White Alder follow up

[Bert Solis]

What would you suggest on the finish???
I would love to have the spalting show, but if I use an oil base finish the lighter wood will darken and possibly hide the dark lines.
Would any of you bleach the wood and then finish it???
So far I have hollowed the inside and started the carving on the flutes, sanding and finishing will follow.
Note the holding for the vessel, this is used in the movie industry by the "Grip brothers" for holding movie and camera equipment.
Thank you for your responses.

Merry Christmas all

[Cathy Schaewe]

I'd use lacquer. My .02.

[Mark Hubl]

I have had good luck with lacquer on spalted pieces. Punky spots will suck it up though. I have read others having good luck with the waterbased polys and acrylics. The manufactures claim they are crystal clear. Hopefully someone who has used them will chime in.

By the way the piece is coming along nicely. Thanks for sharing the WIP pics
Any leads on the grip hardware? Thanks.

[alex carey]

Wow Bert, thats some beautiful work you've done there.

[John Keeton]

I would start with Behlen's vinyl sealer, and then go with a bunch of coats of brush on Deft lacquer. After about the third or fourth coat, sand it level with 400 and then 600. Then add more coats.

Very nice work - obviously took a lot of time, and I do like the clamping method! That could come in handy for a lot of things.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bert - sure can see the potential in this! Looking forward to seeing it completed!

Mark - I know Trent Bosch makes a carving stand - should do about the same thing: http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Carving___Pyrography___Carving___Bosch_Carving_Sta nd___bosch_carving_stand?Args=

[David E Keller]

That's a really cool looking piece. An oil finish will darken everything, so I think you'll still see the spalting... In fact, it may show up better. The one knock against oil on spalted wood seems to be the potential for creating a 'muddy' appearance. My personal tastes lean toward a soft, satin finish on something like this, so oil and/or wax would be my first choice. A lot of the Hawaiian turners seem to use an oil soaking method on spalted woods like Norfolk/Cook pine with great success.