Wonded Bowl Story

Broke this bowl on accident and sutured it up with cooper wire using a hemostat. I did it this way because i already had 4 coats of Antique oil and 3 coats of semi gloss laquer spray on it. Kinda mad about it and didnt want to refinish the whole thing so i drilled finy holes up and down the crack on it. The crack went from the rim to almost center,- added a few drops of CA and held it for a bit and then wire sutured it and called it done. At first i saw this idea on another website and thought what a good idea on saving the project............My personal preference is natural colored bowls so i have to admit i dont really like it at all but thought i would share the story and comments about it.......it worked well - im just not into this kind of art i guess.

Finish Question - this wood has an open or porus grain to it and i think ill have to build up the finish alot more when i do more in the future. Anybody got thoughts on how to fill in the grain or level it up? or finishing ideas on this kind of wood ?

Bummer Dan, Still it is a pretty bowl. Very unique way of repairing too

I think the sutures are a neat idea, Dan. The bowl looks worthy of saving, and you did the best you could under the circumstances.

The best advice I can offer on building up the finish is just keep putting it on and sanding the high spots down. Lacquer is my favorite finish for a built-up coating. When I'm spraying lacquer, I like to wet sand with either 320 or 400 grit sandpaper between every few coats until the pores are filled. I'll do another coat or two of finish at that point, then let it cure a few days before I buff it out. Depending on how smoothly the last few coats go on, I might still wet sand with 600 grit or dry sand with a white Scotch Brite before buffing on the three-wheel setup.

NICE save, but I can see how that would really bum a guy out, sure is a nice bowl.

I find on the porous woods, a good couple of coats of sanding sealer make things go a lot quicker, and the beauty of the sanding sealer is that if flashes off very quickly, so you can apply a coat with a rag, wait five minutes, or less, lightly sand and apply another coat. Then, move on to the lacquer.

Cheers!

Most finish departments will also carry wood filler, a semi paste product that will fill the pores and dry fairly hard. It will sand easily and look much like the wood you put it on. Be sure to get the proper color, as close to the natural color of the wood as you can. Usually a coat of sanding sealer before the filler is prefered.

Neat fix there.
Others have pretty well covered it.
With an open porous wood, sanding beyond 400 grit is kinda futile.
After that, sanding sealer the lacquer.
Or just lacquer can work fine with several coats.

Dan,
Love the bowl... I can't add anything on the finish side as I'm still working on getting a good finish on my bowls... appreciate your starting the post...learned a couple of new ideas to try.

What gauge wire did you use... I can't see the wire well enough to get an idea. And where did you get a really fine copper wire?

You can get RJ11 phone cable (phone line) and strip the insulation off for some really small copper wire.

ring bowl

Very nicely done. Your tutorial is detailed and to the point. The finish on this piece is outstanding.

Thanks to Vaughn and everybody on the finish ideas......ill explore them.....on the wire size - not sure it was left over from a friend that ran a couple of 220 outlets for me in my garage.......

Dan great looking bowl and a nice save. Sometimes on open grain wood I will put the antique oil on the bowl before I part off the foot. I will put the oil on while it is still on the lathe and wet sand it. That way when sanding the wood will fill the pores. To me this works better than sanding sealer. I will let that dry for 24 hrs and then do it again. Once I have did that twice I will finish the bottom and put another coat of oil on without sanding.