Mineral spirits

[Deane Allinson]

Some of the guys at work that do carving use mineral spirits on some woods to soften it. Does this work well for turning dry wood?
Deane

[Scott Hackler]

The only use (for me) to use mineral spirits is to raise the grain and reveal sanding marks...during the sanding process.

[Marty Eargle]

I could be wrong, but I doubt MS would penetrate all that deep into wood. I'm sure a good soak would leave a small layer a bit softer for some final cleanup cuts, but I wouldn't expect much.

Like Scott said, it's really better for cleaning up the surface a raising a little grain. I have little experience with it, but perhaps Denatured alcohol has a little better penetration, but would probably only keep the wood soft for a short time.

[terry mccammon]

Under the heading of what it is worth, I have seen carvers with a spray bottle of 50/50 water and DNA that they spritz their work with it they think the wood is "too hard". It was always basswood that I saw being so treated. My understanding is that if you over do it you can get splitting.

[Prashun Patel]

Mineral spirits doesn't raise the grain (I don't think). Water or DNA (which has a little water) might, but I've never had MS do that.

When planing some curly cherry, I found that a BLO soak did help with tearout. I imagine the same'd be true with MS. I can't vouch that this occurs all the time - I only tried it once. So, I wonder if an MS or oil soak would help with tear out during the finishing cuts.

[Rob Price]

I haven't tried it yet, but the Rowley book I read talks about using BLO or other oils to soften end grain in preparation for finishing cuts. Just be sure to use something compatible with your final finish. I'm just starting to rough out green bowls though, I won't have anything to finish for a while.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use mineral spirits to check for sanding lines. I haven't noticed it making the wood softer. I haven't had MS or DNA raise the grain. Water surely does.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have heard woodcarvers using White Vinegar to take the fuzz off of carvings.

[Rob Price]

I just finished a bowl from kiln dried mahogany and tried the BLO trick and it produced a very nice finish. I got as clean of a cut as I could with the gouge. Soaked it in BLO for a few minutes, and then took very light passes with a scraper and got a great finish with little to no tear out on the end grain. Of course it helps that BLO is a part of the finish I intend to use, but I thought I'd post my results.

[Josh Bowman]

Deane, I think you may mean mineral oil? I use it while sanding, it really goofs up the sand paper, but makes the wood sand well. I know when I cut threads in wood I soak the dowel first in mineral oil, it really helps cut clean threads. At the TAW symposium, Dale Larson used mineral/walnut oil on the bowls while he cut them and sanded. Also keeps the dust down.