sycamore finishing question

[Chris Haas]

i finish turned a spalted sycamore bowl last week and now i'm on to finishing it. it seems that there are "pockets" in the endgrain that dont want to take finish. i have never run across this oh, also i have been trying to seal it with watco salad bowl finish, first time using. basically i seem to get a splotchy finish and dont know if this is normal for the watco, or for sycamore, or for spalted pieces or a combo of all.

[Jeff Nicol]

Chris, When turning spalted things and just about any wood, the end grain needs to be cut as clean as possible or sanded out until you can't see the difference between the flat grain and the end grain. This is where sanding in reverse and using some sort of sanding sealer to stiffen up the end grain for the last cut really helps. I use thinned down shellac to stablize the end grain and the softer spalted areas. You can tell if you have all the end grain and soft areas of pullout good for finish by putting on some DNA, lacquer thinner or naptha to wet the area down this will show you the spots that need some extra work. Post a picture so we can see for sure what is going on.

Jeff

[Dave Schell]

Chris, without seeing a picture, it is pretty hard to tell, but my guess is that the pockets have nothing to do with the Watco or the Sycamore, but more that the wood was starting to turn a bit punky before you started to turn it. There are ways to fix those spots a bit, but in my experience it is really difficult to make those spots go completely away. I posted a separated thread on this a few weeks ago. Some folks think those spots add "character" - I like that view and so now they don't bother me so much either. :-)

[Chris Haas]

i dont think i can post a pic good enough that you will be able to see what i'm talking about, but i think its option 2 "starting to get punky" because i always make sure to have sharp tools on finishing cuts and i alternate sanding direction every other grit all the way up to 1200. i think that i will keep putting coats of finish on and see what happens

just for my understanding, are those punky spots rejecting the finish or are the sucking it up more than the non punky areas?

[David E Keller]

soaking up more typically

[Dave Schell]

Chris, I think those spots are soaking up the finish not rejecting it. But I think the bigger problem with punky spots is that the structure and integrity of the wood has changed - some fibers have been lost and the wood has started to become spongelike with micro-voids Imagine trying to get a good finish by applying oil to a sponge and you can see what you are against, just on a much smaller scale with each spot.

I've come to realize that I am much more critical of my pieces than most people that will ever own them. As I said before, it's "character." I'm still not over the endgrain splits though - they drive me crazy and I have been tossing a lot of bowls lately with that type of defect.

[Bernie Weishapl]

It is soaking it up. I just keep it wet as soon as it looks dry I wet it again till it doesn't take anymore.

[Chris Haas]

thanks guys, i kind of thought it was soaking it up, but its been driving me crazy so i wanted to ask the question. thanks again.