A tip on a crack. Instead of epoxy (except for large open cracks) try CA  as it will wick down the crack into areas no other will reach. Nice success for a first try , keep at it. Oh now try for other shapes inside.

18 hours ago, Gerald said:

A tip on a crack. Instead of epoxy (except for large open cracks) try CA  as it will wick down the crack into areas no other will reach. Nice success for a first try , keep at it. Oh now try for other shapes inside.

I greatly appreciate your help and suggestions on these!  It helped a lot with getting started and with getting the openings right without a lot of mistakes.  I am already guilty on trying multiple shapes.  I turned four more starts last night and made the reversal glue-ups on them.  I will probably move them forward tonight.  I made a series of the rough blanks and the heat was on...etc.

 

As for the gluing,  I warmed the epoxy up a bit with the wife’s hairdryer to make it.”ooze” and to pretty much blow it into the cracks which worked pretty well.  The product is slow set (6ish hour) epoxy that she uses for glazing tumblers that she makes so it gave me some working time.  It was not ideal to be sure!    CA really is the better choice and I have fixed plane knobs with it on occasion.  My big problem was that I only had the gel junk at the house the other night.  I may or may not have been kind of impatient and didnt want to wait another night on trying this so hatched the epoxy plan.  I am sometimes “patience deficient” like a 5 year old when experimenting with new things in the shop!  Admitting there is a problem is the first step to recovery though, right? 😜. Anyway, thanks again for the help and inspiration.  I will certainly be giving the CA glue a try on these going forward as I will surely hit a snag with this wood!

Edited January 15, 20206 yr by Bundoman

25 minutes ago, Bundoman said:

I greatly appreciate your help and suggestions on these!  It helped a lot with getting started and with getting the openings right without a lot of mistakes.  I am already guilty on trying multiple shapes.  I turned four more starts last night and made the reversal glue-ups on them.  I will probably move them forward tonight.  I made a series of the rough blanks and the heat was on...etc.

 

 

I do not think we have covered different shapes and repeatability. I turned several as gifts one year and I made a pattern for the first cut. There was trees, crosses and I think diamonds. I started with manila folder to cut the patterns but ended up with some thin plastic I have. Just remember the pattern you use will be 1/2 of the finished piece. I colored inside and learned it is better to do that on first turn than at finish.

We didn’t cover patterns and colors.  I will plan to trace some patterns going forward and appreciate the tips.  I did spray some Deft on the inside of the first ones...fast and simple.  For shapes and designs, I have just been free-handing the shapes of my stuff thus far and turning to learn so kind of “one-off” and random on the shapes.   For the snow people, I took pictures for future reference but was looking for random.   I can see the definite benefit of repeatability for sure if I start making bunches of these.  

 

I am just really enjoying my lathe now that I am giving it more than a partial effort.  My co-workers have been big fans of snow people and liked the ornament too.