Spalted Woods

[Daniel Heine]

Hello,

I bought eight nice peices of spalted Maple this past Saturday, and tried to make some pens with this wood for Christmas gifts. I used extra care, but three times, a peice of the wood just broke off and went flying. Is there a secret to turning this kind of wood? How do I avoid this in the future?

Thanks,
Dan Heine

[Jim King]

After the pen blanks are cut to size and dry soak them for a week in a solution of 50% carpenters glue and 50% water. After you dry them again that should do it.

There are also penetrating hardners for rotton wood on the market that I have only heard about but people say they are very good.

[Corey Hallagan]

Jim pretty much said it. Spalted wood is in various stages of decay. It usually needs stabilized if heavily spalted. Consider sending them away to be professionally stabilized if they are that decayed.

Corey

[John Hart]

There's also the Epoxy manhattan. Mix up 2 part epoxy and thin it really good with DNA and soak the blank in it....absorbancy is key. Let it sit overnight to cure.

[Barry Stratton]

I've had good luck with SHARP tools, LIGHT cuts, and a big bottle of CA glue. Make it round, apply CA.....let dry.....take some more off.....apply CA....let dry......repeat until done or blank explodes.

Good luck!

[Ernie Nyvall]

......repeat until done or blank explodes.


that's funny:D :D :D

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with John and use the epoxy cocktail a lot on spalted, knots or punky wood. It does the job.

[Mark Singer]

I have had the problem with boards...lke the Shedua....the fungus creates fault lines...I sand the edge and re glue with tight bond and that usuall works.

[David Walser]

In addition to CA, you might consider trying MinWax High Performance Wood Hardener. I've NOT tried, but I've heard other turners claim it works for them. It's supposed to do exactly what the name implies: Harden punky wood. The MinWax product essentially turns your spalted wood into plastic -- which means it might affect how the wood will accept stain or a finish. I'd try it on a small piece and see how you like the end product before using it on a pen. However, the CA and diluted white glue approaches might affect the finish, too.

Here's a web page that describes the MinWax product:

http://makezine.com/pub/tool/Minwax_High_Performance_Wood_Hardener

[Daniel Heine]

Hello,

Thank you all for your great responses. I'll try a couple of the methods described, and see what works best for me. That's what I love about this board, lot's of knowledge, and everyone is willing to share their knowledge.

Thank you all, and a very Merry Christmas to all.

Dan