coolibah

[denny]

looking for some help on this wood.. i turned a pen out of this last night, came out very nice. i filled the voids with some dust and glue. Just wondering what others do with this. leave the voids or do as i did. i do like the wood.
Thanks very much for suggestions.
Denny

 

[plantman]

I find with Coolibah that there so many grain direction and color changes that if it is filled with saw dust and CA, it realy doesn't show that much. On larger voids, I would fill with some contrasting color and make it a focal point. Just my way of doing it. Jim S

 

[rogerwaskow]

Mixed

I mix saw dust from various timbers which give it a unique universal colour which fairly hides the repair if not to large. Any way that's my 2 cents worth.

 

[jyreene]

I won't take credit for this and I've only really barely started doing it. I can only steal so many mini glad Tupperware containers from the kitchen before my wife gets angry! But, George (robutacion) passes along the idea of catching the shavings and saw dust from a lot of your pens so you always have numerous colors lying around that will allow you to match your pens when you have a void. May not help now but you can always set it aside or if you have any of the cut offs from setting the blank up you can just sand the ever loving day out of those pieces to get a lot of coolibah saw dust.

 

[rossvh]

I intentionally look for wood blanks that have voids so I can fill them with crushed Turquoise or Coral. These make the pen unique and really stand out.

 

[plantman]

I won't take credit for this and I've only really barely started doing it. I can only steal so many mini glad Tupperware containers from the kitchen before my wife gets angry! But, George (robutacion) passes along the idea of catching the shavings and saw dust from a lot of your pens so you always have numerous colors lying around that will allow you to match your pens when you have a void. May not help now but you can always set it aside or if you have any of the cut offs from setting the blank up you can just sand the ever loving day out of those pieces to get a lot of coolibah saw dust.

I use this method all the time. I went to a local store that handles fishing gear, and bought little clear plastic containers that screw together, and are used by fishermen to keep their flys dry. You could use hip boots, but it's hard to get the saw dust back out of the boots. A little fishing humor there !!!! You always have fillers on hand and they can be seen in the clear plastic. Don't forget to mark what type of wood, acrylic, or metal shavings is in each one. Always clean your work surface before collecting the saw dust to keep it pure. You can always mix and match later. I always make sure I have a container of Ebony dust to use for laser cuts and filling between inlays. Crush your dust into a fine powder before adding CA or mixing with glue or epoxy. Jim S

 

[walshjp17]

Coffee grounds mixed with a drop or two of CA also makes a nice filler. I use the used single cup Keurig containers -- lots of different aromas and blends to choose from:wink:

 

[Alan Huey]

I use the zip lock bags that component kits come in to hold various colored shavings. Yes, fill the voids also with coral or turquoise.

 

[glen r]

As one, who along with my Wife, has to take allot of different pills I find that used pill containers work great for storing different colored wood shavings and also great for storing bushings. I use regular mailing labels to identify the wood or bushing type.

 

[Alan Huey]

I also use an old electric coffee grinder to use if I have big shavings and need to convert them to small dust for void fill.