# A couple stoppers I made



## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Just started doing some bottle stoppers...

The first one is a banksia pod. I filled the seed holes with coffee grounds and CA glue, and filled the dozens of smaller cracks and inclusions with thick CA glue. Banksia's are a nightmare to turn but I sure like the results. The finish is two coats of spar after sanding to 1500 grit.

The other one is a walnut stopper with a maple celtic knot. This is my first attempt at a celtic knot, and I'm happy to say that the proportions are spot-on. I'm sure my next one will be a disaster! :laughing:
It is finished with two coats of tung oil on the lathe after sanding to 2000 grit.


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## Robocop (Dec 16, 2008)

Nice stoppers :thumbsup: love the celtic knot, i saw some photos once of a celtic knot in a rolling pin but cant find them, next time maybe you could take photos of the process:icon_smile:. By coffee ground do you mean coffee powder?

Gus


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## slatron25 (Dec 18, 2007)

Great looking stoppers. I've been using the coffee grounds and glue technique on cracks. And why is it our second attempts seem so much harder that our first attempts?


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Robocop said:


> Nice stoppers :thumbsup: love the celtic knot, i saw some photos once of a celtic knot in a rolling pin but cant find them, next time maybe you could take photos of the process:icon_smile:. By coffee ground do you mean coffee powder?
> 
> Gus


Gus I can describe the process pretty quickly. Get a walnut (in this case) 2x2 and a maple (in this case) 2x2. Cut a 30 degree miter in the walnut 2x2 and glue it back together with one piece of 1/8" maple inserted. It helps to use cauls to keep everything aligned. After drying, cut another 30 degree miter and do the same thing, forming a perfect X out of maple on two faces of the walnut 2x2. Then do the process two more times to create X's on all four faces, all in perfect alignment. It takes a couple days to get the gluing done because it is 4 separate glue-ups. Trust me, the hardest part about it is keeping everything aligned when gluing. Otherwise it is easy. I would suggest leaving the walnut 2x2 a good 12" long and working at one end of it because otherwise you risk getting fingers waaaay too close to sawblades.

Yes, basic coffee grounds. I used Folgers because that's what I had but I'm sure any brand would do fine!


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Termite those look fantastic! Thanks for the explanation on the celtic knot. Haven't tried one yet and hadn't yet seen a description on how it is done.

One more question for ya. When you are filling holes with the coffee grounds and ca how do you do it? Do you fill them on the lathe w/o the lathe spinning and then let them dry and sand them down or do you apply it slowly turning or another way?

Thanks
John


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

I do my hole filling on the lathe but without it turned on. I pack the hole as full of coffee grounds as I can get it and then use thin (high viscosity) CA glue to get down through the gaps and stick the coffee together. I then shoot some activator on it and then fill in the remainder with thick CA glue and shoot more activator on it. With the banksia pod I did about three holes at a time to get the most use out of the activator. That leaves the surface very very very rough. I hit it with sandpaper with the lathe spinning starting at 150 then 220. After 220 you can check for low spots and fill them with CA or more coffee as necessary. Gel CA is really handy for gap filling and it came in handy on the little cracks and inclusions on this pod. If you don't have thin CA I'm sure you could put some in the hole before packing with coffee and then hit the top with some more. Without the activator this process would be a tedious pain in the behind.

A lot of guys use epoxy but I'm too impatient for that. CA is good for me due to the fact that I hate slowing down to wait on glue to dry. With the activator I'm up and running instantly.


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Thanks for the heads up. I tried a corn cob the other night for a pen but wasn't sure what to do to fill in a couple of the pockets. I think I may need to pick up some of the accelerator.

John


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

here's a picture I borrowed from a duck call forum I belong to, where a guy was nice enough to post a tutorial that sure helped me out. This is the finished product before turning. Note the 30 degree cuts forming a perfect X in two dimensions. You're looking at four different glue-ups.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Here's the first X...two glue ups


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Here's the clamping setup. The cauls are CRITICAL. Otherwise when you clamp lengthwise (which this pic doesn't show) the pieces just slide across each other. Clamp the cauls to retain the sides then put a clamp end to end.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Also remember to rough out with a bowl gouge not a spindle or bowl gouge. The thin pieces are end grain and they will blow out unless you're careful if you use a roughing gouge. I start with a roughing gouge, then to the bowl gouge, and finish with a scraper.


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

jdixon said:


> Thanks for the heads up. I tried a corn cob the other night for a pen but wasn't sure what to do to fill in a couple of the pockets. I think I may need to pick up some of the accelerator.
> 
> John


For filling of larger holes you might be better off with 5 minute epoxy. I've been told you can get a better finish on sanded epoxy than you can on sanded CA, but I can't say for sure. I like the CA as a gap filler, but the coffee takes up most of the space.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Termite,
Very cool stoppers. I never heard of the coffee ground trick. Good idea. Looks like a bunch of tiny sea creatures swimming around on the stopper. I never thought of filling the holes in a banksia pod. I made some candleholders out of a couple of them and left the holes. I like the celtic knot too. I never heard it called that. It there some historical significance behind that? Sounds like there should be. 
Mike Hawkins


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Mike, I'm not versed on the history or any significance of the celtic knot, and from what I've read it doesn't seem that anybody else knows for sure either!
Here's an informative link...
http://www.ireland-fun-facts.com/celticknotmeanings.html


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

not much more to say other than
WOW
Ken


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## thekctermite (Dec 23, 2007)

Kenbo said:


> not much more to say other than
> WOW
> Ken


Thank you very much!


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## Robocop (Dec 16, 2008)

Thanks for the info Tickermite:thumbsup:, some good ideas from this post, the celtic knot is irish and a lot of variations can be seen in the Book of Kells, written and drawn in beautiful colour by Monks in the sixth century i think, some may prove a challenge to you tickermite, if you type "book of kells" into your search engine you should come up with something.... 

Gus


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## Dvoigt (Dec 6, 2007)

A celtic knot is on my "to do" list.

Nice job.


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## Night Mill Bill (May 7, 2008)

Great work, and great postings! That info helps a lot!:thumbsup:

-Bill


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