h3nry Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 In 1980 I went to the garden centre with my dad, and we bought a small macrocarpa seedling and planted it in his garden. By 2000 it was no longer a small ornamental conifer, and rather dominated the garden, so I went to the garden centre with him to by a small electric chain saw and helped chop it down. I had quite forgotten that I had saved a slice of the trunk about 10" across, which I recently found hiding in a corner of his house. I thought it might be nice to turn it into one of those tree-ring clock faces for him, but after 14 years air-drying indoors it has developed a huge check that will need filling. I originally thought of just filling it with epoxy, but since it is large enough that it can't be hidden, and will have to become a "feature" I thought I'd post it here to see if anyone had ideas to make it a less ugly feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Very cool piece with a very cool story! Would look cool to put a contrasting wedge in it floating in epoxy. Then come back with a Dutchman (butterfly) across it. Just a thought. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 PAC-MAN Seriously though, that is a neat story. Good luck w/ your piece and post pics when complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 Is that check at 3:00 , 6:00, 9:00 or high noon? Filled with a colored epoxy, it would let you know exactly when noon comes around again! I like the story, it shows heart...something we all need! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-Square Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'd put the check at 5:00 -- always nice to know when the bar's open... I'd get some WestSystem 105/207 and their jet black tinting agent. The result looks identical to ebony inlay (we use it for just that purpose). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Aw, 4-square took my idea. The jet black tinting agent really works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Melt a bunch of beer cans and cast it full of aluminum? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post h3nry Posted August 23, 2014 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 Great Ideas guys, Since this is such a pale coloured wood I thought the jet-black might be a bit too contrasting for a clock face, so I decided to go for a wedge of walnut, which should still provide a good contrast. To get the exact shape of the crack, I covered the face side with a piece of double-stick tape and then blew sawdust into the check which stuck to the tape showing me exactly where to cut. I then stuck the other side of the tape onto a piece of endgrain walnut and pared down to the line. I then pared a further thickness off equal to the thickness of two sheets of veneer, and added a slice of maple and walnut veneer to give a stringing effect. Then epoxied it into the crack. It's still a bit irregular, but I doubt anyone will notice. It still needs some more sanding to remove where some spilt epoxy soaked into the end-grain. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4-Square Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 <I covered the face side with a piece of double-stick tape and then blew sawdust into the check which stuck to the tape showing me exactly where to cut> Now that is clever... I'm sure I'll borrow that idea at some point. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted August 23, 2014 Report Share Posted August 23, 2014 Great Ideas guys, Since this is such a pale coloured wood I thought the jet-black might be a bit too contrasting for a clock face, so I decided to go for a wedge of walnut, which should still provide a good contrast. To get the exact shape of the crack, I covered the face side with a piece of double-stick tape and then blew sawdust into the check which stuck to the tape showing me exactly where to cut. I then stuck the other side of the tape onto a piece of endgrain walnut and pared down to the line. I then pared a further thickness off equal to the thickness of two sheets of veneer, and added a slice of maple and walnut veneer to give a stringing effect. Then epoxied it into the crack. It's still a bit irregular, but I doubt anyone will notice. It still needs some more sanding to remove where some spilt epoxy soaked into the end-grain. Walnut at noon... I like it! or as 4 square said: 5:00..beer time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 finally got round to finishing this ... and found a few photos of the tree's history Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 I'd put the check at 5:00 -- always nice to know when the bar's open... RichardA already covered that. Noon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 Clock turned out really cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted September 19, 2014 Report Share Posted September 19, 2014 Clock looks good ! I would love to hear why you put the filled crack at 9:15 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Tarbell Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 This turned out great. I'm highly impressed with how seemless you were able to fill the check with another piece of wood! Clock looks good ! I would love to hear why you put the filled crack at 9:15 ! Just for kicks, here it is with the walnut oriented at the noon position. It's still nice, but i prefer the white nub at noon When the check is at the top it makes the piece look kind of droopy due to the bottom side having more empty space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted September 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thanks guys. Yes my thought was that the clock should be wider than it is tall, so that left the check at 3 or 9 o'clock. And it just didn't look right to me with one of the numbers lying directly on the walnut wedge, so I offset it a bit. It was a simple little project, but probably the only one I'll ever do that starts out by planting the tree for the wood! And that makes it kinda special - I'm quite pleased with the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Great way to turn something banal into something special. At first I was looking at the gap thinking it should be a particular place, but you were right.. looking at the nub (official term here), the exterior shape really dictates the orientation, doesn't it. Nice resolve. and fantastic memento. btw-tape, and sawdust.. ingenius solution. Will be stealing that idea someday. brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.