Coffee Anyone?

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
Some were wondering about the whole "Instant Coffee & Glue" thing, so I had a spot to do on a piece, and I took some pics.....

The piece is the HF I started a LONG time ago I called "Da Ball" of which I put a 4 part video up on YouTube.

I had this check in the surface, it is from a branch or something, and I wanted it filled in, so CA glue and Instant coffee to the rescue! :D

coffee1.JPG
here you can see the check, it is fairly deep and, in my opinion, would look better filled in.

coffee2.JPG
Here are some of the coffee crystals, they are large, dunno why, but that is what we have here :dunno:

coffee3.JPG
Here I've just pushed some instant coffee crystals into the check....

coffee4.JPG
...and now I've dripped some glue on the check.....

coffee5.JPG
Then, for good measure and to soak up some of the CA glue, I put some more instant coffee crystals on the glue spot.

coffee6.JPG
Next is some sanding, I used some #80 to knock down the glue and coffee quickly, but I don't really sand the wood at all......

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Then some sanding with finer girt paper to blend it all in.

I ended up putting a top on this one, the hole in the top was rather large, as this was my first real HF and the inside is rather ugly, so the top, or lid is glued in place.

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turning it off on the bottom was fun :D


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Once off, I did some hand sanding on the bottom and then sprayed my first coat of rattle can lacquer on it.........then ran out of lacquer :doh:

They want $10 a can for the small cans around here, they want only $5 a can for it at the DIY center and the cans are twice as large.

Well that's it, the coffee and glue thing, if any one has something to add, please do, I know some use epoxy, but find for the smaller fills, the CA is just fine.

One more point, use the thin CA on the first layer and the thicker stuff after that.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for 'splainin' it for those who haven't tried it, Stu. About all I can think of to add is that when I use epoxy, I mix the glue and filler (coffee crystals, charcoal, wood dust, etc.) together before working it into the crack. The nice thing about the CA approach is the way the dry filler material wicks the CA into the crack with capillary action.* With epoxy it's often a bit of work to get the sticky stuff down into the wood.




* Not to be confused with caterpillar action, which involves insect larvae and stuff. :D
 
Thanks Vaughn, but I want to stress that the CA glue method is only for smaller fills, for larger stuff, the Epoxy is the way to go, CA is just too brittle.

Cheers!
 
I too use coffee and epoxy for larger voids, but I use grounds rather than instant coffee. I will also sawdust mixed with epoxy, but I find that coffee grounds provide a better contrast for the fill. If I need a finer grind, I just throw a teaspoon or so of grounds in my coffee grinder.;)
 
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