Unlucky (clumsy) break

[mr dazzler]

Any idea how I could fix this?

It was going so well, had basically finished the axe and adze work, and was drilling relief holes for the D handle when disaster struck. I tightened the vice just too much and snapped the shovel head....should of drilled the holes BEFORE I started hollowing. I thought maybe wait until its bone dry, then plane the 2 edges true, joint them with a dowel or 2 and add some copper wire stitches? Its about 2/3 scale, based on a find from the Mary Rose sunken ship, and carved from chestnut (I know, bad choice, it splits easily, but it was all I had in thick wide board's at the mo) I had a real good feel for this one, would be nice to salvage something from it....

 

[calibanzwei]

Just really isn't your 24 hours is it friend?
Can't advise - bemused as to how to fix it myself.

 

[JohnL]

I would dowel & epoxy, but I am no expert.

 

[Tadpole]

Cascamite Powdered Resin and dowels

 

[Robbi]

mitre mate ! get from your local building supplys place....fantastic stuff and i 100% gaurentee that 20 seconds after using it, it will be stronger than the original wood.

very simple to use, a small tube of sticky stuff and an aerosol of activator spray, usually about £8 ( lasts for ages though )....squeeze on sticky stuff, spray other piece of wood, hold for 20 seconds....job done !

 

[nitrambur]

butterfly joints with a contrasting wood

 

[SOAR]

Unlucky with that! like folk have said dowel and glue might do it.

 

[mr dazzler]

Thanks for the helpful responses guys :You_Rock_
The mitre mate sounds intriging. I used to use water-activated glues in the window factory and it was good stuff. My one rservation would be, what is it like on green timber? would the join move with the wood as the air dries it out or is it likelly to crack again. Does mitre mate work on dry wood only?
LOL typical cart before the horse, at least originally they repaired a broken implement AFTER it was made, not BEFORE like I am trying to......

 

[Biker]

PVA and well cramped. Don't touch the faces of the exposed wood with anything except to remove any loose bits. Once glued the joint will be stronger than the wood was. I kid you not.

Unless the wood is still green, then you might have a problem with shrinkage or the water content of the wood not allowing the glue to do it's job properly. But I trust PVA will do it's job in this instance so long as the wood is held closed together and when not in use put a windlass around it with a block in the hollow part of the bowl to keep the tenison from pulling the sides int too much.

Alternatively use the advice fof the glues given above, but as a carpenter I've never known PVA (exterior grade) glue to let me down yet on clean breaks or gluing flat faces of wood together.

Cascamite... hmmm I've not had a lot of luck with that on past jobs that I've had to follow up several times and do repair work on stuff that others had done using cascamite. It's too brittle and doesn't penetrate in as well. Easy to chisel off to clean the joint for regluing but that's not the point, you want it to hold and not break a second time. PVA rarely breaks along the glue joint, if ever.

 

[Gill]

Gorrilla glue buddy.

 

[Robbi]

i use the mitre mate for architrave and skirting as well as shelving and DIY projects, it really is top class stuff equal to PVA.

i've not tried it on "green" timber though, but i don't see why it couldn't work, give it a try, what have you got to loose ? ( it may need a bit more of the sticky stuff and a longer spray of the activator but so what ? )

good luck and let us know how it goes.

robbi

 

[Barn Owl]

Make it a small spatula then start again with some fresh wood.

Happens to us all,best to make afresh.

 

[mr dazzler]

i use the mitre mate for architrave and skirting as well as shelving and DIY projects, it really is top class stuff equal to PVA.

i've not tried it on "green" timber though, but i don't see why it couldn't work, give it a try, what have you got to loose ? ( it may need a bit more of the sticky stuff and a longer spray of the activator but so what ? )

good luck and let us know how it goes.

robbi

You know what Robbi, I'm going to get some tommorrow at jewsons or ridgeons and try it out....As we speak the 2 halves are clamped together (to try to at east get them to dry evenly until they can be glued. If it should eventually fail, then I'll plane and joint the halves with pegs. I still like the idea of additional copper stiches too. They show up even on old wooden bowls.... Cheers mate,
Jonathan

PS is it a one hit grab adhesive like evostick, or is it positionable? Also does it need any clamping presure (in which case I would need to rig up a tempory bench top jig with folding wedges etc so as to accomadate the shape)

 

[Robbi]

good onya matey, all you have to do is just push the halves together for 20 seconds, let us know how it goes Jon.

Robbi.

Jon, you have maybe a couple of seconds to position the 2 pieces ( and I do mean only a couple ) then push together with your hands....it really is only for 20 secs mate.

 

[Dave Budd]

burn it and start again

just kidding (though i probably would). I'd go for one of the fine glues mentioned (whatever I had around at the time really) and pins or dowels.

 

[Eric_Methven]

I'd go with the glue (Mitre mate is fantastic stuff), then I'd finish it off then put a thin copper strap across the break at the shoulder both sides and nail it through with copper roofing nails and then peen the ends over. It's how it would have been repaired in period. You'll be putting an iron shoe on the working end I assume and that will help hold that end of it safely.

It matters not that it broke during the making rather than during the use. Once it's finished, it'll look just like a repaired shovel should look.

Eric

 

[Hugo]

Keep chopping bits off until it looks like a garden dibber, then stop.

 

[dkabat579]

I had the same thing happen with a kuksa I was hollowing. I just used a thick coating of epoxy and moderate clamping pressure, it came together pretty well although it didn't look too good (big dark line all along the crack). Any kind of strong glue should be fine and some like gorilla glue may yield a more appealing result. You can always test the look on some scraps.

 

[Sean Hellman]

A valuable lesson learnt.
If you are going to use it, I would use a polyurethane glue, it needs to be clamped tight and will glue greenish wood and is totally waterproof
Superglues will glue damp timber. All glues work best when clamped tightly together, this is the most important part of glueing wood.
Another option is to dowel it and lace the crack with wire as they did with bowls etc in the past. Maybe also leave in your bog for a couple of years and present to local museum!

 

[mr dazzler]

Thanks for your replies

I'd go with the glue (Mitre mate is fantastic stuff), then I'd finish it off then put a thin copper strap across the break at the shoulder both sides and nail it through with copper roofing nails and then peen the ends over. It's how it would have been repaired in period. You'll be putting an iron shoe on the working end I assume and that will help hold that end of it safely.

It matters not that it broke during the making rather than during the use. Once it's finished, it'll look just like a repaired shovel should look.

Eric

Thanks Eric . I guess if the Mary Rose shovels were for setting gravel ballast trim in the ship, they would definately have had some sort of metal edge reinforcement, which has long since rusted away....the copper and nail repair solution sounds neat. I have some 19mm pipe which i could open out to get a good 2 inch strip.....
I will post some more pictures in due course.....