First Spalted Maple Attempt

[John Kananis]

This is my first time turning spalted maple and let me tell you, it's a pretty tough wood (for me) to keep from tearing out. Very punky and soft. The rim makes it look chunky but the entire piece is about 1/8 inch thick. Very light and delicate.

[Robert Hayward]

Nice work, and a pretty piece of wood. 1/8" is really thin for turning a piece of spalted maple from my experience.

[John Kananis]

Thank you for the nice compliment, Robert.

Yes, it seems very delicate and lite at 1/8. To be completely honest, my intention was for slightly thicker but I kept tearing out and needed to fix it. This piece came off the end of a board, really figured but kind of "corky" so not very useful anywhere else.

Nice work, and a pretty piece of wood. 1/8" is really thin for turning a piece of spalted maple from my experience.

[Robert Marshall]

I've had that experience a lot (tear-out resulting from spalted wood being 'punky'). My go-to solution is to make a semi-final pass, minimizing the tear out as best I can using speed and sharp tools. Then, treat the surface with thinned epoxy (epoxy mixed per instructions, then thinned with maybe 25% additional volume of alcohol). This makes the epoxy thin enough to soak deeply into the punky wood fibers. Brush it on, generously. Let it cure thoroughly, then go back for the final pass. This treatment should stiffen the wood fibers enough to get a much cleaner cut, with little to no tear out.

Note: I generally use epoxy for the finish coating after turning the bowl, so I don't worry about compatibility between the stiffening solution and the final coating: it's the same stuff, except for the alcohol thinning.

[John Kananis]

Robert, I'll try that out next time I have a chuck of wood like this. Thank you for the info.