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Matt Newton
11-25-2008, 4:31 PM
I have some spalted maple that I want to use for some turning. I tried some today and it seems to be very soft. Do you have to treat the wood before you turn it so it will remain stable? I apologize if this seems like a dumb question, but I'm pretty new to turning. Unfortunately, I see this becoming a huge abyss to keep dumping money into.:eek: That's OK with SWMBO as long as it keeps me out of her hair.:D
Bernie Weishapl
11-25-2008, 4:47 PM
Matt is is soft just in places or is the whole thing soft? I have had some pieces that had soft places and have used what I call a epoxy cocktail. I mix epoxy up and then mix in DNA (Denatured Alcohol) to thin it. I paint it on till it won't take any more. I let it dry 24 hrs. and turn. I have also used some wood hardener I believe that Minwax puts out that did pretty well also. I had one piece that was soft all the way thru and just chucked it because it would have taken to much to harden it.
Matt Newton
11-25-2008, 9:25 PM
It seems solid in board form, but when I turn it, it tends to not produce good shavings. How far does the hardener penetrate?
Toney Robertson
11-25-2008, 9:25 PM
Matt,

I have turned quite a bit of spalted maple and I have had good luck with CA glue. I got the thin stuff here http://www.starbond.com/ Some times I will use the thin to penetrate and then medium on top of that to harden the surface more.

I have not tried the thinned epoxy so I will defer to Bernie on that. I did try minwax wood hardner and it did not work for me.

One word of caution on the CA, you have to ruff turn to close to final thickness because the CA will only penetrate so far and if you turn past that then you are into soft wood again. It took me awhile to get the hang of when to apply the CA. Some of that depends on how soft the wood is.

Hope that helps.

Toney
Bernie Weishapl
11-25-2008, 11:03 PM
One other thing is with the soft or punky wood you need extremely sharp tools. The thinned epoxy is about the same as CA. You need to be fairly close to final thickness and I found the minwax wood hardener worked the best also if you were are final thickness.