Chisel gouges

[mahkagari]

I am working from my precarved stock I got from Pecatonica. Sanded out most of the rough work, but in a couple of spots there's some pretty deep gouges from the initial chisel work.

I saw a reference somewhere on here to making an epoxy and sawdust paste or something. How does that work? Other suggestions?

 

[running horse]

I am no expert and some one else may have a better idea but I have her of using wood glue and sawdust which would work. If the sawdust isn't from that wood it will stand out pretty bad and may stand out either way. It may look best if you just scrape it down and match the other side to it. Just a thought

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Without seeing a larger picture of the area it's hard to say, if you add any glue/epoxy to the surface of uncolored wood it will most likely remain uncolored when finished.

My suggestion would be to remove more wood.

 

[eggwelder]

unless you are staining the stock a deep dark brown, you should avoid any fillers of any kind, especially epoxy based. probably should avoid them even if you are staining deep dark brown the fillers may stand out unless you match the colours perfectly. adding sanding dust to epoxy ALWAYS makes a filler darker than you want. your best bet is to work out the mistake like it never happened, as mentioned- tastefully and carefully remove more wood to make it disappear.

 

[mahkagari]

Here's the museum piece I'm copying.



Since it's got dark spots from years of wear, I'm not too worried about some dark spots from fill. But then, I probably shouldn't worry about a couple of rough spots, either.

 

[Ames]

Dumb question, bear with me. Your gouges?, or did it come that way?

 

[BigBoreBLR]

I'm told most precarved stocks are a bit chunky. Hard to tell, but the wrist looks a bit meaty.

Knock it down a touch and see how it looks.

The blemish will look smaller than the epoxy repair.

Careful when removing those knicks. Scrape again the damage, so you don't drag the gouge longer/deeper.

 

[mahkagari]

Dumb question, bear with me. Your gouges?, or did it come that way?

Came that way.

 

[mahkagari]

I'm told most precarved stocks are a bit chunky. Hard to tell, but the wrist looks a bit meaty.

Knock it down a touch and see how it looks.

I'll check the measurements I have from the original. I'll need to decide whether the fill, divot, or some narrowing is going to bug me more.

 

[Dane]

Get rid of more wood! You are way over complicating this. File, sand, feather it in.
Don't need no stinking filler!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I got one from them that had some serious gouged out spots, one in the ramrod grove had to have some wood glued in.

My repair stood out like a sore thumb because I used superglue to glue the extra wood in and it wouldn't take stain.

A couple of days ago I painted the area with leather dye which colored the light wood a little and followed that with a black sharpie. I put a couple coats of Chambers finish over my repair to lock in the color and the area is now invisible.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

The way I'm seeing things in the picture is there is lots of tear out from the machining process. Did the stock come that way, or are the divots your doing? If it came that way discuss your options with Pecatonica. If it's your doing you need to reevaluate your skills.

As for the glue and saw dust thing. I'd avoid epoxy and super glue like ten kinds of plague. You can mix sanding dust with plain old Elmer's glue and get reasonable results. Use very fine dust and make a putty of it. Use just enough glue to make it stick. It will take stain, but the result won't be perfect. It will be more nearly perfect that what you'd get using epoxy.

If you have more pictures of the museum piece I'd really like to see them. Maybe you could start a thread in one of the categories higher up in the forum. Pictures of old pieces are great references.

 

[Dane]

I understand you're trying to copy an original, but will a 1/16" make much difference in the grand scheme of things?
Do a nice job of filing, feathering, and you're the only one that will know. The sign of quality craftsmanship is how well you can hide your mistakes. Sawdust and glue is NOT one of those signs.

 

[Scota4570]

"I saw a reference somewhere on here to making an epoxy and sawdust paste or something. How does that work? Other suggestions?"

Never use any type of filler where it will show. It looks terrible. It can not be made to look decent.

It looks like the tang is not inletted. To me that means the wrist is still as first carved on the machine. IF that is so you probabaly have a lot of material to remove. Those spots will disappear when to remove the excess material. If they won't clean up contact the stock supplier.