Slapfest
1st January 2011, 08:54 PM
Hey,
...long story short,
I finished repairing a very large one-peice, hand carved, Fijian Carva bowl today for a friend.
These are carved from single half-log sections, complete with 4 legs etc...
So this bowl needed 2 broken legs replaced, and had a split that originally (2 years ago), went from the dead centre of the bowl, all the way to the outside edge,
where it was around 1/3 to 1/2" wide..... a real bugger
and this is a big bowl . . approx 500ml wide
So now, nearly 2 years later, after a relaxing stint in the corner of my room,
the tmber around the crack has contracted all the way back together, and although that join isnt even, its a lot better than before.
In fact, it was too good, one of the problems was getting glue back all along the new join, and it wa'nt easy, i cant tell you.
In the end, i 'tacked" it into place with epoxy, where i could, and tried to get thin CA glue to run down into the other inaccessable parts . . was all i could do, really.
And it seemed to be going well...untill today, when
i finished all sanding and gave the underside the merest hint of a shellac finish . . very very thin...to imitate the one i'd been shown before (was finished underneath in some way)....and then . . oww
as instructed, i filled the bath and submerged the bowl in tap water for around half an hour... (supposed to be soaked all night before use, apparently)
When i pulled it out of the bath, i could feel right away the crack underneath had opened up (couldnt even seei it pror to that),
and so had 4 or 5 or 6 that hadnt been visible before....
Now i had previouslty given it a good soak a few weeks ago, to see how it came up wet....and no problem . . . so why now?
The obvious conclusion, i guess, is the seal of the shellac is upsetting the ability ocf both sides of the wood join to expand/contract?
(dunno)
any thoughts? . . hope i have explained muyself fully . . will post pics, if req.
Chris
...long story short,
I finished repairing a very large one-peice, hand carved, Fijian Carva bowl today for a friend.
These are carved from single half-log sections, complete with 4 legs etc...
So this bowl needed 2 broken legs replaced, and had a split that originally (2 years ago), went from the dead centre of the bowl, all the way to the outside edge,
where it was around 1/3 to 1/2" wide..... a real bugger
and this is a big bowl . . approx 500ml wide
So now, nearly 2 years later, after a relaxing stint in the corner of my room,
the tmber around the crack has contracted all the way back together, and although that join isnt even, its a lot better than before.
In fact, it was too good, one of the problems was getting glue back all along the new join, and it wa'nt easy, i cant tell you.
In the end, i 'tacked" it into place with epoxy, where i could, and tried to get thin CA glue to run down into the other inaccessable parts . . was all i could do, really.
And it seemed to be going well...untill today, when
i finished all sanding and gave the underside the merest hint of a shellac finish . . very very thin...to imitate the one i'd been shown before (was finished underneath in some way)....and then . . oww
as instructed, i filled the bath and submerged the bowl in tap water for around half an hour... (supposed to be soaked all night before use, apparently)
When i pulled it out of the bath, i could feel right away the crack underneath had opened up (couldnt even seei it pror to that),
and so had 4 or 5 or 6 that hadnt been visible before....
Now i had previouslty given it a good soak a few weeks ago, to see how it came up wet....and no problem . . . so why now?
The obvious conclusion, i guess, is the seal of the shellac is upsetting the ability ocf both sides of the wood join to expand/contract?
(dunno)
any thoughts? . . hope i have explained muyself fully . . will post pics, if req.
Chris