Carva bowl fiasco

[Slapfest]

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

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

You only sealed the outside?

Then the inside will be absorbing moisture faster than the outside... and thus expanding more rapidly. So cracks will probably appear on the outside surface. In theory.

If the cracks are opening up through the entire wall thickness, then I suspect that this Kava bowl is well past it's use-by date, having dried out way too much. Sorry. :(

[Slapfest]

You only sealed the outside?

Then the inside will be absorbing moisture faster than the outside... and thus expanding more rapidly. So cracks will probably appear on the outside surface. In theory.

If the cracks are opening up through the entire wall thickness, then I suspect that this Kava bowl is well past it's use-by date, having dried out way too much. Sorry. :(


Yeah, i did..

I was originally told these were rough carved "rustic" style bowls, but then the one i was shown was half the size, made of a different wood (no idea what),
and did appear to have been finished on the underside, although i guess it may have just been polished .

i can easily remove the shellac . .

I know its pretty futile, but this is a left-over from days gone by, when my friends' family imported these in to Australia (and a whole lot more).
I\m just trying to get it to 'work' as a Kava bowl, really....
My friends' mother has just now passed away after a nasty battle with Capt. C.
And i know the one they use, is only half this size, i just thought it might be nice to give them back a slice of the past.

Any thoughts on whether removing the shellac will stabilize this situation?
I'm now hoping that because it happened so instantly, after being stable for a while, that if i return it to its unsealed state, it will be useable again

[dai sensei]

Sounds like it is past it's useby date as Skew suggests.

Most of the bowls are made from Kwilla (known as Vesi in Fiji). So another way to fix it would be to let it dry completely, then cut it in half in line with the crack on a bandsaw and sand as necessary, then glue in with epoxy a new piece of kwilla inlay the thickness to match the amount removed with epoxy. There is a chance however, when you cut it in half, it may deform.

If there are numerous cracks, I would suggest lots of thin CA, and yes then finish both sides with shellac (it's food safe).

[brendan stemp]

I think I have the following right.... the hawaiin calabash bowls often had splits/cracks in them that were traditionally fixed or stabalised with dovetail inserts; see pic. Another alternative is to stitch it; ie drill a series of holes opposite each other and either side of the split and use some wire or other appropriate material to provide a decorative stitch.

[Manuka Jock]

Slap ,
I have a large 350 dia. bowl that had cracked badly fore and aft , on both end-grain sides , the cracks opening up and then closing again .
I used a vacuum cleaner to pull aliphatic glue through from the inside to the outside . and then the bowl was strapped with strips of tyre tube rubber , both around the rim and up and over .
I needed a mate to pull the splits apart enough so that the air and glue could move thru easily .
Copious amounts of oil ( I use rice bran ) were applied as soon as the straps were on , and it was left for a couple of weeks , with more oiling after they came off .

6 months later , so far so good

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Wow! You must've really wanted that bowl, Jock! :2tsup:

[Manuka Jock]

Well I don't have any use for firewoood , so I had to get some use out of the thing .
Its' not as if I'm stubborn or anything :rolleyes: