# Russian Olive Burl Bottle Stopper



## Sprung (Aug 20, 2015)

Right now almost all of my Russian Olive Burl from @norman vandyke is on it's way to Colin for stabilization, but I kept a couple bottle stopper sized pieces to turn in the meantime because I wanted to see what a piece would look like turned and finished.

This piece had some sapwood on it too. The sapwood has some cool colors in it. Maybe a little color from spalting - don't know? The sapwood was very soft, like unstabilized Buckeye Burl soft, so I soaked it with CA as I turned it.

Just a light CA finish because I had to already use CA on it to both "stabilize" the sapwood and to hold in some colored sand I used to fill a worm hole. Normally I use a friction polish on my bottle stoppers, but I really like how this one turned out with the CA. 5 coats of thin CA, then sanded a little with 600, 1000, and 2000 to even it out then buffed with some Renaissance Wax. Stainless Steel stopper from Ruth Niles. I like the bottom on this one and how it allows you to stand it up for display.

Norm, this is the bonus item I told you about to go along with your wife's rolling pin. I hope she'll like it!

Reactions: EyeCandy! 6 | Way Cool 3 | +Karma 1


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## ripjack13 (Aug 20, 2015)

Nice job!!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## manbuckwal (Aug 20, 2015)

Looks good Matt ! Did you use some black CA in it ?

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Aug 20, 2015)

manbuckwal said:


> Looks good Matt ! Did you use some black CA in it ?



Thanks Marc and Tom! Nope - no black CA on this one. The worm hole was filled in with some colored sand and clear, thin CA. Other than the worm hole, I didn't fill in any of the burl eyes or anything, so you get a little bit of "texture" through the CA finish on this one.


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## ironman123 (Aug 20, 2015)

Nice bottle stopper.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Jerry B (Aug 20, 2015)

very cool Matt, never thought about larger pieces for bottle stoppers (will in future tho ;-D )
I too love the fact this Olive has multiple colors in it, is even more prevalent with the larger piece, and looks beautiful
well done

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## El Guapo (Aug 20, 2015)

Looks great! It reminds me of a pipe tamper... I wonder if they sell kits for those!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## rdabpenman (Aug 21, 2015)

Very nice looking timber and finish.
A bit under turned?

Les

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Aug 21, 2015)

Really pretty Matt, nice job!! Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Aug 22, 2015)

rdabpenman said:


> A bit under turned?
> 
> Les




Meh...depends on what he or the customer likes. I actually like that lil lip. They don't always need to be shaped to smooth.
JMHO....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 19, 2015)

Ca is super glue.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 19, 2015)

I usually use the sawdust from the wood itself. Jamb it in the hole and drip some thin ca on it. Or use a contrasting color of wood dust..
For cracks, I use medium or thick ca and let it set up for a lil while.


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## ripjack13 (Dec 19, 2015)

erik s said:


> You know I am a bit slow on the lingo what is CA? .



I made a list of lingo we use here on the forum. It's in my signature..or click here.
http://woodbarter.com/threads/acronyms-list.2023/

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 19, 2015)

erik s said:


> well i think i have some of that laying around.. I was thinking it was some sort of calcium epoxy i never herd of. Out comes my nerd. lol



Lol....

Oh...you can use epoxy in larger cracks. And also put "stuff" in there first then fill the gap with epoxy.
Sparkles.
House key shavings.
Sand.
Coffee grounds.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sprung (Dec 19, 2015)

erik s said:


> Matt looking at different posts on how to fill holes (worm holes in walnut for me) You know I am a bit slow on the lingo what is CA? Also that bottle stopper is sweet. What in your opinion is the best way to deal with worm holes and or checks? I have some smalls of Italian olive from my last slab table project if you looking for a trade in the future, I think its been about a year since our last trade I have a nice lil box set aside for you if you were happy with the stuff I sent out last time.



Thanks for the kind words on the stopper! I like turning these - have 3 or 4 looking for new homes right now.

As Marc said, CA is super glue. Specifically I use Satellite City's super glue - their Hot Stuff (thin) and Super T (medium) and their NCF aerosol accelerator. I also use a black CA (medium viscosity) for some purposes too.

On this piece I used CA in 5 different ways.
1. After I drilled and tapped the hole for the mandrel, I dropped a couple drops of thin CA on the threads in the wood and let it harden. This keeps the threads from stripping out while turning.
2. On the really soft areas in the wood, I soaked in some thin CA and let it harden on its own to stabilize/harden the soft areas.
3. To fill in the worm hole. On very tiny holes I might just use a little medium CA, but on larger holes or voids I'll use either sawdust from the wood or a contrasting filler or some ebony sanding dust or some black CA. What I use just depends on what kind of look I want in the finished item. On this stopper I used colored sand.
4. As a finish. The way I finished it can be found in the original post.
5. To hold the stopper portion in place and keep it from unscrewing.

Marc mentioned epoxy and other filler ideas if you're filling in larger holes and voids in furniture or slabs. I wouldn't use CA to glue a filler in place on something that is not going to be finished with CA - the CA will wick into the wood and give the wood a different color than the surrounding area once you put a finish on it. But, if you plan to use a CA finish on a small turning or something long those lines, then CA is a good choice to hold in the filler.

I'm not really doing any trades right now and am more focused on trying to sell what I've got on hand - I'm kinda taking a break from turning pens and most other items for a while to focus on furniture and to get ready for the birth of our second child in March. Though I will be turning a few bowls in the next month or so, especially since I have my end of a trade from earlier this year to finish up. However, I do love me some olive and might consider a trade of some sorts for some pieces that would be large enough to get small boards out of or to resaw for box tops, or the like.

Reactions: Great Post 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 19, 2015)

Erik, heres a good topic for some info..

http://woodbarter.com/threads/question-of-the-week-2015-week-3.19128/#navigation

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Dec 19, 2015)

erik s said:


> Matt my uncle still totes the pen you made as his favorite pen ever, and he is a bean counter. ( he has been through some pens) I would love to see some pics of pens you made with the wood we traded. Happy to send you a box of smalls of the olive just send me you address again. I will get to it after the holidays. Nothing in the way of boards to re saw, but some sick grain if you have the time to sit on it and play with it down the rd.



Real happy to hear that your uncle is still loving that pen and thinks of it as his favorite pen ever!

I'll admit, I don't remember most of what I received from you in our trade - have had a lot of wood pass through my hands and shop since then. I do know that I ended up trading away the tulipwood and any rosewood that was in there - I've developed a sensitivity to working with the dalbergias (true rosewoods), especially cocobolo and tulipwood, so I've pretty much stopped working with them, save for rare occasion and with extra precautions. Not long ago my pen blank stash peaked at around 700 blanks and it was getting hard to keep track of what I had on hand. Over the last couple weeks I've cleared out a lot and am down to under 250 blanks.

I'll send you a message with my address - thank you! I'll look forward to playing around with them down the road. Olive is a favorite of mine to work with.

Also, to be shown what can be done on a small scale with a bunch of voids - in this case a bunch of micro-checks from drying - here's a pen I made earlier this year from olive burl. I knew it had a bunch of checking, so I glued the tube in with black CA instead of clear and then filled in the voids the rest of the way with black CA and then did a clear CA finish. Is one of my top 5 favorite pens I've made.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## rdabpenman (Dec 21, 2015)

Great looking piece of timber on that one
Nicely done

Les


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