Aged Bronze Platter – trying to make wood look like metal…?
Blog Post August 2022
My blog intention is to pick a piece I think worthy of writing about, either because I’ve tried a new technique, learned from a mistake and thought I could pass on tips, or just share my experience of making a piece I love.
Back in December 2021, I mounted a 12 x 2 inch piece of flamed/spalted beech on my Record Power CL3 lathe. As usual, I had no definitive plan of where to go with it.
My ‘planning process’, whatever the piece, usually goes like this:
- Hmm.. fancy a bit of turning today.
- Wander into workshop.
- Spend an eternity picking up blanks, gaze stupidly and indecisively at each one, then put each one back again, scratch baldy head pensively. Oak? Ash? Chamfootaah?
- Finally settle on a piece, usually the first one I picked up, scratch baldy head a bit more, try to decide what to actually make.
- Start turning with no idea where I’m going with it.
- Have an inkling of an idea what to make.
- Idea crystallizes, smile develops, nod of approval, feel smug.
- Make mistake, smile turns into scowl, swear a bit, change idea.
- Make another mistake, swear a lot, change again.
- Lightbulb moment, go with it until mistake dictates another direction.
- Almost finished piece, decide to tinker with it, mess it up, swear, change plan.
Once turned, the ‘base’ piece, before any embellishment, was just a broad-rimmed platter with a flat underside leading to a 45 degree slope up to the rim. It looked OK, but I felt it needed some… oomph.
Purists may be upset that I could consider covering wood with paint. I’d agree to a point. I always try to leave at least some of what nature made on show, but I see nothing wrong with experimenting with texture and colour as I think combining these elements, without going over the top, can be stunning. Sometimes, the wood is just featureless and it provides the perfect canvas for colour and texture.
I should explain my lightbulb moment with this piece. The idea came from my trawling of YouTube woodturning videos. I’d recently watched one of Martin Saban-Smith’s videos where he used reactive metal paints on a large piece of sycamore to make it look like an aged shield. The paints, from Modern Masters inc., contain metallic particles that react once a dedicated oxidizing solution is applied. Martin used iron, bronze and copper paints on the sycamore, along with a rust activator spray for the iron, and blue/green activators for the copper and bronze to create what I thought to be a really striking piece.
I had to get me some of this paint to use on the rim of this beech…
Once sourced from Gold Leaf Supplies, I ordered the bronze/blue kit. I’d have loved to get the iron and copper kits at the same time, but they were quite pricey (circa £90) so I resolved to acquire them later.
The Rim
Beech is relatively easy to carve and takes texture well due to the tight grain, so I committed to adding some random texture to the rim, covering this with metal effect bronze/blue paint.
To my eye, the reactive paint effect looks better on a textured surface as I think it enhances the aged, weathered effect I was after. I used a Proxxon angle grinder with an Arbortech 50mm carving disc for the pattern. The lathe was stationary and for safety I used a two-handed grip, resting the neck of the tool on the tool rest to maximize control.
There was no special technique to creating the pattern, I just kinda went for it. Any raggedy fibres left after I was done were dealt with using a Wolfcraft blue nylon wheel in a rotary cordless drill, a 120 grit flap-sanding drum in the Dremel and finally light hand-sanding with 320 grit Indasa sandpaper. Two coats of Hampshire Sheen cellulose sanding sealer followed, applied with a brush, to get into all the nooks and crannies. The rim was now ready for the paint, but first I wanted to finish the sides.
A Bit on the Side
Viewed from the side, the piece needed some impact. I just felt it looked a bit, well, bleh. I didn’t want to overdo it with more colour so opted for texture alone, but in a more regular, repeat pattern to contrast the random effect on the rim.
I have an indexing wheel (Paul Howard Woodturning) which has 14, 36, 48 and 60 evenly spaced holes, allowing the creation of regular divisions along the piece that run parallel to the lathe bed. I could have made it easier and chosen 14, but no, stupidly, I chose 60.
The regular tool rest was swapped out for a homemade wooden contraption, comprising a flat piece of pine approximately 2x2x8 inches with a 1 inch dowel glued into a pre-drilled hole in the centre. 60 pencil lines were drawn on the sides with a 2B pencil.
The idea is that the flat plane acts as a surface along which the pencil can run while drawing the indexed lines. If you insert a live centre in the tailstock, you can use this to ‘centre’ the height of the tool rest. Put the pencil on the tool rest, bring it up to the live centre and adjust the height until the tip of the pencil is level with the point of the live centre, then just tighten the height adjuster.
