Huon Pine

[ipdulce]

Hello,
I am a complete novice to the world of wood and I am trying to turn this piece of wood into a table.
Someone floated the idea of filling this hole with an epoxy resin which I like the idea of. After some googling I could only find references to filling small holes or cracks and nothing suggested how I would fill such a large hole. Would it be possible and if so how would I got about it? Would I need to create a support underneath or would I be better just getting a professional to do it.? Also any advice on what epoxy resin to use would be muh appreciated. I have been finishing it off with linseed oil
Many Thanks,

[rsser]

Crikey, that's a helluva gap to fill. Maybe look at casting resin, appropriately tinted.

[benupton]

Probably resin, you could use west epoxy to make it see through or you could use techniglue and as some die to make it the same colour as the wood.

[wisno]

Wow, it is a big gap.
In my opinion you should insert a piece of wood to fix it.
Use piece of wood with same grain pattern.
Using wood will give better match than the other material.

good luck

[georgeharris854]

Nah! Put a piece of glass in it. Even better, cast a piece of hot glass, and put that in it.
I have done this, and I was pleased with the outcome, although it was a lot of work. If it is Huon Pine, it is worth it, and deserving of something a bit better than casting resin, (which I have also used).
Make up a tracing guage for a pencil, and trace a rebate about 15 mm wide, following the wane edge. Cut the rebate 8 mm deep with a router, following the pencil line, hand holding the router. When that is done, get a large sheet of tracing paper, and put it over the hole, secure it with masking tape, and make an impression onto it by rubbing your finger around the sharp edge of the rebate, being careful not to distort the tracing paper. Put some graphite over the line, or run a 6B pencil over it, - on the under side. Then, from above, trace this onto a sheet of say 9 mm MDF.
This is the pattern for the glass people to cut a shape for you. Find a large glass shop that does architectural work, and they are likely to have a water jet cutter. This is a large computer-controlled device that accurately cut your pattern in glass. It uses a high pressure jet of water with garnet in it, and they can cut through steel, as well. If you then take your piece of flat glass with sharp edges to a place that works glass in a kiln, you can then see some majic. Their kilns usually have refractory sand in their floor, and you can use your template or pattern to make an impression in the sand, and pack it well up to the edges, before removing, and replacing it with your jagged piece of glass. The kilns are usually run overnight, and are programmed to gently cool, so that in the morning you will have a piece of glass that is once again solid, but which has smooth edges, a sand pattern on the underneath, and a smooth but delightfully undulating top surface. It will be true to your pattern, and will drop into the rebate you have cut in your Huon Pine, and should be flush with the surface. That is what I did with the table I made, which features three sequential boards cut from a large Huon log on a horizontal bandsaw mill, (Tas Special Timbers in Queenstown, Tas). See the images, if they attach. (if not, I will try again. I am happy to answer any other follow-up questions, or enter into correspondence. Cheers, George Harris

[benupton]

Glass looks good. Probably much easier that epoxy to.

[ipdulce]

Wow,
That glass with the Huon looks fantastic. Might have to look into that idea.
Thank you for the detailed instructions. Very Helpful
Cheers,
Irene

[Sebastiaan56]

Fabulous George!! I love it,

[KevM]

Fabulous George!! I love it,

George,
Thanks for posting the pics. I was hoping you would.

The table looks even more impressive in real life, can you give us the dimensions of the top and leg diameter?

Begs the question, is it still available for sale or did it sell at the exhibition?

[georgeharris854]

Hi Kev,

thanks for drawing my attention to the original post by Irene, (Hi Irene!), and I thought her piece of Huon looked good enough to have some carefully considered attention, but then as Huon is only released at less than 500 cubic metres per year, ALL Huon Pine is worth careful attention!

I did eventually sell my Huon table, but not until early last year, and it turned out that a friend of mine liked it enough to really want to put it in his house in West Hobart.

The table is 2.0 metres by 1.2 metres by 400 high, and the legs are approx 250 mm in diameter. The legs are either limbwood or small trunk sections, (I'm not sure which), and I drilled a 50 mm hole right through the middle of them, and the rails are secured by threaded rod with nuts at each end. (about 300 mm long with access pockets on the inside of the rails) I could just get a spanner down inside the hole in the legs to stop the nuts turning.) The only visible leg top has a capping piece of bird's eye Huon on it, under the corner glass section, that is meant to look like a jellyfish. ('Tidal Zone' theme, exhibition, Ten Days on the Island arts festival, 2007. see online)

I found a couple more images of it, taken before it left the workshop... cheers, George