Cherry
Burl with Coffee
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I turned
this bowl from a cherry burl. There were two large
inclusions, a smaller crack, and a worm-hole that I filled with an
"inlay" of coffee beans. This worked really well, and looks
cool.
(More information on this technique below...)
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The bowl is 6-1/2" in diameter and 3-1/2" high. I intentionally left the
sides rather thick - nearly 1/2" - so it has a nice substantial,
weighty feel to it. The
photo below shows the roughed out form on
the lathe, before hollowing.
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Exterior roughed out
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Filling the Voids
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As I
mentioned above, this bowl had two large inclusions - one inside and
one on the exterior - and a large wormhole that went all the way
through the wall. While browsing recently on Lynne Yamaguchi's website, I
noticed that some of her vessels had inlays of coffee. I
immediately thought to myself: "Oh my God - that's genius!"
So I decided to give it a try on this bowl.
The procedure is really quite simple. After
researching inlay techniques in general, I decided that I would
need coffee beans
and
thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. *Lots*
of CA glue. After a little searching, I found an inexpensive source for a 16 oz.
bottle of thin (5 cps) CA glue, and three days later I was ready to
start.
I wasn't sure exactly how Lynne used the coffee to fill voids, but I
surmised that it must be similar to using turquoise and other inlays.
(I emailed Lynne seeking guidance, but she was travelling and
unable to respond right away, so I decided to forge ahead and
experiment...)
I prepared three grinds of coffee beans: a very coarse grind,
a
medium grind, and a very fine grind. Then I cleared the voids
of
any loose material, using dental picks and compressed air. I
cut
a "donut" from foam packing material to hold the bowl at the
desired angle on my workbench - with the void facing up.
Using
blue plastic masking tape, I taped off the area around the inclusion to
avoid staining the surrounding wood with glue. (I've read
that
wax works, too.)
It was then just a matter of spooning coffee into the void. I
started with the coarse grind and worked my way down to the fine grind.
(When finished, the coffee formed a slight mound - proud of
the
surface of the bowl. This would be sanded flush later.)
Then I carefully dripped CA glue into the coffee to solidify
it.
The next day, I remounted the bowl on the lathe and sanded the inlays
flush. (This produced a pleasant aroma in the workshop, btw.
:)
I later learned in an email from Lynne that she simply recycles used
coffee grounds for her inlays. (After they've dried, of
course.)
She also pointed me to an excellent article that she's
written on
filling voids - I had missed it earlier on her website. You
can
download it here.
(.pdf)
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Interior void filled with coffee
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Finish Details
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I applied
a custom finish that I mixed myself. It consisted
of equal parts of:
- McCloskey's Spar Marine Varnish
- 100% pure Tung Oil (Woodcraft
brand)
- Turpentine
This essentially is a rubbing varnish. After
sanding down to 400 grit, I applied it to the bowl as it spun
on the
lathe at low speed. I let soak in
for about 5 minutes, then wiped off the excess, buffing with a
soft cloth. After waiting 24 hours, I repeated the process.
I applied five coats in this manner, building up a beautiful,
lustrous shine.
This is the second piece I've used this finish on, and I've been very
pleased with the results. It really made the figure in the
burl pop.
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Recommended Reading:
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2007
nestlerode.org
Modified on Dec 13, 2007
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