It might seem like a small detail, but I used a round-section pencil as it doesn’t matter if the pencil rolls during use. Maybe not such an issue with this case but when drawing divisions for, say a basketweave effect bowl, even spacing and consistent, straight lines are more critical to the overall effect.
I intended creating regular grooves in a scalloped effect. First off, I defined each drawn pencil line with a Japanese pull-saw. These tools cut on the pull stroke, so the blade stays in tension during the cut which I find easier to control, the cut remaining true to the drawn pencil line. Then, using a round-section Microplane rasp, the 60 grooves were deepened until only a fine ridge separated each. Final shaping was completed and refined with fine-texture Japanese Iwasaki files and hand-sanding, 120-400 grit. It took a while…
More Rim
Application of the paint to the rim was just a matter of following the supplied instructions and reference to ‘Modern Masters inc.’ YouTube guides. Apply the primer, I used a sponge for this rather than a brush (I’m useless at hiding brush strokes and the sponge circumvents this problem). Let the primer dry, then apply the first coat of the bronze paint, again with a sponge and leave to dry. The second coat is applied and the ageing solution sprayed on while this second coat is still wet. Then just wait and let the magic happen. The spray comes in the bigger, opaque bottle shown and while it works just fine, it’s a bit imprecise. To apply in a more targeted manner, either: decant some into a wee pot and use a brush or sponge; mask-off an area before the second coat; use stencils; or as shown in the picture, use a smaller spray bottle.
As the paint dries, the patina effect appears. Simple as that.
Finishing up and Oops
The final task was to apply finishes and I wanted the top of the bowl finished differently to the sides and bottom. The rim and bowl were sprayed with 6 coats of Chestnut satin lacquer. I sanded just the bowl with 600 grit between coats to even out the spray application. I didn’t feel it was necessary to sand the rim as the lacquer here was simply used to protect the paint, whereas in the bowl any application irregularities would be more apparent. I left the lacquer about 3 days before buffing the inside of the bowl with Chestnut’s buffing wheel kit… and messed up…
The buffing compound removed some of the paint from the inner rim. I couldn’t touch it up as it would have looked pants, so I had no option but to re-turn the bowl to eliminate the defect on the edge. When I remounted it, did it run true? Of course it didn’t. Wobble, wobble, wobble. As James May might put it, Cock!
After re-turning, I re-sanded sequentially from 120-600 grit, then used Yorkshire Grit Original and Microfine, 2 coats of Hampshire Sheen sanding sealer and I opted for the excellent Odie’s Oil to finish this time. I applied the latter with a white Nyweb pad in an overlapping circular motion, left it to soak in overnight and buffed with a cotton towel. Simple to use and a little goes a long way. All as per supplied instructions.
Lesson learned: don’t turn the bowl until the rim has been decorated and sealed.
The rest of the piece I buffed and sealed with carnauba wax.
That’s it!
I loved making this piece. It was a lengthy process due to the carving on the sides, waiting for paint to set and lacquer to cure. The reactive paint was easy to apply and worked as expected. The error I made by turning the bowl too soon in the process was due to lack of foresight and planning, but I guess I know now not to repeat this. Errors are just part of the process and I suppose it forces you to think of ways to overcome them and avoid them in future, which ultimately makes you a better and more experienced turner.
(I’ve acquired iron and copper effect paints since this was made, this time from Chromacraft in their Rustina range, they’re more affordable than the Modern Masters inc. kits, but I’ve found require more coats for equivalent coverage. Axminster stock Chromacraft).
I am not being sponsored to advertise any of these products I’m just letting you know what I have used in this project.
Kit used
- Record Power CL3 lathe
- 12 x 2 inch Beech bowl blank (WP Hardwoods ltd)
- Sorby 3/8 inch fingernail bowl gouge
- Sorby 3/8 inch beading/parting tool
- Sorby ¾ inch negative rake scraper
- Proxxon long neck angle grinder with Arbortech mini carver
- Microplane 200mm round section rasp
- Paul Howard Indexing Wheel
- Iwasaki half round and tapered files (Workshop Heaven)
- Indasa 50mm sanding discs, 120-600 grit
- Yorkshire Grit original and microfine
- Hampshire Sheen cellulose sanding sealer
- Odie’s Dark Oil (Conkers Wood and Metal Supplies)
- Chestnut buffing wheel kit
- Modern Masters inc. Reactive Metal Paint, Bronze (Gold Leaf Supplies)
- Chestnut Satin Lacquer.
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