Friday, September 20, 2019

Wood and transparent epoxy resin, spinning top












Tools and materials I propose:

In this video I make a unique top out of resin and a piece of spruce.

A long time ago I found a spruce door casing in the garbage. 

I turned a piece true on the lathe using my roughing gouge. With a straight chisel I created a dovetailed tenon on one end so I could mount the blank on my chuck. 

I then set my lathe at low speed and begun hollowing the blank. I begun with a drill and moved on to forstner bits. I finished hollowing the end grain with my hook tool. 

I wanted the wood itself to act as a mold for the resin. 

I mixed my resin and de gassed it in my vacuum chamber. I coloured parts of my resin with blue and green dyes. I then used a bamboo kebab stick to try and add some texture in my resin. 

Once the resin was fully cured I begun turning the blank on the lathe.

As I was turning I discovered a huge gap in my resin. Probably caused by trapped air. It was impossible to save it, so I cut the resin off. I then I reversed the resin. I flattened both the wood and the resin and glued them together with 5 minute epoxy. 

I then used my round scraper and a spindle gouge to shape my top. 

I also carefully marked the diameter of the nail’s head. 

On the drill press I drilled the hole for the nail which I add in the bottoms of all my tops. 

I then sanded the top with 100, 220 and 320 grit sand paper. I begun wet sanding with soap water at 400. I moved on to 600, 800 and 1000 grit. Then I moved on to my micro mesh pads.

At this point I parted the top off the lathe and sanded the handle.

Then I buffed it with my buffing wheel system.

Finally I glued the nail in the bottom of my top with 5 minute epoxy!

Although the texture I wanted to achieve didn’t really came out as I wanted, I think my top is really nice and beautiful.

But anyway, that was it! See you soon with a new project video!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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