Add bronze (or steel or aluminum) to your turnings!
By Taylor Ledden

Bronze, or another metal, can be very effective in a turned object. When you find an unacceptable crack or other flaw in a turning, you can hide it or enhance it.

I choose to enhance such flaws by adding metal-filled epoxy putty in such a way that it turns the fault in the wood into a feature. Customer response to the enhanced turnings has been very positive, leading to additional sales.

Method

When I see an obvious flaw in a bowl:

1.      Complete the turning to final dimension.

2.      Sand with 80 or 120 grit sandpaper.

3.      If the flaw is a progressing crack or punky wood, stabilize it with thin CA glue, AFTER applying a coat of finish or sealer (this eliminates glue stains).

4.      If the flaw has ragged edges use a rotary tool (Dremel?) to clean it up. If the flaw is now bigger than before, that’s OK. Remember you’re going to highlight the fault not hide it.

Mixing and application

1.      Using a blade screwdriver (or other handy tool) dig out enough of the epoxy body to fill all the flaws you have spotted—be generous in your estimate—you don’t want to run out.  After cleaning the screwdriver use it to get some of the hardener. Use LESS than the amount indicated in the package directions. If the package says mix 3:1 body to hardener then mix 4:1. Otherwise when the resulting compound has hardened it may be hard enough to chip your chisel!
After mixing the putty is workable for about 45 minutes.

2.      Using an old spoon and/or popsicle stick force the putty into the flaws. Use enough so that it stands proud of the original flaw.

3.      Wait until the next day before turning away the excess epoxy putty.

4.      Sand to the highest grit you have available—I generally sand to 2000-grit. The higher the grit the more metallic the epoxy putty looks.

Apply your usual natural finish