Capital City Carvers

governed by the reaction rate of the epoxy mix and the temperature that the glued work is kept at. Once epoxy is cured, it can be filed and sanded, and some formulas can be hand carved. Epoxy makes a good sealer and will accept paints and other coatings once it's been sanded. Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue is a great product to have in the carving bag. It is best used for bonding small assemblies as it delivers fast, strong bonds. CA glues are moisture-curing. They polymerize through a chemical reaction that begins when they encounter trace amounts of moisture in a workpiece or in the surrounding atmosphere. Once the begin reaction, CA glues cure to a solid in a matter of seconds. CA glues are designed primarily to bond non-porous, non-wood materials. For porous wood, use either a medium- or high-viscosity glue to prevent the glue from soaking into the wood too fast.

Shelf life of CA glues is about 6 months. When purchased, date the glue container and store in the refrigerator. Make sure to restore the glue to room temperature before use. If you use accelerator, do not store with the glue. It can cause the glue to precure. Keep the tips capped to prevent moisture from migrating into the bottle. Use as little glue as possible and be sure to work in a well ventilated area. Do not wood-burn an area that has been glued with CA glue. It can release cyanide gas.

Some people have gotten CA glue on fingers and accidentally glued them together. Having a debonder close at hand is always a good idea. Use the most non-toxic debonder you can find, usually acetone which can be found in nail polish remover.

A few take-aways from this are:

• Date the glue bottle when you open it.
• Buy in small amounts if you do not use much.
• Do not use a large amount of glue on the piece you are gluing. Use enough to cover the area and wipe off excess as soon as possible.

Sandpaper

Most of us carving caricatures don't use sandpaper as a finishing step before sealing and painting. The detail we have on the carving would not stand out as well as clean cuts made with the knife and gouge. Each time we make a cut a shadow line is produced. This is all well and good but sometimes a smooth surface is required. Good carving technique will reduce the amount of sanding needed. If sanding is required, it is reasonable to assume that time spent sanding is the same, if not more, than the time spent carving.

There are many types of sandpaper which is basically a scraping tool. The abrasive is adhered to backing material with glue or resin. Abrasive types are flint, garnet, aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. Flint is the least expensive and the least durable. When used it leaves flint dust in the wood and react with finishes. It is useful for sanding resinous and gummy surfaces. It loads rapidly making it unusable for extended sanding. Garnet is very sharp and stays that way, so it is good for hand sanding. It cuts quickly and produces an extremely smooth surface. Aluminum oxide is a synthetic abrasive. It is made by fusing bauxite in an electric furnace. The cutting edges are very sharp when new and are very durable and stand up to hard use. Abranet is a type of aluminum oxide abrasive bonded to a mesh which cleans easily and extends its useful life. Silicon carbide is the hardest and most expensive of woodworking abrasives. Although the abrasive is very hard, it is also very brittle, and the cutting edges snap off easily when sanding unfinished wood. It is therefore better suited for sanding finishes, either between coats or rubbing out the final coat.

For our purposes, do not use a grade coarser that 150 to begin with. A grade of 220 or 400 may be used as the final grade depending on how smooth you want the finish to be. Sanding packs are available from the club. We use Klingspor gold as our brand of choice. It is excellent quality and lasts a long time without wearing out. It is aluminum oxide on a cloth backing.

As always, sanding is the LAST part of carving before sealing and painting. DO NOT carve after sanding as the sand particles left in the wood can damage your knife or gouge.