laser cut blank question

[RAdams]

I got a really cool skull and bones pen blank at the IAP chapter meeting i went to a few weeks back, and i am finally ready to give it a go. I had an idea, but i am afraid of ruining the blank.

I want to mix some red mica in with some two part clear epoxy and smear it on top after i put the pieces in. I think the red filler would add to the theme, but i don't want to mess up the blank. will the mica epoxy mixture ruin the olivewood? or can i sand any topical staining away?


anyway, thanks in advance for the thoughts!

 

[jkeithrussell]

So, you have an olivewood blank that has a skull/xbones cut out (as in a void)? If so, yes, you can fill it with epoxy. It should not cause the colors to smear, although it will run into any open grains. You could take the precaution of sealing the grain inside the cut-out with thin CA. PR or some other resin would be a better choice for the filler. Epoxy is rubbery and tends to melt when sanding and is not as durable/solid as PR or other resins. It's also more susceptible to lifting out of the pocket during turning.

 

[ed4copies]

I HAVE NOT DONE THIS!!

But, with olivewood being as oily as it is, it would NOT be my first attempt. Experiment with meaningless pieces and simple round hole cutouts. When you find a way to keep your epoxy or PR or Alumilite from seeping into the grain, try a scrap piece of olivewood with the same procedure. Once you have succeeded, THEN use your good one.

Keeps the ruined GOOD ones to a minimum.

 

[RAdams]

I think i was a bit misunderstood.

it is the skull blank for the sierra kit, but i wanted to put color in the tiny seams around the olive and the dark wood. I have all the pieces.

I tried my idea, and learned two things.

1: the laser cut blanks are WAY too precise to squeeze anything into other than CA.

and

B: the tinyiest amount of mica goes a LONG LONG WAY! I was using a square toothpick to dip the color out. I used two toothpicks worth of color about 1/4 inch up the pick in a goodly amount of epoxy, and it hardened the epoxy in about 45 seconds. And all the color would not mix in.