coffee grounds?

I passed by the other day and caught mention of coffee grounds as a filler..Someone pls explain the uses application methods..I'm intrigued by this as I am about every innovation I see, along with the ingenius thought processes wood turners use in solving a myriad of problems..Here to learn,Rick

Reply to
rick pixley
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Grind coffee beans very fine in a grinder. Mix in to clear epoxy (I use the 5 minute variety). If you are using the coffee to color the epoxy, only a little is required. I have also heard that if you incease the coffee to epoxy ratio you can use it to fill in bark exclusions although I haven't tried that yet.

Reply to
dkugelberg

Grind coffee beans very fine in a grinder. Mix in to clear epoxy (I use

the 5 minute variety). If you are using the coffee to color the epoxy, only a little is required. I have also heard that if you incease the coffee to epoxy ratio you can use it to fill in bark exclusions although I haven't tried that yet.

Reply to
dkugelberg

The primary use of coffee is to make a good cuppa-coffee! Do that FIRST. Then dry the coffee grounds and mix with some 5 minute epoxy. Ratios have not proven to be critical in my experience. Fill hole. wait 6 minutes. In Canada we add one minute to 5 minute epoxy because we are a metric nation..... Turn as per normal.

Reply to
M.J.

I'd go to the hobby shop and find the micro glass balls used in airplane and boat building. They won't decay or smell of coffee at the wrong time.

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Hi Rick

I use coffee grounds occasionally, like in a case of a knot that is darker than the surrounding wood , or with some bark inclusion that has gaps, the color of the coffee ground chunks and bark are very similar usually, doing that with paint or coloring dye is very hard, and saw dust is not the same very often, though I do use that also if I can.

I use coffee ground that has been used, I dry it in the microwave oven, the reason for using used coffee is that coffee has an oil in it and when used most of that is gone ( OK and I'm a Dutchman ).

I have tried epoxy mixed, but don't like the outcome, (the color and texture), so now I use the coffee ground with CA glue only, I pack the coffee ground tightly by pressing it in the cavity and then slowly flood the CA glue in, I use thin CA mostly, if the hole is big than I will get a chunk of wood that almost fills the hole and then fill the remaining gaps with the coffee ground and then use the CA.

I also use the CA glue with brass or copper filings or dust, the color is a lot more real than when mixed with epoxy, for the simple reason that the filled hole is all metal with only the openings between the metal parts being glue, plus I don't have to wait till tomorrow for the glue to cure.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

rick pixley wrote:

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

Like Leo, I use coffee grounds with CA glue. Have filled really big voids--one about 2.5" by 1" and it looked great. It became the main feature of the vase. I put a piece of tape on the back side of the hole, and just alternated grounds, CA, and accelerator until I filled the void. I've used both used grounds and new--doesn't seem to make a difference. Earl

Reply to
Earl

Group:

Just a quick warning, take it for what it is worth. Note that the ingredients of CA contain (prominently!) cyanoacrylate.

We have a bona fide research chemist in our group, and he has warned us about using key filings or any other kind of non ferrous metals with CA. According to him, the smoke that come off the metal in reaction to being mixed/exposed to the glue is actually the molecules of cyanide being released, and therefore you have a mild form of cyanide gas!

Just a heads up... I know there are those here that will intentionally huff the smoke/fumes to be contrary and will come back here to announce they are not dead.

But remember you basic chemistry classes... it makes sense! Even if it doesn't, WTF is that smoke anyway? Why take a chance?

Just last year I went to a demo by a well known turner that claims that one of the folks in his club can no longer turn as he was a fan of using CA as finish (flood the surface, sand off and polish). After about a month in the hospital they finally found out two things:

- Permanent nerve damage (tremors)

- Condition was consistent with cyanide poisoning

The conclusion was that as an avid turner, he finally hit his toxicity point after about three years of that particular finish. He can no longer turn.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

I used to use a Dustfoe 88 mask in the shop. A fairly good amount of dust got through, but I thought anything more would be too hard to breathe through. I got a headache when doing some extended finishing in the finishing room in a different building, so I bought a respirator mask for $20 rated for paints & varnishes. Amazingly, you can't smell the finish at all through the mask and it is not that hard for me to breathe through. I decided to try the same mask in my shop for sanding and when applying CA and it works great. One advantage of the twin cartridge respirator is that I actually have better field of vision down and ahead than with the other mask. When you sand the CA you should use a fan to clear the immediate air. If you are too close and sand too hard you can feel the sting of CA in your eyes.

But some people are tough enough that they don't need to use safety equipment with toxic substances (until their liver can handle no more and they get cancer, etc).

Reply to
Derek Hartzell

but the down side of those, if they're the type that my wife bought, is that they don't sand well...

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

HI Mac

Don't worry of encapsulated in CA, decaying coffee or smelly coffee, the bowl would be rotted away first I'm sure.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

mac davis wrote:

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

Hi Robert

Bob did you actually see any mentioning of cyanide gas in any of those research papers, all I see is possible dermatitis etc., and gluing skin together, but nowhere is there any mentioning of cyanide gas mild or otherwise.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: >

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

Rick.

I't like to say thanks for raising the issue. I'd never heard of that. I just tried it last night on my third bowl. I reground some spent grinds (to reduce them to powder) and mixed them up with some epoxy.

The result was a consistent dark chocolate filler with a little more body than straight epoxy.

Turning off the excess smelled faintly of coffee too :-)

Cheers

Steve

Reply to
Stephen M

no, Leo.. I meant that the micro beads didn't sand well.. but coffee grounds do, and smell a lot better...

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Yes, I actually saw in the paper that it was mentioned as HCN. It has been proven that the cured monomers still give off gases that are of concern:

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However, this is not the the issue that is of greatest concern. I am still thinking that the best reason to beware is the fact it is being sanded/ground into microparticles and inhaled. If you breathe in the particulates around your dust mask, this material will be IN your lungs, leaching out small amounts of toxins over a period of time. Please read the "conclusions" at the of the paper. And, if as some have pointed out, the "smoke" is nothing more than vaporized super glue which is easily inhaled, in particle size small to get into your bloodstream. Good luck with that... I have seen no research on how that is removed.

You can see more opinions on this topic in a newer thread where someone asked about using CA for a finish. Also, a ton of info was available in a Google search in less than five minutes.

I think it is most important to realize that ALL of the research performed is on using CA as, well, >>an adhesive

Reply to
nailshooter41

My earlier didn't make it through my ISP, but putting some bark through a burr mill makes a great filler that looks absolutely natural in a bark pocket. You can grind coarse or fine, and filling below the line and sprinkling the rest on top of accelerated CA gives you something that takes a finish almost like the real stuff. With epoxy or CA solid, you have to "tooth" it to get a varnish to stick and equalize the appearance.

Big cracks are stuffed with bigger unground chunks, and look pretty good as well.

Reply to
George

Reply to
J. Clarke

Hi George

Yes that works real well also, I don't have a burr mill, and use the end of a stanley knife blade on a dremel arbor, load some small chunks in a glass jar end shake the dremel/jar combo until I have enough small, fine and coarse pieces, I think your burr mill would do a nicer job but this works also. As the question was about the coffee ground, I didn't include this way of improving things, and yes I think in some cases this (bark) does a much nicer job.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

George wrote: >

Reply to
Leo Van Der Loo

Not to mention, it's available in colors other than Starbucks Brown....

Reply to
George

I'm not sure, but a Burr Mill might be a coffee grinder? Bought one for the RV last week for about $15... It seems like it would work well, except that your only control of course/fine is how long you run the grinder..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

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