard to do. Just a thought. These were just a tad punky and the spindle gouges tend to tear the end grain instead of cuttin it. Thats were the skew or heavy duty sanding comes into play.
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

Yeah - problems guys.

As Boodrow just touched on - the blanks you sent were cut for a lot of end grain - which is fine, but I don't typically use a skew (I know, I know) so my chit is all tore up.... I started to shellac one of them and it was just still way too rough - I'm going to have to go back to sanding - or feather the spindle gouge over the whole stopper and resand again. Not sure which - at this point it doesn't look like it will be getting done with weekend. My shop is in serious disaray and I need to work on it.

On a positive note - the stoppers are friggin' gorgeous!! Absolutely stunning.... on a negative note - one was so punk on the inside that it stripped out on the mandrel..... not sure How I'm going to fix this one, the threads are totally stripped.

It's a challenge - that's fore sure!!


Zac

[maverick31]

zac I have used some punky wood that stripped out and what I did was:
cut a plug on some solid wood, Drill a hole in your stripped blank and glue in the plug. Obvoiusly your plug has to be bigger than the screw going in but it worked really good for me. If you don't have a plug cutting set harbour freight has em for about 5 bucks. Cheap and easy fix if you ask me.

[mcbryde]

I have some of that fast drying polyeurathane in the light blue label, is that what ya'll are talking about?

E

[sachbvn]

Thanks Mav - I thought about just filling it will a dowel or something - I'm sure I can get something figured out.

Thanks!


Zac

[sdb777]

Punky? Nah...spalted wood never does that. After all, spalt is just a fancy word for 'starting to rot'!

I wouldn't have sent it out if I'd known. It really seemed quite solid when I cut those? But nonetheless, I'll be interested in the 'fix' as well as the final product. Kind of like having a tutorial to learn something........for me!!!



The end grain cut was used to really be able to show off the spalt. Kind of figured it like a big pen blank or something? When I cut the pen blanks straight or 20* bias, it didn't seem to make the spalt lines POP like the crosscut.



Scott (a challenge isn't supposed to be easy) B

[boodrow]

Zac the way I fix a stripped one is with a heli-coil set up we use in the automotive trade. Its a steel threaded bushing that will not come out. I have fixed several of my stoppers in the past that way. The inital cost of a 3/8 x 16 heli-coil set up is prob around 30 dollars now if not more , Ive had mine a long time. The dowel set up will work also , but if ur using the RN hardware the dowel mite show??
Boodrow

[boodrow]

Zac if mail it to me , I will install a heli-coil in it and mail back to u, just a thought.

Scott that is some of the prettiest wood Ive ever seen. My 2 had some punk in um , but show me spalted that dont generally have some. Its hard to find something that well spalted that hasnt got punk in it. Bottom line its beautiful wood and with unstabilized spalt its a challenge ;D But thats what this is.
Thanks again to u and Em, mi amigos
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

Boodrow - thanks for the option.... I may or may not try the dowel - if I don't - I will mail it to you for sure. I sure appreciate the offer!


Being able to turn my lathe to "reverse" would sure be nice in this sanding!!


Zac

[boodrow]

May 29, 2010 22:06:24 GMT -6 mcbryde said:

I have some of that fast drying polyeurathane in the light blue label, is that what ya'll are talking about?

E

E not sure what ur talkin bout.
Boodrow

[Doug B]

Zac, there are lots of options for repairing your stripped out stopper. A couple that I use have not been mentioned already. One option is to glue in 3 or 4 thin strips of wood that will take tapping well. I have used a couple of "strike anywhere" match sticks that I split down the middle that worked well for me. Be sure to let the glue cure before tapping it.

Another option is more of a preventative measure. For punky wood and especially for pine cones, I will squirt some thin CA into the hole after it has been drilled but before tapping it and stir it around with a toothpic to make sure it stabilizes the wood that is going to get tapped. Squirt a little CA in the hole to get the CA to cure. Then tap the hole. This works very well for me and prevents the punky wood from busting loose while you turn it.

Another preventative method, but one that still might work for you at this point, is to glue on a piece of solid wood to the bottom of the punky wood. I do this all the time and it works well as an accent to the main stopper wood as well. The solid wood holds well on the mandrel and prevents the punky wood from stripping out. For that spalted pecan I'd recommend some Walnut or Bloodwood or something else very dark in color.

And last but not least, a very sharp skew is a wonderful tool to use on this kind of cross cut wood blanks.

[Doug B]

OK guys, I'll show you mine if you show me yours