Little Help Here!!

[Nate Davey]

I was given this punky, wormy, spalted piece of Pecan by a good friend of mine, we trade wood often. This is the shape I was thinking of and with the condition the woods in, this is as thin as I want to take it. I've sanded it to 180 and will go out and take it down to 320. What next???? I was thinking Tung Oil but thought WOP might fill the punky wood better. Looking for advice

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[James Combs]

I don't have any suggestions for you but that is sure some good looking spalting.

[Dennis Ford]

I vote for tung oil. WOP is great for gloss but a matte finish would go with this better than gloss IMO.

[patrick stein]

hi nate,
with that amount of spalt I would go with wop before I would use oil. Oil tends to create a muddy look imo.



patrick

[Jim Burr]

Oil is going to soak in...messy. WoP may not fair better. I'm thinking rattle-can-lacquer the lil monster. The spalt, rot and figure is already there. Think about keeping it intact.

[Michael James]

Oil is not going to fill any gaps. Im addicted to shellac so I'd put a good barrier coat down (wax free) and then use some oil. You can avoid some of the spalting "ink" that way. Then use more shellac, and maybe wetsand with some oil if you want to build up the grain. You can always sand it back off if you dont like it.

Excellent chunk o wood you got there...I'd personally avoid a real hi gloss. Just my .02
mj

[David E Keller]

I'd probably use a few coats of thin shellac followed by WOP. The shellac seems to seal the wood better than anything else I've tried which makes the WOP easier to apply.

[Bill Bolen]

You will likely get as many different answers as there are turners. So, here's mine...I would use satin poly. With the punky soft stuff you need to seal the wood up and give those soft fibers some support. The satin will offer a much softer look. Good luck with whichever you choose and be sure to post back with you choice. You know we love pic's...Bill...

[Jim Underwood]

One of our demonstrators gave us a formula for solidifying punky wood... I think it was a 50/50 mixture of turpentine and BLO (or Watco?). Anyway you pretty much put it in a bucket of the stuff until it sank. Then you knew it was saturated, and so you took it out and let it dry. Once it's dry it turns pretty well because the punky stuff has soaked up all that finish and has hardened.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Nate just another different answer but one of experience with spalted pecan. If you would like to pop the colors and accentuate the contrasts of that color I would use BLO, season good then use a sealing coat of lacquer maybe satin.:)

[Nate Davey]

Thanks all for the advice. I did a coat of sanding sealer, shellac based????, then a flood coat of WOP and this is what it looks like. Sorry about the poor photo, I'll get a better one up when it's done.

Jim, very interesting technique. My buddy has a pile of this stuff, may try it on the next one.


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[Bernie Weishapl]

Nate that turned out pretty well. I have always had good luck using Antique Oil. I just soak it till it won't take anymore.

[Nate Davey]

This is sanding sealed with one coat of WOP. I like it as is and don't think I'll take it any farther. Thank you all for taking the time to send some advice my way. Candid criticism appreciated.

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[Jim Heikes]

That is a beautiful piece. I'd kill to get my hands on some wood like that. You did a great job. BE PROUD!!! How's the weather in NC. I haven't been able to contact Packard Woodworks for 2 days

[Nate Davey]

Jim, thanks for the compliment. We had 6" of snow and 1/2" of ice on top. Shut the state down. Everything should be back to "normal" tomorrow

[Bill Hensley]

Nate, you did good on that piece. I've tried oil on spalted wood and the results were disappointing (dull). I typically seal wood in this condition with shellac , maybe multiple coats before a top coat of something satin or semi-gloss.

[David E Keller]

I think it looks great. I like the soft finish that you obtained, and the form is nice as well.