Black adhesive ????

[Les Symonds]

One of the many benefits of running 'Pren' is that I get to meet some amazing people and share a love of wood with them. Amongst them is a very kindly, elderly gentle man who also was a turner many years ago. He regularly buys bowls and candlesticks from me to give to his friends and family as gifts, simply because he wants them to enjoy wood in the way that he does, but his inability to turn any more means that he mas been looking for a turner like me to meet his needs. He is such a lovely, genuine person that it really is no task to down tools for a while and have a chat with him every time he comes into the shop.
Today he brought me a bowl that he bought 20-or-so years ago. It's about 16" diameter and in the type of spalted beech that has those wonderful black lines that suggest a map of the counties of some forgotten land. He's asked if I can work a black adhesive into the cracks to fill and bond them. There are only two cracks and they are little more than a millimeter wide by about 100mm long.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what adhesive I might use?

Les

[John]

Hi Les
I use Liberon hot melt was for such things. It comes in packs of several colours
A soldering is used to melt the wax.
Hope this helps
John

[bodrighywood]

If you get some cascamite or equivalent powder glue (water based) mix it with a little black dye or wood stain. make the mixture thick, lots of powder less liquid, and it works a treat. It can be pushed into the crack until slightly proud then sanded back, usually a good 24 hours to be dry. Sets rock hard and also will strengthen the crack. Might work with other glues but only tried it this way.

Pete

[Les Symonds]

Hi Les
I use Liberon hot melt was for such things. It comes in packs of several colours
A soldering is used to melt the wax.
Hope this helps
John

Hi John...thanks for that suggestion, but I really wanted the adhesive to bond the crack as well as to fill it.

If you get some cascamite or equivalent powder glue (water based) mix it with a little black dye or wood stain. make the mixture thick, lots of powder less liquid, and it works a treat. It can be pushed into the crack until slightly proud then sanded back, usually a good 24 hours to be dry. Sets rock hard and also will strengthen the crack. Might work with other glues but only tried it this way.

Pete

I have Cascamite in stock, Pete, so that sounds like an excellent idea.

Les

[David Buskell]

Les,
you can get black superglue which might do the trick.
David

[bodrighywood]

Les,
you can get black superglue which might do the trick.
David

Not come across that one must look it up.

Pete

[Bryan Milham]

If it is spalting you are trying to match, you might try coffee grounds (fresh not used). Work them into the cracks with a pointed stick (bamboo barbecue skewer) and drizzle on a very thing super glue.

It it's a true black, sanding dust from African Blackwood etc....

[bodrighywood]

Coffee grinds are useful as said but put through the microwave as they can retain moisture for a long time. I foubnd out the hard way that if they aren't really dry they can flake after using superglue. I also have several jars of sawdust or sanding dust from various woods which come in useful haven't got any black wood though, not a wood I have used personally.

Pete

[Bryan Milham]

Like Pete I have several pots of different sanding dust. But I do have Blackwood.

If you would like me to post it to you drop me a PM.

[Dave Atkinson]

Try Plastic Padding - Leak Fix from Halfords - two part filler - it's black and bonds and sands - it's like car body filler.

Cheers Dave

[bodrighywood]

Try Plastic Padding - Leak Fix from Halfords - two part filler - it's black and bonds and sands - it's like car body filler.

Cheers Dave

I might have beeen unlucky but when i tried using this it cracked when the wood moved a bit. Split away from the wood. There are several diferent types so it may be I chose the wrong one.

pete

[TWiG]

Crush up a piece of charcoal very fine to simulate black sawdust .

[Les Symonds]

Well....what a grand set of answers....I must admit that I fancy Dave's suggestion, although there's also a few good ideas from experimenting with mixing. I'll mull this over for a few days before I decide.

Thanks, guys!

Les

[Eric Harvey]

araldite type glue works well with a bit of dye added to.

[Les Symonds]

Try Plastic Padding - Leak Fix from Halfords - two part filler - it's black and bonds and sands - it's like car body filler.

Cheers Dave

Update on the repair job....I took Dave's advise and went down the road of black epoxy....it turns out that the 'Milliput' company market a black, tow-part epoxy mortar. The product is sold as two sticks of 'putty', you just pinch an equal amount off each stick and knead them together. It makes a black putty that can be pressed into gaps and the excess scraped off before it dries. I filled gaps up to 3mm wide and didn't notice any shrink-back on the surface, and as epoxy, it is both adhesive and gap-filling. A gentle rub with 400 grit cleaned up the surface and the owner found it very difficult spotting the difference between the filling and the natural spalt-lines.

Best of all, Milliput is a locally-made product!

Les