Fill in the center...

Bill_L

Bill
Corporate Member
Since I'm restricted to small projects while my back heals, I figured I'd try to use up a few pieces of scrap wood and made some purpleheart and maple coasters. They were going to be 4 squares like a chess board but the four corners where the squares met didn't quite meet in the center so I decided to make them round instead. I used a 3 1/2 hole saw and a 3/4" woodboring drill bit to cut out the center and hide the poor craftmanship ;-). My son tried his hand at making a 3/4" purpleheart dowel on the lathe but in the end we don't like the purpleheart end grain and the dowel wasn't consistently 3/4" nor were the holes in the coasters! I thought about getting a 3/4" plug bit but that will taper and the bottom side of the coaster would have a gap. I haven't done anything with epoxy but maybe an opportunity to try and fill in the center with some colored epoxy. Could I get the epoxy to match the purpleheart color? How noticeable would epoxy be if I filled the gaps that were created with a 3/4" plug? Any suggestions as to how best to plug that center hole would be appreciated! Thanks.


round coasters.jpg
 

llucas

luke
Senior User
Bill, have you thought about filling the center with a complementary or neutral color that you can color the epoxy with....my mind went immediately to black...dying epoxy is pretty easy and predictable.
If you are planning to make more coasters you might even glue a thin strip of wood between the maple and purple heart that would match the center color. Just a thought...
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
I wonder if HF powder coat powder could be used to tint the epoxy?
 

kserdar

Ken
Senior User
My 0.02$ - Leave the hole.
I created a Flower pot holder shelf for a friend. Oak - Six 5" holes cut with hole saw.
All the circles had 1/4" holes in the center. I hated to waste the pretty cutouts.

So, I made her some Texas sized coasters. They all got things like "Hole in one!" engraved around the edge.

Yes, she lived in Houston TX and husband worked at the local golf course.
 

Bill_L

Bill
Corporate Member
I like the idea of a matching thin strip. I will try my hand at some epoxy. I’m probably better off going with a black vs. trying to match the purpleheart.
I do golf so making some new coasters with a smaller hole may be a future project.
Thanks.
 

Bill_L

Bill
Corporate Member
I learned a few things about how not to cut in a circle in half (width wise) on a bandsaw. Fortunately, I only ruined 1 (okay - 2 blades). None of the cuts resulted in a flat coaster. I made a nice jig (or so I thought) to sand then flat on an oscillating sander but that too failed. Add in that the epoxy seeped into the maple in spots and now I've got about 12 round, uneven, purpleheart and maple scraps of wood. I may still try to salvage the coasters...We'll see.
 

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