To Glue or Not To Glue
The following article of “To Glue or Not To Glue” is taken from one of Mary May’s online carving school weekly Newsletters! We are sure you will find it interesting and are proud to share it with you with Mary’s blessings.
| To glue, or not to glue… Will you be banned from the woodcarving world if you use glue on your carvings? Absolutely not! I used this forbidden substance several times in a recent carving project I was working on. It t will be a lesson added in August, Carving a Timber Frame Capital. As I worked through this challenging project, there were times the wood split badly and large pieces just fell off. I took a deep breath, composed myself, and simply used regular wood glue. Super glue can also be used, to attach any broken pieces. Nothing very high tech, just glue. Fortunately, these capitals were going to be painted, so any glue on the wood surface would not affect the finish. Be aware if you plan on putting any type of finish, such as stain, oil or shellac. As most glue will cause the wood to seal in that spot and the finish will show differently.I did not have much time to experiment with a technique of solidifying fragile and difficult wood before carving it by soaking the fragile area with super glue. I had heard about this technique, but personally have never tried it. Some things to think about super glue (or CA – Cyanoacrylate – glue):• Super glues are not all created equal – I wouldn’t suggest going for the cheap stuff Minwax makes something called a Wood Hardener that may help to secure fragile pieces of wood also. From what I understand, this will also affect the surface, so be aware of this if you plan on putting a finish on it other than paint. I wish I would have done this research earlier… |
