StarBond Tutorials

There is another use that I do quite often with Starbond Superglue. I have here a pre-turned all wood bowl. It's almost finished and it needs one more thing. I'm gonna take this what I call a natural landscape - an effect that is created when the wood bowl is broken apart. I'm gonna cast an entire resin crown on top of it and you may know from watching some online videos or articles that you must seal your wood before doing this. Most woodworkers would actually use polyurethanes or even spray varnish or something that generally soaks into the wood. Although it may work, I personally found that a combination of Starbond EM-150 and EM-02 glues is more effective.

Starting with the Starbond EM-02 SUPER THIN, gently apply it all the way around the crown. It doesn't matter if it pours out to the side of the bowl. The purpose of sealing the wood is to prevent air bubbles from escaping. After applying the thin glue, you can dab the surface with a cloth to lessen the heat caused by the bonding reaction. Now, we have excellent base. We can then use the medium Starbond glue (EM-150) and apply gently on the surface. This will 100% protect the air bubbles to escape. Dab again with a cloth to lessen the heat. Finally, we can let it dry for few minutes. All done! We now have a stabilized wood before casting it with a crown. I call it a win.

In this article, I'll show a way to glue pen tubes into your bikes. I have here a pair of figured white oak blanks and this includes using two types of Starbond Superglues - the EM-02 Super Fast Thin and the EM-150 Medium. So here's what you do:

Before applying glues, sand down first the tubes for better adhesion. When done, use the medium glue and apply it on the side. Keep rotating so it doesn't build up a drop and insert to the figured blanks while rotating. Once the end is close to the opening of the tube, take a pencil and push it in. You may have missed a couple of small spots while assembling these pens. Here's where the Super Fast Thin comes in. Take the EM-02 glue and gently apply small dabbing around the edges of the pen tube (Note: be careful not to get it down into the pen itself). Applying the Super Thin glue ensures that the pen tube is 100% bonded to all edges of your pen - front and back. Wait for it to dry and be ready for turning.

Now, let me show you how I finish my pens. You'll see a lot of guys on YouTube doing it with just one type of suit and that's fine but I personally think that coating it with EM-02 could result to better saturation. Apply the glue gently and dab the coating using a cloth. This will serve the purpose to close the pores and limit the absorption of the wood. Now we've achieved a really nice satin finish. So now, take again the EM-150 Medium glue and gently apply it to the surface. Wipe it using a cloth. You may apply again the medium glue if needed. All done! We have a second coat of high gloss finish.

In this article, I'm going to show you a couple ways to do some creative stuff with CA glues and also few tips for making your CA last longer. Let's get started.

I carved out some tree shapes which I'm going to inlay some pearls inside with the help of Starbond glue. This will create a nice little effect. I've done this a couple of times and it works very well. I'm going to inlay two colors of pearl but don't limit yourself. You can actually inlay other objects of your preference. Just a quick tip, after applying your CA glue, wipe it off with a paper towel. That way, the tubes would not clog up. Also, you can put your CA glue in the refrigerator to extend its shelf life. Typically, a standard CA glue has a shelf life of 33 months but if you store it in the refrigerator, it will last longer. Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and do the white pearl first. I did this on a Lichtenberg piece a while back and it looked really cool. I'm just gonna fill in the carve with the CA glue slowly so it doesn't set up too fast. Then I'm going to put a few amount of pearls. Just keep working your way up until the carve is full. By the way, I've been using Starbond for a few months now and it's really an excellent CA glue. It does a very nice job for fixing cracks and for applying finish. I did a couple of CA finishes on some gear shift knobs I made. I kind of struggle finding a decent CA glue but with the help of some other people on YouTube, I think I finally got it.

There we go, if you want to add some more on top of it, you can keep filling it in. Remember that you can inlay different things - you don't have to just use the pearl but it gives really cool effect. We can then let this set up and move over to the black one. With this, I'm just gonna put on a few thin coats and let it set up and then keep on reapplying. When done, you can hit it with a sander to sand it all. Just go nice and slow so it doesn't puddle up in one spot. Remember that the thin CA will set up very fast. Using the medium glue, you'll have little bit of time to work with. It just nice and easy. If it does puddle up or if it's not level, you can always sand it right back. You don't have to worry too much unless you don't wanna waste a bunch of pearls. I'll let that set up for few minutes or even seconds. You can always add a little bit more if you want to. The Starbond works fantastic. I think with the black pearl, you can do some neat stuff such as highlight some natural cracks that are in the wood. If you have a little bit of punky wood or something like that, you can use the super thin to stabilize that as well. There we go. I used a random orbital sander to sand it smooth. Just some different ideas for doing some inlay work. I really like the black. It gives a sort of silhouette. I did a bowl a couple months ago and I used the Lichtenberg machine to burn it and then inlaid the pearl into it but I didn't sand it smooth. I left it kind of rougher but it's still nice. I've been using this Starbond CA for few months now and it works fantastic. I hope this article helps.

Today, I'm working on a piece of pocket mirror. I wanted to show you real quick how I do them. We're gonna put a CA finish on the back of it. I have here a piece of walnut which is about two inches thick. Depending on the size, you may pick based on the mirror size or adjust a little bit. I can get two or three out of it. Then we can epoxy it in into the little recess and we'll foot around and use the jaws to expand it to finish the outside of it.

