The bow tie guys have inspired or made me jealous...one of the two.

[Sam Fleisher]

Guy gifted (or got me to dispose of it for him) this chunk of ash today and I thought it would be good practice for some of the strengthening inlays I've been seeing lately.

I was going to do the usual and epoxy/CA glue but thought why not try something different. Dowels it will be because I don't have any router templates or bow ties or butterflies.

Sort of looked for a tutorial but nothing caught my eye but I figure to drill some holes and glue some 3/4 dowels along the "fault" lines. Still might pour some epoxy after that just because.

Any specific videos anyone can point me to for similar pieces?

Sound like a plan? Probably not a good one but it's mine so far unless I get inspired.

I know..I know... throw it away because there's better wood out there but this is just practice and to see if I can make a decent little platter out of junk.

 

[hockenbery]

If you have access to a biscuit joiner
Check out Jerry Kermode’s stitching article in the summer 1999 AAW journal

You can cut biscuits from contrasting hardwood.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

I don't have a biscuit joiner but I like the idea. I was thinking dowels because that's what I have and I could go all the way through. Can you get enough length out of a biscuit cutter? Suppose I could try some cuts with my big miter saw. hmmm But then I'm back to having to trim "biscuits".

Think I'll keep it more simple for the first go out of the box.

Or, this made me think. Maybe a candidate to cut the whole knot/branch thing out and replace it with another piece? Probably wouldn't look good with a chunk that size replaced with another piece though.

 

[hockenbery]

Can you get enough length out of a biscuit cutter?

Biggest biscuits are 2 3/8” In length.

The biscuit cutter basically plunges a small saw blade into the wood. Biscuit curvature matches the curve of the saw blade.

Biscuits are easy to cut on a bandsaw if you have a biscuit to copy.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

Well, due to the technical marvel that is google I've learned about substituting a glass when you don't have a biscuit cutter and whether cut biscuits or drop biscuits are better. lol

How do you get enough depth with a biscuit that you don't end up turning them away? I wanted to install before turning to keep the blank from falling apart.

 

[Michael Anderson]

Keep in mind that dowels themselves won’t provide a whole lot of structural support (unless you’re planning to drill and glue all the way through perpendicular to your fault line).

And, you don’t need templates for butterflies, especially if you are installing them beforehand on flat stock. Just cut a few by hand, trace/mark their boundaries, chisel out the waste, glue in butterfly, turn to shape, done done.

 

[robo hippy]

The problem with the biscuit jointer is that the slot is bigger than the biscuit, so there would be voids. The standard bow tie type idea works. You can make the bow tie all sorts of shapes and sizes too. Not some thing I bother with. I would make smaller bowls out of that rather than a bigger one with a crack in it. Just me, but some love to go that extra mile...

robo hippy

 

[hockenbery]

How do you get enough depth with a biscuit that you don't end up turning them away? I wanted to install before turning to keep the blank from falling apart.

Putting in all the biscuits first probably may not work. Your piece is 2” thick. My biscuit cutter has stops to cut a max depth of 20mm a little less than .8” not Halfway through your blank.
It sort of a measure twice - biscuit cut once problem

If you were to turn a platter with a 2” wide rim and bowl in the middle you could put the biscuits in the rim since you won”t turn deeply on the rim face. Could put a few small biscuits in the part of the bowl to be turned away.
Rough turn the bottom of the bowl and make a tenon. As you form the underside of the rim you should see those stitches.
You can then add stitches to the outside of the bowl and finish turn the bottom except for the tenon.
Then hollow the bowl. You will cut away the biscuits you put in the bowl opening to hold it together. You should also see the stitches you put in the outside of the bowl

the slot is bigger than the biscuit, so there would be voids.

Reed the biscuits are cut from hardwood with parallel sides so no gap.
With the pressed wood chip biscuits you would see gaps.

On this Jerry Kermode web page there are several pieces with Stiches made using biscuits. No gaps around the biscuts.

Artistic and Functional Wood Bowls — Jerry Kermode

www.jerrykermode.com

 

[robo hippy]

Al, I have put in hundreds of biscuits. While they fit well up and down, the ends are squared off while the blade that cuts the slots is rounded. There is a gap on the ends of the biscuits. You would need to make your own shim stock for a clean joint. Especially if you plunge in full depth. Looking at those pictures, I would guess he made his own shim stock. All the biscuits I have seen are white.

robo hippy

 

[hockenbery]

Al, I have put in hundreds of biscuits. While they fit well up and down, the ends are squared off while the blade that cuts the slots is rounded. There is a gap on the ends of the biscuits. You would need to make your own shim stock for a clean joint. Especially if you plunge in full depth. Looking at those pictures, I would guess he made his own shim stock. All the biscuits I have seen are white.

robo hippy

Hi Reed that is the whole point. You need to cut biscuits from hardwood. Usually one that contrasts with the wood in the form

The standard pressed wood biscuits would look bad.

 

[John K Jordan]

Or, this made me think. Maybe a candidate to cut the whole knot/branch thing out and replace it with another piece? Probably wouldn't look good with a chunk that size replaced with another piece though

I think that might be a good solution. I'm worried about the separations near that knot and the extent of the crack(s). Do you have or have access to a good table saw? If you cut out the bad and make the surfaces smooth enough, gluing in a contrasting piece of wood (or three!) can look fantastic. (turning glue-ups is a time honored and respected process, just look at what the segmentors do!) Almost everything that well-known turner Frank Penta makes is from pieces of contrasting wood glued together. He often includes thick and thin layers, even veneers. I've made both turnings and flatwood things that way.

If fact, maybe you could cut out the problem section(s) then continue to cut the rest into pieces and glue them all back together with contrasting separators. Shaping a bowl or platter through such glue-ups can create interesting curves and patterns. (If the sections are on angles, it may seem to be difficult to apply clamp pressure while gluing, but it's not hard to make a temporary frame around a plywood base to constrain the pieces from sliding under pressure, perhaps with cauls to keep things flat.) This may sound more complicated that it is!

I personally would not want to use biscuits. One of my flatwood mentors considered biscuits (and dowels) great for aligning boards but not to be relied on for strength. (When I quit flat wood I gave away the biscuit jointer.) I'd consider dowels before biscuits - imagine drilling a number of holes through the problem area at different angles, gluing in fairly large hardwood dowels, then add more and maybe intersecting holes and dowels from different woods - could look wild when turned!

OK, I'll quit now!

JKJ

 

[Darryl Fective]

A small trim router is pretty inexpensive and can make grooves to glue in strips of solid wood. I used a 1/4" straight bit and a homemade guide to make the slots on each side of this piece. THere wasn't much holding it together otherwise.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

I'm just going to set this right here....... yum yum......

Can't tell but there's a 1/2 inch walnut dowel and a 1 inch hedge apple dowel and then a 2 inch purple heart puck? with the epoxy filling in the rest of the cracks between. 3-4 days maybe I'll be able to turn it.