Spalded Bowl in progress

[Paul Singer]

I turned this spalded maple bowl to this point.
156569

It has some pitting.
156571

And small voids.
156570

I still have the tendon so I can remount if necessary to do more sanding. I was looking for recommendations on how to repair these before finishing. Or do I leave them as is.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Paul

[Steve Schlumpf]

Paul - the pitting is there because that part of the wood is punky. You may be able to turn it out if you use a really sharp gouge and very light cuts.

The small voids are actually worm holes. Some folks leave them as is - others remove all the packing and highlight the worm holes. The idea being it adds character to the piece.

Have fun with it! Great looking wood! Looking forward to seeing it once finished!

[John Hart]

I agree with Steve. Course then...if you skew away some of those pits...some others may pop up...and that can be frustrating too. You could also try some wood hardener. That will firm up the punky parts pretty good.

Worm holes are good for the soul.

[Charlie Reals]

Nice bowl Paul. I get a lot of the voids and punky wood in the spalted maple. I sand what I can get out and leave the rest.
I also spend a lot of time on "crack control" but the end result is nice.
Charlie

[James Combs]

I have found that soaking the punky spots with CA and a really sharp skew does a good job of hiding them.

[Charlie Reals]

I have found that soaking the punky spots with CA and a really sharp skew does a good job of hiding them.

+1 to that but I have found with the maple the ca will discolor the wood. No one has ever mentioned it to me but I see it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

They both look like worm holes to me. I always leave them. Gives the bowl character.

[Mark Hubl]

There is always a fine line between the beauty of spalted wood and the aggravation of punky. This does not look too bad, but you have to be there. Some slow fine sanding to fill the punky spots with dust and a conservative application of CA can work. If you put on too much CA it will stand at attention and yell FIX. After it drys start by hand sanding the spots.

It is a nice piece and worth a little work.

[David E Keller]

I tend to clean out the worm tracks and leave them empty... Occasionally I'll fill them with epoxy and some type of colorant(coffee, powdered metals, etc).

The areas of tear out are frustrating but typical with spalted woods. I often use a coat or two of shellac followed by a light cut with a very sharp tool. Often, shear scraping with a long grind bowl gouge, skew, or scraper will help get a better finish. You can also try sanding with oil, but I agree that oil can give spalted woods a muddy finish at times.

It sure is a pretty piece of wood, so I'd give it a try.

[John Keeton]

Paul, your wood does not appear to be walnut - probably maple from what I see. I have never seen spalted walnut, though it may occur.

Some good thoughts already, and I will add one more for consideration. You can wet sand with the wipe on poly, and the resulting slurry will fill a lot of smaller pitting on the piece. Follow with dewaxed shellac, and you can final finish with just about anything at that point if you do not want to use the poly.

[Paul Singer]

John you are right is is Maple. I did not see that error until you pointed it out. That's what happens when post things in a hurry.

Thanks.

(I am going to try and edit the original post)