As far as the recess goes, you don't want to make it too deep but you need enough to where you expand the jaws to hold it on the outside. It needs to have something to bite into. I'm gonna round over the edge and sand it just a little bit. With the size of my material, I could actually do more of these. I'm going to send this up and then I will put a CA finish on it. The key to doing a good CA finish is to put on several coats and don't sand it too hard. You're applying a super thin coat so you must sand it just lightly. I'm gonna turn the lathe speed down a little bit. Put a little bit on a paper towel (or any cloth) and just keep on adding. This is a thin CA and it's gonna stick to your hand so you must be careful on handling this. Check if you already put enough and wait few seconds for it to completely dry. Apply a little bit more. You can repeat the process about six or eight times.

I have here micromesh pads soaked in the water. I'm going to rub the surface with these pads for smoother finish. Remember to not sand it too much as you don't want to remove the finish off. There we go, we just put a nice durable finish on it. You can polish it if you want using a scratch remover cloth with a little dab of CA on it. This will help on making your finish look more glossy. After that, you can now epoxy the mirror. Just a note, you can use different CA products. This is just the one I have. All done! These are great quick little projects that you can do for gifts or you can sell them. Again, I'm using a walnut which is about four and a quarter inches in diameter. A scrap wood would actually do. For projects like these or pins, a CA finish is fantastic and it's super durable. Just keep in mind whenever you're doing it, don't sand it off. That is probably the hardest thing I had to figure out when I was first doing it. I would always put on several coats and then hit it with a rough sandpaper removing the finish. Then I have to start over again.

Like many woodworkers, my interest in woodworking started in my teen years due to a passionate woodshop teach who inspired me to learn how to use tools and make things with my own two hands. Unfortunately what they don’t teach you in woodshop is perfection is allusive and rarely if ever achieved. I struggled for many years trying to make things perfect from the start of any project until I read some words of wisdom somewhere online, “A good craftsman isn’t someone who that doesn’t make mistakes. A good craftsman is someone who knows how to fix or make the most out of his mistakes.”

Understanding that lifted a weight off my shoulders. It allowed me to understand that imperfections are unavoidable. Learning to hide or enhance an imperfection is a learned skill. The following example is just one of the ways I’ve learned to enhance or hide imperfections.

When I’m working with casting resin and burl wood, I often run into situations where the resin hasn’t fully penetrated different areas of the burl or in this case, there voids inside the burl that the resin couldn’t penetrate. In situations like this, I typically use a coffee grounds and CA Glue solution for a quick fix. Once turned and sanded, coffee tends to look like a bark inclusion or a variation in the woods color or tone and is unnoticeable by consumers/non-makers.

I’m sure this is not the only viable method but after many failed attempts, I’ve found this method to be the most reliable for a smooth and clean finish that works for me:

Items needed:

• Starbond Super Fast Thin CA Glue
• Starbond Accelerator (Optional)
• Dried coffee grounds or fine sawdust
• Ice pick of thin bamboo skewer

Once you’ve identified voids or cracks in the blank, I’ve found its best to fill them early on in the process rather than waiting until you’re close to final dimensions. This gives plenty of room for modifications to the design and room to trim back or sand down to a smooth and completely filled finish.

Be sure to use 100% dry coffee grounds (or sawdust) and pack the filling into the void or crack as deep as possible. I’ve found using an ice pick is helpful to get into the hard to reach areas. Once the void is packed, mound some additional coffee grounds on top of the area for maximum fill.

Slowly drip thin Starbond Thin CA Glue on the top of the mound and let it seep into the void. Avoid applying too much glue at once as it sometimes causes a caustic reaction and will turn whitish in color. The included drip tips with the Starbond Thin CA Glue are great for managing the amount of glue applied and getting it exactly in the areas you want it. Wait approximately 3 to 5 minutes for the glue to cure before shaping the blank. Short sprays of Starbond Accelerator will reduce this wait time.

While turning this hybrid buckeye burl bottle stopper, I discovered additional voids deeper in the burl and repeated the process while the blank was mounted on the lathe. I typically place an old rag or a scrap of wood under the object to protect the bed of the lathe from any glue drips.

Once the glue has cured, 3-5 minutes, I continue making light passes at the raised glue/coffee surface until the filling is flush with the surrounding surface. I then continue with a few more passes to cut just below my starting point so I can turn/cut away any of the excess glue that came in contact with the wood that did not need to be filled. This makes for an even coloring of the grains and wood tone.

Final steps is to sand, apply a CA finish and then polish. (There is a great tutorial on applying a Starbond CA finish by Pen Smith. Click here to learn more.)

Finished product with coffee and Starbond:

I hope this tutorial helped demonstrate how to turn a potentially failed project into something you can work with using different fillers and CA Glue. I’m sure the options are endless and I’d love to hear what others have tried and found success with. If you have any questions or would like to share your experiences/successes, please feel free to contact me on Instagram @socojoco, on Facebook www.facebook.com/socojoco/ or via email: socojocowoodworks@gmail.com

Happy turning!