working with spalted green wood

[Duffy Poindexter]

Ok Folks.......

I need your help. I'm new to turning and am learning as I go so any advice will be gladly accepted. I have a beautiful piece of spalted maple (9x9x3) which was cut green and sealed. My intention is to create a shallow bowl. This morning I trimmed the corners, attached a faceplate and attached it to my new Rikon lathe. She was almost balanced from the beginning with very little vibration, but just to be safe I fired her up at a slow speed. Next I took my 1/2 bowl gouge and began turning to round. So far so good.

My problem is that there seems to be a lot of tear out on the end grain, especially at more heavily spalted (and a bit spongy) spots. My question is, do I need to somehow harden the spongy areas.....and if so what do I use? I assume that in general the wood will harden a great deal as it dries, making it easier to turn smoothly when I finish to dimension several months down the road. I have already tried sharpening my tools, and using a scraper to get a cleaner surface. Still am left with a pretty rough (and in places somewhat soft) surface.

Just a note......this wood is still very green and wet.

All suggestions welcome.......happy turning!
Duffy:rolleyes:

[Bonnie Campbell]

Use some thin CA on the soft spots. If really big areas, gets some wood hardener.

[Duffy Poindexter]

Bonnie,

Thanks for the suggestion. Do I use hardener now or wait until wood is dry?:confused:

[Duffy Poindexter]

One More Question,

I am a sometimes boatbuilder and have a bit of slow dry marine epoxy on hand. Do you think this would work as a wood hardener?

Duffy

[Bonnie Campbell]

To be honest I don't know how the hardener would do on green wood. If it were me, and a lot is punky, I'd give it a try.

I don't think the epoxy would work. Isn't it pretty thick? I'd want something that could soak into the wood better.

[Barry Stratton]

This thread should help! Good luck and don't forget the pictures!!!

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=32083&highlight=Epoxy+manhatten

[Duffy Poindexter]

:D
Barry,

Thanks for the thread. I had some RAKA brand slow cure marine epoxy (cheaper then System three) sitting around so after I finished roughing out the bowl, I put on a good coat. I live in SC where it is very hot right now and the epoxy flows like water because of the heat so I didn't thin it down. After several hours it is almost dry to the touch and seems to have penetrated deeply in the spongy areas. By tomorrow it will be hard as a rock. As the piece was pretty green, I'm going to let it sit for a while and then turn it down a little further.

By the way 5 minute epoxy probably wouldn't work as it cures so quickly that it won't have time to penetrate deeply.

We'll see what happens then!
Happy Turning,
Duffy:cool: