Can you ignore punky spots in beautiful wood?

[Dave Schell]

Just wondering what the consensus is here on punkiness in finished pieces...

Would you toss beautifully figured wood because of some punky spots or would you just turn it anyway hoping buyers don't really care if the piece is otherwise beautiful?

I have a load (about 30 16" bowls worth) of burl maple that has been sitting around unprotected from the elements for 2 years. In that time, it has developed spectacular spalting, but also a bit of punkiness.

I know about some of the remedies for punky wood, but in the end those never quite cure the problem to look the same as solid wood.

I use to be of the mind that it's better to just toss it and find some good stuff - easy to say for me because there's plenty of wood around. But then I saw a piece in an instant gallery that was quite punky but still looked interesting. So now I'm of a new mind - turn it anyway - many buyers won't care.

Thoughts???

[Mike Minto]

i think it depends on each individual piece; you, as a turner, are probably more likely to accept the look of such a piece, but anyone who collects and knows about wood and wood turnings may be of a similar mind. give a couple a shot, and see how they come out (and post pictures!). mike

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Turn smaller bowls of non punky wood? IOW cut off the punks. If it's punky throughout, I dunno, some punkiness SOMETIMES is okay, but every bowl with punky wood would be a drag.... Pukny wood is a PITA to turn.

[George Morris]

I would try turning one.I believe that minwax makes a hardener that may work for your problem it sure is worth a try! G

[Ken Vonk]

I don't mind punky wood for hollow forms and strickly artistic pieces. I wouldn't use punky wood for any type of bowl that would be used for food.

Ken

[David Christopher]

Dave, you can use thinned down lacquer and soak the piece for a while then let dry and that punky part will be hard

[alex carey]

Try one out and lets see what it looks like.

[ROY DICK]

Give it a shot you might be surprised.

Roy

[Dan Forman]

Try it and report back!

Dan

[Jim Underwood]

I'm trying to remember the solution to this problem given to me by one of our demonstrators.

I think it was a mixture of turpentine and boiled linseed oil. You get enough of it and submerge the roughed out bowl in it, until it absorbs as much as it can and sinks to the bottom. Once it does that you can take it out, let it dry thoroughly and turn it like normal. One of our member tried it and says it works as advertised.... The finish solidifies the punky parts enough so that it turns well without tearing out.

[robert baccus]

as you have discovered some of the best spalt has the most punk. been fighting this for many years and have tried all the usual solutions with ver inconsistent or poor results. i finally settled on a method we used on wood boats back in the 60's. mix some fiberglass resin or epoxy resin as usual and then thin it with acetone to a somewhat watery consistency. plce your rough turned blank and the solution (pint +-) in a black vinyl yard bag and play shake and bake occasionally. the next day or so it will be soaked upand hard as a new piece of mahogany. it hardenes the fibers but does not fill the pores or change the color. i've done 20-25 and have yet to have a failure....give us some feedback!----------ol forester

[Dave Schell]

Thanks for all of the thoughts so far. Here are some pics of what I'm talking about.
The first is a bowl I finished this week. It is about 16" in diameter.
The second pic is the supply I still have of the wood.
The third one is a bowl I started last night.
And the last pic is a closeup of the punky spots - they really are just spots so the wood is not totally wasted.

Again, I know there are ways to try to fix that, but my main question is, would you try to sell these pieces if the finish still came out a bit blotchy.

[Dan Forman]

I would do whatever I had to do to bring those to completion, and be glad of it. What spectacular wood!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dave - absolutely beautiful bowl! This wood is worth turning! I would turn all of your spalted maple stash ASAP and deal with the small punky areas as I came across them.

Good luck with this! Looking forward to seeing more of this maple!

[Matt Haus]

I do it all the time. I turn it the best that I can and then apply multiple coats of minwax wood hardner. I have recently tried the thinned laquer but have not finished turned it to see the results but the minwax does great. Only thing is, you have to let it dry really well or it will gum up your sanding paper. I say go for it.

[Clara Koss]

:eek:sometimes people buy pieces BECAUSE of the weird spots or holes in the wood.... i have....

[Gary Conklin]

Crap man those are just baby spots, soak them through with poly and let it harden, or brush with Shellac and fill with CA or Epoxy and sand smooth. Finish as normal.

[Jack Mincey]

Very beautiful wood indeed. I have soaked a few coats of thin lacquer on bowls like yours and then resanded them. You can then finish them with Lacquer and the spots will be hard to spot if at all. I would get that wood all roughed out as quick as possible and start it drying. The bowls from it will be awesome.
Jack

[Jim Underwood]

I think the trick is to keep applying finish until the punky spots quit taking it. Then it won't be blotchy anymore.

[Bill Bolen]

Seems like everytime I get a punky piece I swear "I'm gonna just throw it out" but as pretty as it is I end up taking the time required! Guess I'm just a sucker for a pretty piece of spalted wood...Bill...

[Mike Minto]

i say run with it like you caught the Immaculate Reception - that wood is worth one's effort - great haul, nice work! mike

[Jim King]

I soak the soft spalt of rough turned peices in diluted carpenters glue for a couple of days and let it dry and finish turn it. Spalted wood is some of the best. If you boil the rough turned peices and air dry them for a month the glue seems to soak in all the way.

This is a Bloodwood limb that was ready for the sapwood to just rot away.

[Bernie Weishapl]

On punky spots I mix 2 part epoxy then mix in DNA till it is the consistancy of milk. I paint this on and let dry for 24 hrs. Then finish turning.

[Jason Solodow]

Would these methods work as well if the wood is already dried as opposed to fresh cut? I have 3 rough turned bowls with some absolutely wild spalting through them, but they're really punky....

Also, someone mentioned using Epoxy Resin mixed with acetone to thin it, where would you get the Epoxy Resin? Is this the same stuff you get for mixing with catalyst for gluing??

[Wilbur Pan]

I've filled those sorts of gaps with sawdust from the blank from sanding, and soaked the area with thin CA glue, and then finish turning.

Luckily, the filled void winds up looking like extra spalting. ;)

[Dave Schell]

On punky spots I mix 2 part epoxy then mix in DNA till it is the consistancy of milk. I paint this on and let dry for 24 hrs. Then finish turning.

Bernie, I'm thinking of trying this method. If I use 5 minute epoxy, will the the DNA slow the cure rate of the epoxy long enough for me to paint it on and soak it in?

Thanks, Dave

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dave sorry I didn't get back sooner. Have been out of town. I use 5 minute epoxy with no problems at all. I start painting it on as soon as I get it mixed with the DNA. Paint it on good and the DNA will draw the epoxy down into the wood. I have been using it now for 3 yrs on punky wood and it has worked well for me.

[Dave Schell]

Bernie, one more question - I have one of those "two tubes into one" packages of epoxy - how much of the tubes would you guess you use at a time for this mixture? Thanks again, Dave

[Jarrod McGehee]

Shoot, you should send all that wood out to san diego for me to play with! it's nice looking stuff