Home made puttys

[boucha]

Gidday, I am an artist who needs to know how to make a fairly large quantity of a "maluable" type putty, not paste like. As most of you know it is'nt that cheap to buy. I am mostly interested in making a fine saw dust based one, using oil and PVA glue but it seems that all the timber mills I have contacted dont generate consistent quantities of fine saw dust, just fine shavings and all other sources such a hardware only have treated, unsafe dust. Could I use a powerful food proccessor to break down these shavings and would the Oil and glue idea work if I can make the dust?

Any response is greatly appreciated,

boucha.

[journeyman Mick]

boucha,
not sure what you're trying to achieve (more info would be helpful) but usually it's either oil or PVA. Glaziers putty is a mix of whiting (calcium carbonate?) and linseed oil. You can make a "putty" of fine sawdust and PVA. This is usually mixed up on the job for filling holes or other stuff ups. I've found that it usually gets black stain in it and use a mix of sawdust and nitrocellulose lacquer or epoxy. I doubt that any of the sawdust mixes will give you anything you can work like a putty and certainly nothing lke the plasticity of clay. (I worked extensively in ceramics at art college). I've never tried sawdust and linseed oil but I doubt that it would give you a malleable mix, might be worth a try though.

Mick

[sleeping-wood]

If you need some fine sawdust I am sure there would be some handfuls in the bottom of my wide belt sander that would be suitable. It would be jarrah dust. Send me a PM if your interested.

[scooter]

Could I use a powerful food proccessor

Nah, not fine enough

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Would Builder's Bog do the job you want? Or plasterer's spackle? A dryish mix of Polyfilla?

'Cos even if you collected enough fine dust from a belt-sander (and they'll quickly generate more than enough! ) I reckon it'd work out just as expensive to buy the glue to add to it... especially if you want one that'll still work when mixed with oil.

[martrix]

Nah, not fine enough

Classic. Reminds me of Dave Lettermans "Will it Float".

[Kev Y.]

I dont know if this wil be of any assistance to you:

An OLD painter I was taught by used to keep the skin off of the top of the paint , mix it up with some linseed oil and some whitting powder and use that as his putty.

[Ian Wells]

boucha,
not sure what you're trying to achieve (more info would be helpful) but usually it's either oil or PVA. Glaziers putty is a mix of whiting (calcium carbonate?) and linseed oil. You can make a "putty" of fine sawdust and PVA. This is usually mixed up on the job for filling holes or other stuff ups. I've found that it usually gets black stain in it and use a mix of sawdust and nitrocellulose lacquer or epoxy. I doubt that any of the sawdust mixes will give you anything you can work like a putty and certainly nothing lke the plasticity of clay. (I worked extensively in ceramics at art college). I've never tried sawdust and linseed oil but I doubt that it would give you a malleable mix, might be worth a try though.

Mick

Try gesso ie 1 part warm rabbit skin glue mixture (13:1), 1 part whiting and if you need it to be flexible add approx .3 parts linseed into the mix
You can add fine sawdust or cotton fibers as well
build up layers then carve sand etc. seal with shellac and paint

cheers Ian

[ozwinner]

I have a scan of an old book from the 1930's but the file is too big to post here, if you want a copy PM me your email address.

Here is a smaller version.

Al