Wood Cracks

It's a curse, and an opportunity, when wood cracks. The demonstration presents a series of techniques that take the curse of a crack and turn it into an artistic opportunity. This presentation flows from the article I wrote for the AAW's American Woodturner in the August 2015 edition. The article was a survey of techniques used by woodturners across the country to deal with a crack.

There are two key themes in the demonstration. The first is to show how to safely do each technique. The second is unleashing the creativity in the audience to resolve cracks in their own unique way.

Topics:

Art Theory. - How you can use a repair to make your pieces look more appealing. The point of turning a flaw into a design element is illustrated with simple vase that has a zipper in it and some white board time.

Dutchman and Butterflies – How to safely create a butterfly patch in a bowl. There is a discussion of stabilizing the wall with the repair, and the use of contrasting colors.

Splines - This is a repair technique suitable for wider flaws than the Dutchman technique. The creation of a custom spline with matching slot across the flaw will be shown. The safe use of a biscuit cutter in creating the slot is stressed.

Lacing – It sounds simple, but it is not. I will discuss the technical issues and how to solve walking drill bits, misaligned holes and other problems. The three key decisions in lacing will be illustrated with a sample board show a variety of lacing materials, lacing patterns and the key question of what to do with the ends. I will also talk about my favorite tools.

Staples – An alternative to lacing is the use of staples. I will show how to create a staple and to put it into the wood so that it is secure. A separate segment will show how to form hand forged copper staples for my work. Again, the tools that I use will be shown and discussed.

Cut it Out – This is the third choice for flaws. We can leave it, highlight it, or cut it out. I will show how to create a mountain range rim, a wave rim and the wrapped vase. The idea of using common items as inserts will be demonstrated.

Brass Plating – I will show silver plating on wooden bowl from 1562. Demonstration will include making the template, cutting the plate, and forming the plate to the curved surface, and creating hand formed rivets. Generally there is insufficient time to cover this topic in a typical club meeting. It is included in a clinic. This section requires an air compressor.

Dealing with a Torn Nub – I will discuss and demonstrate several methods to turn a torn nub into an artistic statement.

This presentation in its entirety will run approximately 2-3 hours of speaking time. The length can be shortened by removing topics.

Handout is a copy of my article “When Good Wood Cracks” from the August 2015 issue of the American Woodturner.