Filling Voids In A Burl

[crokett™]

I have this burl.    You can see the void where I removed bark and other loose material. There's another, smaller one on the other side.  I green turned it 4 or 5 years ago so I think it's dry now.  
 I want to try filling the voids with resin, I thought perhaps a color such as blue or green with maybe some aluminum chaff or similar in it.  I'm going to try to undercut the around the sides of the void to give a groove for the resin to get into.   Would tinted epoxy be stronger?  Should I do something like turn the outside first, then fill it, then wrap plastic around it while I turn the inside? If I did that, I'd plan on polishing/sanding the resin by hand.  

Another thought I had was carving out the rim of the bowl and gluing something in to span the void to keep the rim strong, then turning it and leaving the rest of the void open and perhaps adding a bow tie or similar across the void itself.  

[Herb G]

Whatever you use is going to require a pressure pot to force the resin into the cracks & voids.
I hope you have a friend who does it, because the equipment ain't cheap.

Like $1K just to get started ain't cheap.

[crokett™]

I'm not filling all the cracks. I'm only filling the void in the picture, and a similar one on the other side of the bowl. They are solid wood with no checks and they are large enough that gravity will work. Any smaller cracks or checks left after I turn it will be filled with epoxy. After I turned the green blank I dug out all the occluded bark and other fuzzy stuff. The blank has been drying for 4+ years. The voids are deep enough that when I finish turn the bowl there will be holes in the sides of it.

[Arlin Eastman]

I got a cooking pressure pot for $25 on ebay and I have to install a new gauge and air inlet and outlet on it.  Also if you do not want to do that just make a dam with tape and do several layers or build it up to what you want on thickness.

You can use any epoxy even stuff that yellows since you will be adding color.  I would not waste the money on CA since it would take a lot of it.

You can get the color from Aluminite Corp which is some pretty good stuff.  I have only bought one and safe to buy another color and so on and then I will try casting myself.

One other thing is just leave it with the hole in it.

[cams2705]

Pressure pot available through Harbor Freight here for $99 ... and you can always find a 20% off coupon for HF.  I've seen videos on youtube of folks going this route ... search around.

[Angus]

Send woodma a pm. She's done some pretty cool stuff with epoxies in voids. I don't think she uses a pressure pot but I'm not real sure.

[vernonator]

Only issue with casting that is its BIG would eat up a lot of resin as Arlin points out. I would look into epoxy - specifically Milliput. Its an epoxy clay that you can push into the gaps, and I believe it CAN be died. I use the black to fill small voids in a burl when I don't want to cast it - for making pens/stoppers. I have also used it when turning a pen and have a small blow out.

www.milliput.com also available at hobby lobby/michaels.

[crokett™]

Thanks. Milliput looks interesting. I'd need a lot of it though. I am also thinking about just leaving the voids open.

[clovishound]

I've had good luck using ground coffee and CA. For larger voids I would probably use epoxy. The coffee has a nice brownish black color and also has some pattern to it vs tinted epoxy. It also makes the CA or epoxy go a lot further. Any small voids left can be filled prior to final finishing.

[MichaelMouse]

I've had good luck using ground coffee and CA. For larger voids I would probably use epoxy. The coffee has a nice brownish black color and also has some pattern to it vs tinted epoxy. It also makes the CA or epoxy go a lot further. Any small voids left can be filled prior to final finishing.

If you're a tea man, crush the bark for your solids.  Betting there may be a few places where that happened naturally.