# Question



## okiebugg (Sep 24, 2011)

I received some spalted Maple blanks today which I bought on Ebay. Out of 20 blanks, 5 were unusable. They have worm crap thru and thru starting on one side and coming out the other. He is sending me replacements for them. He recommended that I fill the worm holes with color and they will make great blanks. Picture of the blanks below.

What kind of stuff do you fill them with? I don't want to spend much money on an acrylic setup, because I like to make wood pens.

Any suggestions??


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## Akula (Sep 24, 2011)

I would not mess with those.....only way would be a setup like Curtis sells.  No telling what you can not see on the inside.

One day I will get one of his systems for myself.


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## Monty (Sep 24, 2011)

You have a couple of options,
1 - You can send them to me and I'll cast them in PR :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
2 - You can drill them for a pen as normal, stabilize with thin CA as you turn. When you get close to the final size, fill any voids with crushed turquoise or crushed coral or inlace and finish turning. It will be very hard on your tool to turn, so keep resharpening or use a carbide tool.


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## Lonn (Sep 25, 2011)

*star bucks coffee grounds*

You have excellent information so far. the only thing i would do different is fill the voids with dry packed used coffee grounds and drip thin Ca onto the filled area ( do not use accelerate because it will cloud at the filled area). The acidity in the grinds will set off the CA in seconds.


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## Buzzzz4 (Sep 25, 2011)

I can cast them in Alumilite for you, or you can do other fills with them. If there a lots of voids, they can become some fantastic blanks.


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## cwolfs69 (Sep 25, 2011)

i have had some like that this summer. cast them in PR. used a mix that was left slightly translucent for effect. turned out pretty nice after turning.


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## Dai Sensei (Sep 25, 2011)

Old coffee grinds work well in worm holes, fixed with thin CA, looks natural when turned and polished :wink:


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## Curly (Sep 26, 2011)

Don't limit yourself to just coffee grinds and CA to fill voids. You can find lots in the kitchen to match or contrast the wood you have. Mustard, Curry, Turmeric, Chilli, Cinnamon, etc.


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## fernhills (Sep 27, 2011)

Just use sawdust with a little C/A to fill in the voids. Then take a ultra thin black marker and outline the voids and it will look natural. Then finish.   Carl


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## sbarton22 (Sep 28, 2011)

Curly said:


> Don't limit yourself to just coffee grinds and CA to fill voids. You can find lots in the kitchen to match or contrast the wood you have. Mustard, Curry, Turmeric, Chilli, Cinnamon, etc.



Is this a joke or are you serious that you  can do this? Do you have any examples?


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## Rick P (Sep 28, 2011)

Yes you can use lots of things from the kitchen, several semi precious stones, saw dust, sand even powdered paint pigments or Pearlex. However those blanks suck! I would never sell a blank with that many voids without casting it first AND telling the client it was cast. "Just fill em and it will make a great blank" What a complete cop-out! Be careful as your turning them since it is plain they are not stabilized! You might want to soak them in thinned Lacquer for a week and let them dry, at least use CA on them as your turning.


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## TomW (Sep 28, 2011)

You have already got the picture, post em in the classifieds...make a little money!

Tom


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## Rick P (Sep 28, 2011)

TomW said:


> You have already got the picture, post em in the classifieds...make a little money!
> 
> Tom


 

Hi Tom not at all sure but was this for me or the OP? I havent offered up mine yet because I am not at all sure the home stabilization I do is worthy of sale, I dont want to run short this winter and it is now far too cold out to stabilize more. However seeing this makes me wonder what the hang I am waiting for! This I will say when I do offer up mine they will have heavier spalding and NO voids, unless they are specifically reuested by the customer. (this was intended as a explanation not advertising as I do not now have blanks for sale)


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## Curly (Sep 28, 2011)

sbarton22 said:


> Is this a joke or are you serious that you  can do this? Do you have any examples?



I'm serious. Coloured powder is coloured powder. What would make dried coffee any different than Coca powder or any other nice dust you can find? I wouldn't personally use it to fill the huge voids but for small defects it works well. I have no pictures to post but you have a cupboard full of stuff to try on a sample to see for yourselves. Your spouse will likely have some that are never used or are old and be happy to give them to you so more can be bought.


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## okiebugg (Sep 28, 2011)

*Canada*



Curly said:


> Don't limit yourself to just coffee grinds and CA to fill voids. You can find lots in the kitchen to match or contrast the wood you have. Mustard, Curry, Turmeric, Chilli, Cinnamon, etc.


 
This guy lives in one of the most beautiful parts of the world....however.....He is a canuck and we must consider that he might be pulling my leg hey
 :biggrin:


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## Rick P (Sep 28, 2011)

Curly said:


> sbarton22 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm serious. Coloured powder is coloured powder. What would make dried coffee any different than Coca powder or any other nice dust you can find? I wouldn't personally use it to fill the huge voids but for small defects it works well. I have no pictures to post but you have a cupboard full of stuff to try on a sample to see for yourselves. Your spouse will likely have some that are never used or are old and be happy to give them to you so more can be bought.
> ...


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## sbarton22 (Sep 29, 2011)

Ok, I'm in. How do I go about this? drop some CA into a crevice and drop some pretty fairy dust on it? Or the other way around?


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## mtgrizzly52 (Sep 29, 2011)

I'm in agreement about selling those blanks unless you do a full on stabilization of the blanks, but filling and using ca as you turn works good. One thing I haven't seen suggested is the dust from a key cutting machine. Once a year I head to the local Lowes and ask to sweep the grindings from their key making machine. You get silver and brass colors mixed, and with some of the designer key blanks other colored dust is now being added in. It looks really cool when in blanks like the ones you received.

Don't be bashful with the ca as you turn!

Rick (mtgrizzly52)


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## sbell111 (Sep 29, 2011)

Rick P said:


> However those blanks suck!


I always find it interesting how different people look at the same thing and have such varied reactions to it.  Personally, I find those blanks to be awesome.  I would have snatched them up had I seen the auction.


Rick P said:


> I would never sell a blank with that many voids without casting it first AND telling the client it was cast.


I never buy stabilized blanks as I prefer to do that myself.  It gives me the freedom to do whatever I want to do with them.  I might choose to dye the blank as I stabilize it or fill the voids however I please.  I'm not sure that I would necessarily tell the purchaser about the voids and how I filled them.  I would if we were having a conversation about that specific pen, but sometimes that is not how sales happen.  I don't see how a specific conversation about the fill is absolutely necessary.


Rick P said:


> "Just fill em and it will make a great blank" What a complete cop-out!


In what way?  Those blanks all look like they would make some really super pens.


Rick P said:


> Be careful as your turning them since it is plain they are not stabilized! You might want to soak them in thinned Lacquer for a week and let them dry, at least use CA on them as your turning.


This is certainly true of every piece of spalted maple that I have ever handled.  The cooler it is, the softer it is.  Certainly, anyone who intends to turn this material will need to deal with this problem.  Many simply soak it down with very thin CA and reapply as necessary as they turn.  This method works pretty good although I prefer stabilizing using a resin made for the purpose such as Mesquiteman's cactus juice.  I'm not at all a fan of the 'lacquer soak' method as it doesn't do a super job of stabilizing and I have found that my finishes are not as awesome on woods stabilized in this fashion.

For someone who does not intend on making any investments in equipment, I would definitely go with CA.


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