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What would youdo with this crack?

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This is a 14" tall HF that was green turned and after finishing the turning, it cracked in 2 places at the opening as seen in the attached image. I sanded in some ca glue to completely fill the crack (it;s totally smooth). I'm planning on finishing the piece in lacquer to a very high gloss and wanted it to be a pretty high dollar item. If I do nothing but put a fabulous finish on it, do you think the filled crack diminishes it's value? If so, is there anything else I might do to the crack before I finish it that might restore it's value?

Thanks,
Grey

IMG_20180707_195328.jpg
 
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Any cracked forms go in my 'discount' box. If you fill the crack with some thing decorative, then it goes better. You can not make it invisible, so you have to high light it or try to blend it in. I think the high light method works and sells better than the blend it in type approach. This would be the butterfly type patch, filling with colored epoxy, turquois, brass filings, black coffee grounds, or other bright contrasting things. Never cared for the stitching type of patching, but that is me...

robo hippy
 

hockenbery

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I have heard John Moscoll say to never fix a price in your mind on an unfinished piece because it Jinxes it.
To me a piece has no value until it’s done to my liking. I need to be proud of a piece to sign it.

To me the time spent to repair a crack like that is not cost effective. I can turn another hollow form in the hour plus I would spend to fix the crack.

I would set the piece aside on the chance I might get an idea for using it.
Cut it up on the bandsaw in some fashion to make a disassembled sculpture.
Cut a large opening that cuts away the crack
Come up with an embellishment surface that incorporates the crack as a feature.

Several years ago a well known turner took my burn barrel wood for a bonfire, a few weeks later he handed me a small hollowform with a marvelous pyrography design on it and asked how do you like the curve? I responded it looks pretty good to me.
He said you should like it it was one of the old demo pieces you tossed into the burn pile.
 
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It should work just so long as you cut past the crack in the wood and cut and sand a rounded edge at the bottom of the "crack" to prevent the stresses from continuing down the piece.
 
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What you do with the crack may depend on how sound the bowl is at the bottom end of the crack. If it's likely to crack farther into the bowl over time then you probably would have the best success with using colored epoxy to fill it and hold it (easy for me to say because I'm not an epoxy expert). Otherwise just carving it out and highlighting it with some color like black, brown, or some bright colors would be a great addition to the piece. The value of any piece to any particular individual, including yourself, has nothing to do with imperfections in the wood. It only depends on what looks good to the person.
 
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I have used thin CA adhesive to saturate the wood leading to cracks to retard the growth of a crack in the wood. You can apply the adhesive on the interior of the hollow form and let the wood soak it up in that area. You have to be careful as it will stain the wood if it bleeds through to the exterior of the hollow form. This usually requires several applications and then some sanding to smooth the surface.
 

John Jordan

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Big crack will never= high value. If you really want to make pieces of value, learn to move on and not waste time repairing cracks. Don't sand it while its green and slow the drying by putting it in a cabinet or box-its important with the pith included.

John
 

John Jordan

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I should have added that cherry ( it appears to be cherry) is not really suitable for turning with the pith in the piece like that, it inherently has cracks in the pith-always. Also, something else to note as it dries. I can't see the profile, but it looks like you have a nice curve on the top-as a piece that large dries, you will notice that the curve changes as the piece elongates, often enough to make the curve not quite as good. I hope this helps some, its good to see you make efforts to improve and you are on the right track. PM me if you want some suggestions.

John
 
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