Filling a worm hole with silver

[MedWoodWorx]

I encountered a worm hole when making this pen and since it was too big to cover i decided to highlight. The result is this childish attempt to fill it with ca and silver chips. Its not great but its not bad either. Anyway next time i ll try stacking the chips somehow in the hole and maybe using black ca for more contrast. Also silver needs buffing before coating with ca. Cheers

 

[tomtedesco]

Great job saving the blank.

 

[MRDucks2]

I think you are on to something and like the idea. With the randomness of the chips I kind of wonder if a more random fill than the hole itself would carry more interest. Just a thought.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

I think you are on to something and like the idea. With the randomness of the chips I kind of wonder if a more random fill than the hole itself would carry more interest. Just a thought.

You mean making opening up the hole a bit? Well maybe it could be better, if i had extra tubes i would experiment a little more. Cheers

 

[TDahl]

very nice.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

Has anyone used black ca in a similar situation? Is it a good idea or does it contaminate the surrounding of the hole?

 

[Painfullyslow]

Has anyone used black ca in a similar situation? Is it a good idea or does it contaminate the surrounding of the hole?

I was wondering the same thing when I saw the picture. In any case, that was an ingenious way to fill that worm hole.

 

[DBDanger]

This is cool idea. I wonder if it would look even better if it matched the pen hardware more by using brass instead of silver? I love the idea of keeping flaws in their natural shape and size. This is a small(ish) flaw, I think I would like some finer pieces of silver to fill the hole more uniformly. I feel like the bigger pieces leave enough space around the silver that needs to be filled with CA that it draws more attention to the CA and silver than the actual flaw.

This is just my $0.02 on improving what I feel is already a great idea that was executed nicely. Thank you for sharing this for my future inspirations.

-Danger

 

[RunnerVince]

Has anyone used black ca in a similar situation? Is it a good idea or does it contaminate the surrounding of the hole?

I've found black CA to be a great filler for burl blanks, especially with darker woods or dyed blanks. The only issue I've found is that it's a fairly thick glue, so it's not great for filling tiny holes, tearout, etc. Even then, I can usually fill even small holes if I use the micro tips.

In this case, I think it's a purely aesthetic choice, and some will love it while others hate it.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

I've found black CA to be a great filler for burl blanks, especially with darker woods or dyed blanks. The only issue I've found is that it's a fairly thick glue, so it's not great for filling tiny holes, tearout, etc. Even then, I can usually fill even small holes if I use the micro tips.

In this case, I think it's a purely aesthetic choice, and some will love it while others hate it.

what about the surrounding area?does it respond to sanding nicely?does the glue leave a stain? thank you for sharing, cheers

 

[MedWoodWorx]

This is cool idea. I wonder if it would look even better if it matched the pen hardware more by using brass instead of silver? I love the idea of keeping flaws in their natural shape and size. This is a small(ish) flaw, I think I would like some finer pieces of silver to fill the hole more uniformly. I feel like the bigger pieces leave enough space around the silver that needs to be filled with CA that it draws more attention to the CA and silver than the actual flaw.

This is just my $0.02 on improving what I feel is already a great idea that was executed nicely. Thank you for sharing this for my future inspirations.

-Danger

i agree with you 100% i (stupidly) didn't think about using copper because i had these silver pieces i wanted to use and also i planned to use a brushed nickel kit i bought. The thing is the pen kit was messed up (they misplaced different components apparently in one bag if u can believe it) and so i had to use what i had. I hate mixing gold (or even copper) with silver;however it turned out not that bad, in my opinion there is an interesting contrast. The point of the kinstugi thinking is repairing and highlighting the fault, not making things uniform but distinct. Please @leehljp as the japanese liaison, enlighten us on this.
About the filling method now:i didn't expect that the voids between the chips to be so big and before sanding, the filling looked very dense. Anyway i did my best with a scisor but it simply cannot cut smaller pieces (i also passed the pieces throught a sieve) than that. What i should have done is use some kind of grinder to make a dust- like material and not pieces. Or maybe stack the pieces instead of dumping them in the wormhole. stacking can create very intricate and elaborate designs. next time. cheers

 

[RunnerVince]

what about the surrounding area?does it respond to sanding nicely?does the glue leave a stain? thank you for sharing, cheers

That's going to depend a lot on the blank itself and the nature of the flaw. Dense or stabilized woods won't see much staining, nor will "uniform" flaws. For example, natural voids, like bark inclusions or small knots where the knot itself is gone leaving just the hole, tend to fill nicely. Imperfections caused by tearout are more susceptible to staining/bleeding. And for softer woods, you can arrest the bleeding a little by filling the hole and quickly hitting it with some activator, although it's a good idea to fill a hole in stages in such cases so you don't have pockets of uncured glue that can then splatter when you turn past the cured glue.

The other thing that really affect the final look is the quantity of imperfections. Sometimes I'd rather have several voids to fill than just one, and a few times, I've even deliberately put holes in the blank to balance the look. That said, filled voids often look 100% natural when the surrounding colors are right.

I've also gotten better at spotting flaws earlier in the process, prior to final turning/sanding. This means I can fill a hole without worrying about surface staining. Even though it will cost you a bit more in glue, it's much better to fill a hole with 1/16" or even 1/8" of material left to remove, even if that means you may turn away the entirety of the flaw. It's one less thing for a tool to be able to catch on and either make the fix harder or even tear the blank apart.

 

[jrista]

Has anyone used black ca in a similar situation? Is it a good idea or does it contaminate the surrounding of the hole?

I've used black CA a few times. Its ok on cracks, but on holes...somehow, it just never quite looks right.

I've tried some other fill materials, and haven't really liked any so far...

I'm thinking I may just segment the holes out next time. Drop in a different kind of wood or something, make it a little more interesting.

 

[SteveG]

I like the look, and consider it to be far better than trying to just fill a hole that size with some combo of CA or epoxy and wood dust.

When I was actively making/selling pens, I discovered the amazing world of silver charms for bracelets. There exists an amazing diversity of available images. These became a feature on a significant number of pens that I made. That concept might work well covering a single hole on a pen blank. Sometimes I would mount the charm to the surface, like a roll stop, sometimes partially set into the surface. The silver is easy to bend to the curvature of a pen, and I would often sand away part of the thickness of the silver prior to bending, depending on the desired finish look.

 

[leehljp]

i agree with you 100% i (stupidly) didn't think about using copper because i had these silver pieces i wanted to use and also i planned to use a brushed nickel kit i bought. The thing is the pen kit was messed up (they misplaced different components apparently in one bag if u can believe it) and so i had to use what i had. I hate mixing gold (or even copper) with silver;however it turned out not that bad, in my opinion there is an interesting contrast. The point of the kinstugi thinking is repairing and highlighting the fault, not making things uniform but distinct. Please @leehljp as the japanese liaison, enlighten us on this.

Not sure I can enlighten anything on this. I liked what you did - specifically I like the randomness of the silver in the filling, which makes it very interesting and draws my eye to it. AS to Japanese, in general they like order in design and even their disorder or randomness has some order to it such as Bansai trees and leaves.

Your idea of "repairing and highlighting the fault, not making things uniform but distinct." - is right on and you achieved it, in my opinion. Well done.