First Turning in Utah & I need some help~!

[MrAudio815]

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since I have donw any woodworking or woodturning, since I moved to Utah.

I wanted to get my shop totally organized first so I wasn't working in a mess, and put tools away that I really don't use all the time.

Anyway I Turned my first Baseball Bat last night, took me about 1.5hrs so far. The wood is courtesy of Mark Go (Gofor) and when I got it it had a couple bug holes, but it kept getting more and more. So I turned it hoping i'd get them out of there or kill them. Welp I didn't see one bug.

I was also wondering if there is a way for me to fill all the holes, maybe with some resin, or liquid plastic??? I was thinking of a cool blue resin fill color as I'm giving this to my son. Just have no experience with that sort of thing, so any info will be great.

Welp here it is:











Any comments or opinions are most certainly welcome.

Matthew

 

[SubGuy]

Blue Resin would make it look cool. It's no gonna see major league use anyhow from the looks of it, it is small right?:icon_thum

 

[MrAudio815]

Bump...


Please Help~! What and where do I go to get this stuff/ how would I apply it to fill the holes?

Thanks,

Matthew

 

[Woodman2k]

Did that blank happen to be ash from the east coast.If it is I believe nobody in Utah is gonna be happy that it is in there state.Check out the article on the ash borer in the new Wood magazine.No personal ideas on a filler but you may have to use it as fire wood.
Greg

 

[woodArtz]

Hey Matthew... When I fill large holes in turnings, I usually use two part epoxy. I have experimented with various ways to tint or add texture. In some cases, I'll use coffee grounds mixed into the epoxy. If I don't want the texture of the grounds, I'll just use Mixol tints. You can get a wide variety of colors using the tints. Anyway, that's just the approach I use... YMMV.

 

[CrealBilly]

Wow dude the hunk of wood is eat up isn't it? can you lay it in a tray of thinned out poly? So the poly will flow into all the holes and kill anything that may be living (eggs) in there. Then fill the outside with two part epoxy.

 

[jhreed]

Good turning. Very active worms. send pictures of complete shop. Love the natural light at the lathe.
James

 

[MrAudio815]

Did that blank happen to be ash from the east coast.If it is I believe nobody in Utah is gonna be happy that it is in there state.Check out the article on the ash borer in the new Wood magazine.No personal ideas on a filler but you may have to use it as fire wood.
Greg

Hey Greg,


I don't think it is Ash, Mark Go (Gofor) told me it was Dogwood. So unless dogwood is in the Ash family, I don't think it's ash. It's a very hard wood. And I know Mark used it for a mallet back in NC.

Matthew

 

[MrAudio815]

Hey Matthew... When I fill large holes in turnings, I usually use two part epoxy. I have experimented with various ways to tint or add texture. In some cases, I'll use coffee grounds mixed into the epoxy. If I don't want the texture of the grounds, I'll just use Mixol tints. You can get a wide variety of colors using the tints. Anyway, that's just the approach I use... YMMV.

Hey Bob,

I just ordered the Mixol blue and lime green, I think they will look cool.

And I bought the 5 minute epoxy that has two bottle that you mix both 1:1 ratio. Is this the right stuff for the job? Here's the link
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/Pr...=2603&ss=5050f28b-cc0d-434e-bdad-6d0932ac363f

Thanks for your help~!

 

[woodArtz]

That should do the trick... Let us know how it "turns" out. :icon_thum

Hey Bob,

I just ordered the Mixol blue and lime green, I think they will look cool.

And I bought the 5 minute epoxy that has two bottle that you mix both 1:1 ratio. Is this the right stuff for the job? Here's the link
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/Pr...=2603&ss=5050f28b-cc0d-434e-bdad-6d0932ac363f

Thanks for your help~!

 

[Russ Denz]

Hey Matthew,
I don't know if you've played much baseball, or even softball, but I would think real hard about giving a worm-eaten bat to a kid if he was going to actually use it. Reason being the risk is just too great for the bat breaking, sending a splintered projectile who knows where at who knows how fast.:dontknow: Maybe it's just me getting old(er) but think about it, or even take a few whacks yourself before you put it in your son's hands. Hope this is helpful to you.
bte, except for the big handle, nice looking bat!! Good job...and good luck.
Russ

 

[MrAudio815]

Hey Matthew,
I don't know if you've played much baseball, or even softball, but I would think real hard about giving a worm-eaten bat to a kid if he was going to actually use it. Reason being the risk is just too great for the bat breaking, sending a splintered projectile who knows where at who knows how fast.:dontknow: Maybe it's just me getting old(er) but think about it, or even take a few whacks yourself before you put it in your son's hands. Hope this is helpful to you.
bte, except for the big handle, nice looking bat!! Good job...and good luck.
Russ

Hey Russ,

Yeah I have played a quite a bit of Baseball, and I know all about those bats sanpping in two and sending hundred mph splintered objects, but then again I have only heard of that in the major leagues where there throwing the ball at 100mph and swinging who knows how fast.

Anyway my Son is only 18 months old and can barely hold up a plastic bat, so I think he will be good with this one. Plus I am going to fill the holes with two part epoxy and then probably get some baseball bat tape and wrap the handle down to the nub to give it extra strength. Plus I don't think I will let my son swing at any baseballs, unless they are soft core, maybe not even those, maybe just wiffel balls.

So you say the handle is too big? Too fat? or just tow long compared to the length of the bat? It's 23" long, and I still have some sanding and epoxying.

Welp Hows the Nova treating you? I sure wish I had time before I left NC to come teach what little I know. Good Talking with you Russ and Happy 4th of July~!

Matthew

 

[Russ Denz]

Glad to hear your son is too young to put the bat through its paces. Knowing you are no dummy, I figured it was something like that, but there's an old saying that kept going through my head, prompting me to voice my concern anyway: the saying (paraphrased) being that 'disasters happen when good men do nothing'; I'm sure you've heard it before.

Regarding the bat handle, I realize it's mainly personal preference - obviously mine being towards a thinner handle with a bigger barrel so it looked disproportionate to me. Then I remembered a Nellie Fox (?) bat from the late 50's that was shaped like yours, and he was certainly a much better player then I ever was. Me and my Nova are progressing fine, a little slow, but I've had some unusual challenges thrown into my learning curve. One of these days I'll post some results.

Happy to hear you're getting settled in back home; hopefully soon I'll start that journey west.