Repair a Cracked Bowl Blank
George VondriskaDescription
If you’re a woodturner, CA glue is one of your best friends. It’s perfect for doing spot repairs on your bowls and spindles. There are a variety of viscosities of cyanoacrylate glue available. I typically use medium or thick for these repairs. Accelerator for the glue isn’t a must, but it’s handy to have.
In this case I was turning a three-cornered bowl and was pretty far along in the process when a weak spot in the bowl blank showed up; a split right along the grain. Instead of discarding the bowl, I grabbed CA glue, accelerator and some masking tape and started the repair.
Sequence of Events
If you’re using an accelerator, that should get applied before the glue. Accelerator has a long open time, CA glue has a short open time. So it makes sense to apply the accelerator first. You should also be careful about how much accelerator you use. If you’ve used it before and seen your CA glue crystalize, that means you used too much accelerator. This weakens the joint.
Spritz a little accelerator into the bad spot in your bowl blank, followed by applying your CA glue. Have masking tape (this is your clamp) nearby so you can move quickly once the glue is in place. Use the tape to “clamp” your repair, and in a few minutes you’ll be back to working your wood bowl blank.
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We’ve got a lot of information on the site about wood turning bowl blanks. Whether you’re a complete beginner, or have a few bowls already done, there will be content in our bowl turning section that helps you out.
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2 Responses to “Repair a Cracked Bowl Blank”
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Do you know if the glue goes chemically in contact with food? Is it safe to use such glued bowls for liquids and food in the future?
I have also used my shop vac to pull the glue through the project. On one particular bowl I was refinishing i could tell by the sound there was a hair line Crack, with the shop vac I was able to draw the glue threw the Crack.