Hello! From my shop to yours, I hope all is well. I am making a raised dog bowl for our latest rescue. She is a bernedoodle and is 2 yrs old. Super sweet girl. I carved this on the top of her bowel set and while beautiful, makes me wonder if I should try and add paint to see what it looks like or just leave it natural. The monitor picture (apologies for the pic quality) is what it should look like according to VCarve Pro. The other pic is how it carved in oak.
Suggestions? Ideas? So far it has a coat of wipe on oil based poly.
Howdy, Jake. You have the same problem I had with a Sketch tool path recently. Too much detail.
I thought of using a glaze process but was afraid the detail wouldn’t show. But a glaze might just work on your dog. Fills in the low area and you wipe off the high spots. BTW, you get one chance.
That looks fantastic @Jake! Just a thought - you might try a very lightly tinted epoxy - something like you might find at a craft store. You could add just a little bit of colour to it, and it would bring out the depth but also fill the carve level. After it cures, sand it all flat and it could look really sharp.
I would try a test piece first to see if it turns out to your taste - I don’t think you would need much pigment at all. The craft epoxy set I have would only need less than a quarter teaspoon of pigment, I would guess.
Let us know what you try, and we would love to see the results!
That is excellent work Tex! Yea, I have one opportunity to get it right. Actually thinking of carving it again on scrap wood and playing with it. I’ll post either the success or epic failure!
Thanks Ed! It looks better when I blow it up. It’s pretty small, like maybe 2.5”. I have never epoxied anything before. First time for everything I guess! I got selfish and thought it would be cool on her bowls. It still maybe, but I just keep looking at it, and petting the dog!
Example of the technique I mentioned above - the numbers in this sign are just very lightly tinted epoxy. The colour differences only come from the depth of the carve or the underlying wood grain.
That’s just white oak (I think, it was a scrap) with water based polyurethane over the wood and epoxy.
Quick tip - I did it in my cold garage and really regretted it. Make sure you are at least at room temperature, or you will get a lot of trapped bubbles.
Did you fill the numbers with the epoxy Ed? What kind of polishing was needed once you poured it? I am very blessed, my shop is conditioned space. I appreciate you taking the time to post your results!
Yes, the numbers are filled with a tinted casting epoxy. I surfaced off the waste with a light surfacing pass using a 1/4 inch end mill, then just sanded to 180 or 220 grit (I don’t remember fully). Two coats of water based poly and that’s what it finished up as.
I was way too sloppy with the epoxy, and the cold, but it skimmed off decently. You can still see the holes the bubbles left.
This was my first attempt at casting epoxy, and it did show me I should have tested first. One unexpected thing was that the board warped with the amount of epoxy - I don’t think you would have the same issue. I’m on my phone now, but I will follow up with the picture of the mess I made as soon a I can.
Thank you! It did turn out amazingly well. I believe I am going to dip my pinky into epoxy and see how it goes. I have a much larger project eventually that will require epoxy to fill worm holes and rot. Might as well get my feet wet with something simple.
OR, if it’s a windows machine, as it seems to be, Shift-Windows-key-S to activate selectiontool for a screencut.
Works quick and instant posting too.
Thanks Eddie! I gotta remember that. I’ve been a Mac user forever and I struggle still with windows! I only own one cause my vcarve pro only runs on windows only. Heck, even the X to close a window is on the wrong side!
So I pondered all the suggestions for almost a week. This afternoon, I went for it. Something @CrookedWoodTex said, “you got one shot” is very accurate. I opted to paint the entire head black with acrylic paint and wait for it to dry. Then I took a quarter sheet of 220 grit sandpaper and folded it to the size of a book of matches and began to sand it. After a few minutes, I blew it off with the air gun and wanted to jump for joy! It appeared that it would work. I sanded a bit more before supper and took a picture of it so I could blow it up on my iPad. I found a few areas that needed a tad more sanding. After my bride went to bed, I went back out, put some magnifying glasses on and gently sanded just a bit more. This is what I ended up with afterwards. I went ahead and used oil based poly on it (I need another can of it as this one was fairly dead) and once again I was quite pleased with it. I also sanded down both legs and now will come the tricky part. My design is for a water fall edge on both legs. Already cut the 45’s on both ends of the top and both legs. Tomorrow I will cut the rails to go between the legs and the blocking to keep the top straight. I’ve never done anything like this but will give it a go and see how well it turns out. As long as it’s sturdy, Callie won’t care. All she wants is to have her own raised bowls. The mug shot actually looks similar to her. I will post pics of the finished project when it’s done. Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I just ordered some epoxy to begin playing around with it. @mike2 i appreciate the suggestion. I will keep that in the back of my mind for kitchen items. I got some bamboo cutting boards for cheap and want to do some kitchen related items for gifts this Christmas.
I’ve done epoxy before and I see two things that may help you in the future.
For the bubbles, use a hot air gun or a hair dryer on the low setting. Swiftly swipe it over the bubbles and they will go away. Some people even use a hand torch. Don’t overheat it though. If you cook it you’ll be back to square one.
Before all of that though, seal your carve with some kind of sealer to prevent the epoxy from soaking into the grain of the wood. I usually just use a paint brush and a small amount of untainted epoxy. Brushing on a small amount and letting it dry will seal the grain prior to your pour.
I’m sure there are other things you can do but I’ve found these to be very helpful for me.
@elbarsal I use shellac (Zinssars no wax version). I thin it up to 50% with denatured alcohol because it saves shellac. In 20 minutes it is dry enough.
Everything I paint gets a shellac coating, so epoxy is about the same thing for a different reason.
Now onto assembly!