Last night at my club, the demonstrator used epoxy to fasten wood to his face block. But for epoxy and some other items the joint is considered waste. I have seen on line where people used double sided tape, hot glue and wood glue. I want to "face turn" a small flat piece of bone about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter x 1/4 inch thick into a flat picture pendant, perhaps some flat water buffalo horn or antler as well. I am afraid epoxy would ruin the piece when separated. Is there a glue that will soften and release when heated to a reasonable non-burn temperature or would tape work. . Any other suggestions welcome.
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fastening material to waste block - methods
- Thread starter Perry Hilbert
- Start date
I've seen plenty of people that use hot glue to hold pieces. When done you can put alcohol on it to soften or microwave and it will come off.
Either good quality double sided tape, which can be easily released with a little alcohol, or hot melt glue, which can be parted off if it's between waste block and bone, or easily removed with alcohol if it's use to 'tack weld' the bone to the waste block. Go for it. (BTW, epoxy seems like a poor choice, but it can be released with heat, if you can get the heat to the epoxy. Fishing rod grips are epoxied onto the blank and taken off by soaking in boiling water for a few minutes)
I second hot melt glue. For most turning applications be sure to get a high temperature glue gun, not the $5 craft store version. Surebonder is the brand I successfully use.
Denatured alcohol releases the bond and pieces generally peel right off. Sometimes a couple of applications of alcohol are needed.
Denatured alcohol releases the bond and pieces generally peel right off. Sometimes a couple of applications of alcohol are needed.
I would recommend CA glue....both hot glue or double sided tape are flexible adhesives, and you will get vibration when turning.
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
For small pieces like that double stick tape is great. Get tge cloth backed tape apply the work and then clamp it for 30 seconds to a minute. Drive a dull knife through the joint to break it. I've turned a ton of pendants that way.
For small items like a pendant, the double sided tape or hot melt glue. For larger items like bowls, platters, or hf’s where you want to use a waste block, thick CA glue overall works best for me. Lyle Jamieson has a good video about it. Big +’s are CA can be used with wet wood, it sets up in a few minutes, the joint is fairly easy to break with a flat chisel, and waste blocks are easy to re-use.
A good friend made all of his large bowls sticking a flattened base directly to a clean face plate with double-sided tape. He used the good woodturners tape from Woodcraft. Never had even heavy and unbalanced blanks come loose. He turned quite large things outboard.
He said the biggest problem was getting it off the faceplate. He would use a hypodermic syringe and inject acetone into the tape from the side. Another friend and I used the same tape to hold metal parts to the milling machine - apply tape, stick to a clean surface, then apply downwards pressure for a while. Extremely strong bond. We discovered removal worked better by applying patience - drive a thin wedge into the tape, wait, drive it a bit further, wait, rinse and repeat.
There was no flexing with on either machine, was fine for precision parts on the mill. There might be if the contact area was very small and there was excessive force applied, but not if turning with finesse.
JKJ
He said the biggest problem was getting it off the faceplate. He would use a hypodermic syringe and inject acetone into the tape from the side. Another friend and I used the same tape to hold metal parts to the milling machine - apply tape, stick to a clean surface, then apply downwards pressure for a while. Extremely strong bond. We discovered removal worked better by applying patience - drive a thin wedge into the tape, wait, drive it a bit further, wait, rinse and repeat.
There was no flexing with on either machine, was fine for precision parts on the mill. There might be if the contact area was very small and there was excessive force applied, but not if turning with finesse.
JKJ
Do you recall what % dia the taped base area was vs bowl dia? The turner’s tape I have is like strong adhesive double sided masking tape - pretty thin. Same thing, or was it a thicker tape?
Just a little more work involved......but to me, the overall benefits are hard to ignore.
Waste blocks are made from premium stud lumber.....2x4s, 2x6s.
Attached to the bowl with Titebond. This is an extremely strong bond.
I use screw center faceplates, and I have a dozen of them.
Faceplate stays on the bowl until the foot is ready to be turned. Because of this, you can put this one aside and come back to it later......everything will remain perfectly aligned.
I part the wasteblock when I'm ready to do the foot.....down to about silver dollar coin size. Then I use a drum brake adjusting tool to break it away.
=o=
Waste blocks are made from premium stud lumber.....2x4s, 2x6s.
Attached to the bowl with Titebond. This is an extremely strong bond.
I use screw center faceplates, and I have a dozen of them.
Faceplate stays on the bowl until the foot is ready to be turned. Because of this, you can put this one aside and come back to it later......everything will remain perfectly aligned.
I part the wasteblock when I'm ready to do the foot.....down to about silver dollar coin size. Then I use a drum brake adjusting tool to break it away.
=o=
Odie, you really are "old school".
I don't think I even own a drum brake adjusting tool anymore, let alone a car that has drum brakes.But seriously, your method of using a faceplate/waste block for bowl turning is really the only method I would trust. I rarely use waste blocks anymore but when I do I glue the block with tighbond and give it a day before I turn it.
For bigger pieces I use hot glue and then remove it with a heat gun. I also use double sided tape for small pieces like pendants and earrings.
Thanks to all
I finally reached him today and asked.
He said he used a 6" faceplate for solid blanks 14-16" in diameter.
Used good double-sided Woodturner's Tape from Woodcraft. the tape is pretty thin but the adhesive is VERY strong. Some I have I can cut but can't tear.
Method:
- Flatten a 6"+ section for the foot
- Apply a layer of double-sided Woodturner's to the faceplate.
- Burnish the tape (with the backing still on one side) to secure it to the face plate.
If the blank was heavy, he would use the second layer:
- Apply a layer of double-sided tape to the bottom of the bowl.
- Burnish that layer so it would stick well to the clean and flat wood.
- Remove the backing on the tape on both the faceplate and the blank (of course!)
- Carefully center the faceplate on the blank and press down (you only get one chance!)
- Weight or clamp the faceplate to the blank. He didn't say how long, maybe a few hours?
- Mount the faceplate on the lathe and turn.
He did many bowls this way and never had any vibration or had one come loose. As I mentioned before, the bond was so good it was an effort to remove the bowl.
JKJ
TBIII is my choice.
Tim
Tim