can I salvage this blank?

[bjbear76]

I was working on a guitar inlay blank and the hole is supposed to be filled with epoxy. Well, the epoxy soaked in and wasn't built up enough to meet the wood when turned. I've made a few of these in the past and haven't had this happen before. I debated whether to add more epoxy or fill with CA. I probably should have tried more epoxy, but went with the CA. I turned it down, sanded, and this is what I ended up with. Almost like a shattered glass affect. Is there anything I can do at this point, or it is behind repair? Any suggestions?

 

[ChrisN]

I'm not sure what effect you were trying to get (pics of a good one, maybe?), but IMHO, that looks pretty nice.

 

[edstreet]

acetone, lots and lots and lots of acetone. All of that CA will come off then you can do epoxy like it suppose to be done.

 

[robutacion]

Well, that much acetone may spoil all the other glued bits so, I would be cutting the round piece off, very gently and then fill with epoxy and whatever the colour you wanted in the first place.

I don't think that it would be too difficult to cut/remove that centre area, a gentle approach a little bit of patience will get that pen barrel exactly how you wanted...!

Good luck,

Cheers
George

 

[low_48]

CA is brittle, can't you pick it out with dental pics and refill with epoxy?

 

[Dan Hintz]

Like Chris, I kinda think the effect is cool... I'd keep it as is.

 

[bjbear76]

Thanks for the comments. I think trying to pick the CA out would be too risky and chip out the surrounding wood. I'm going to go ahead and assemble the pen and see what reaction I get from customers. My wife agrees that it looks kinda cool that way.
BTW, I think I may have discovered why the epoxy didn't build up the way it's supposed to. The epoxy I used was the last bit in the tube, squeezed out every drop to get out of opening a new tube. Probably didn't have a good mix.
Lesson learned.....don't take short cuts!

 

[sbwertz]

I use a cordless dremel with a dental bit for things like that. You have really good control. I would carefully ream out the bad CA with a dental bit, THEN sand down the blank to the bare wood, refill the inlay, sand and refinish.

 

[Stephen]

J have done with epoxy and found them to be cloudy. Switched to thin CA followed by medium CA with several coats to build up over a period of two days without accelerator.
The result was clear as glass and impressive.

 

[jttheclockman]

I use a cordless dremel with a dental bit for things like that. You have really good control. I would carefully ream out the bad CA with a dental bit, THEN sand down the blank to the bare wood, refill the inlay, sand and refinish.

This is the exact same answer I would have given. So plus 1 on this approach. Acetone would have taken all glue joints apart and made a complete mess. Concentrate on the offending area only. Good luck. As you say though lesson learned.