Repairing Cracked Olive Bowl With Ultra Violet Light
In case of a gremlin attack, this video is also posted on YouTube and FaceBook.
I obtained this olive wood on a trip to Phoenix just before the pandemic. I love olive wood but this block had issues. As I roughed it out, it exposed large nasty drying checks and a split area.
Since the wood is so pretty, I contemplated how to repair it. The checks I could live with, but I had to do something with the split area. I considered many ways to fix the crack. All would detract from the pretty wood and call attention to the repair.
At SWAT, I attended a presentation involving ultra violet cured resin. I had heared of this resin previously at a Utah Woodturning Symposium. The SWAT presentation context was exotic pen turning but my mind went to my olive bowls needing repair.
The resin came from Amazon. It cures with ultra violet light. I purchased a UV flashlight from Harbor Freight. With its limited power, it could only partially cure a fresh bead at a time. This was enough to keep it from running. When finished, I left it outside in direct sun, flipping it over to expose both sides.
This bowl is 8 inches diameter, finished with walnut oil.
Don’t forget the Ornament Challenge is just a short time away. Details at www.OrnamentChallenge.com
Enjoy.
I am shocked… You mentioned Safety, yet you used drywall screws! Thankfully and fortunately, you were lucky that the wood screws compensated for the failure of the drywall screws.
1st time to see uv resin. Thanks for the info.
Alan,
Searching for the UV resin on Amazon presented enumerable
options, leaving one scratching one’s head. Can you point out a specific brand or two? I think the technique is terrific and want to use it on a couple cracked maple/cherry bowls that are still drying away on my shelf. Also is the a power/wattage rating for the UV flashlight which might cure the resin immediately without resorting to Saul?
Thanks again for all you do (turning).
Peter
There are a lot to choose from. I picked one and it worked.
Not sure I am a reliable guide.
Alan
Is there a brand name for the uv resin? And also how do you sharpen your scrapers? Grinding wheel or something else?
I picked it by size and price.
I sharpen scrapers with a grinding wheel
Alan
Thanks for the video.
Hi Alan,
That is a very attractive bowl, job well done on keeping it together and getting a nice finish. I always use Walnut Oil because it is the one oil that will harden inside the wood. In fact I use a mixture of the Oil, Bees Wax and Carnuba wax on my Drop Spindles and it has worked very well for many years. Thanks for posting the video.
Thanks for the tip
Alan