Stufins, and inlays

[Ray Bell]

For the folks that use coffee grounds, metal powder, crushed rocks, etc. How do you do this right. I have tried this several times now, with little success. The inlay either chips out, or it will not polish. Just stays a grayish color. Do you stuff the crack, and then soak with CA, or do you mix the medium with the adhesive and then fill?

Thanks in advance for any suggestion,
Ray

[tom martin]

Ray to what grit are you sanding to? I have never used metal or stone, but do use coffee and wood dust. I sand to between 600 and 2000 grit depending on the piece and any foggyness disappears after the application of AO and final buffing. I apply ca to the crack the add filler followed by more ca and repeat as necessary.
Tom

[Ray Bell]

Thanks Tom, maybe that answers the fogginess question. I usually stop at 320.

[Jim Underwood]

If you pack the crack with sawdust or coffee, it pays to use a thin CA to make sure it soaks in all the cracks and crannies. Then follow it with medium and/or thick CA to ensure it gets enough. Then pile some more filler on top of that, followed by more CA glue.

Sure makes a mess, but not nearly as much as when you don't give it enough time to dry and spin it up with pockets of it still wet.

If you want to prevent the "stain" on surrounding wood, then put some finish of some sort on the wood first. Doesn't matter if you're not through sanding, you just want to prevent the CA from staining the wood.

[John Keeton]

Ray, when I use coffee grounds or sawdust, I usually use Titebond. I have better luck, and it is less messy than the CA. It doesn't seem to stain the surrounding wood, either. I have not used rocks or other mineral inlay, but I have used metal, and I used System Three epoxy for that. However, it is very fluid, and has to be level or it will run out. It wouldn't work for voids and cracks, but works great for accent collars, etc.

I sand to 400 on wood and/or coffee/dust filler. When I level a finish, I sand at 600, followed by 0000 steel wool, then triple buff. Seems to work fine. The only time I sand to 2,000 is for Blackwood or some other exotic.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks all, I just crushed up some malachite, and filled with CA. I'll let you know how that turns out.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I generally do like John does and use Titebond or epoxy to mix either sanding dust, coffee, metals or crushed stone. I sand to 1000 grit followed by either abralon up to 4000 or 0000 steel wool then buff. Found that CA stains to much and can get messy so got away from it.

[charlie knighton]

i have some friends that do watercolors, they use something called liquid frisket between colors so they do not run together, also called white mask, i use it around knotholes and cracks ....it works if i do a good job of putting it on, if it runs just use a pencil eraser to take off the wood

[Jim Burr]

One way to avoid the CA stain is to apply the choice of finish around the area. That way the wood is the color of the finished product. I use a pen tube with the end cut like a scoop. Scoop out the rock, tap it into the groove, add a drop of CA and hit with accelerator...just a touch from about 2' away. Move on to the next 1/4" and repeat. Most rock also comes in powder form that works well to fill in voids. I use a scraper to peel it off and touch up the area with powder...tada!!! Instant inlay. It really is a fast process

[Aaron Wingert]

I start by putting medium ca in the crack the packing the coffee or brass in by hand. Then I use some thin CA to penetrate the gaps and fill it up. I never use accelerator with thin CA, as the heat it generates will often cloud the CA. There will almost always be little pockets that need filling during turning. I use thicker CA for that, as well as accelerator to speed the process.

When turning, just take little bites. If you try to hog out an area filled with CA it will cause problems.

I like using CA over other glues because it dries perfectly clear, which doesn't obscure the depth of the filler material....I like the 3 dimensional effect.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks folk, lots of good ideas here, and noted. I did crush some malachite last night, and after spraying the surrounding area with shellac, applied thin ca. I did this in several steps, adding more medium, and more ca. It worked well. The only problem was the malachite was a very light green to start with, and after crushing it very fine it is powder white now. It looks like I filled the voids with salt, but it did fill well.

[Jim Sebring]

A spritz of VERY thin shellac will prevent CA staining around a defect to be filled. I use 2 parts DNA to 1 part of dewaxed liquid shellac in a spray bottle. Remember shellac sticks to everything and everything sticks to shellac so it works under or over almost any finish.