Now what? Should I pitch it?

[Tom Albrecht]

I waited a bit too long on this white oak stump I had sitting on site for a few years. It got spalted pretty well, but it went too far and got some punky stuff going on now too. It is still a bit damp and I am wondering if I should bother filling it with something and complete it, or just call it fire wood.
Any suggestions?

 

[John Torchick]

Rustoleum would look nice. But, not an expert on salvaging wood. Will check to see what others say.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

it did not crack......surface needs something .....if you could raise the surface 1/2 inch or so both inside and outside then return it.....maybe take poplar or basswood and shread it.....make a dough with ole yellow glue....not sure how the chuck will work.....maybe only coat either the inside first see how that works....then reverse it.....course it will burn good as dry as it is

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

As John Jordan has been heard to say " Life is too short to turn crappy wood"
Find another piece of sound wood and enjoy turning it.
Unless you enjoy the challenge.
Dealing with wood hardeners, filling, resin, too much extra work. And then finishing.
I find too much frustration in finishing a good piece to what I consider a good enough level.
We are all in this for different things, but you asked....

 

[hockenbery]

I would have likley discarded it before putting it on the lathe or after the initial roughing if it didin't look like it was going to cut cleanly with water or shellac.

I test suspect punky wood with a dull flat bladed screwdriver. If it just dents the wood a little when pushed in gently it is ok to turn and I will get clean surface by wetting the wood with water or by applying thin shellac to stiffen the fibers before the final cut.

If the screwdriver goes in over an 1/8" deep easily it is too soft to cut well unless stabilized. Polyall 2000 will make it turnable. But then it is more plastic than wood. I do not enjoy using Polyall and it is $40 a for a quart(16 oz of each part). The would has to have some over arching intrinsic value for me to use pollyall.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I live in the post oak belt of Texas. In the 1800's and early 1900's, post oak, a white oak, was commonly split and used to make fence posts, hence the name post oak. Those posts last a very long time and I occasionally come across some of these old fence posts in the rural area where I own some property. The barbed wire has usually rusted away many decades ago. The neat thing about post oak is the worse it looks in the rough, the better it often looks after it is turned. This may not apply to all varieties of white oak.

My eyes aren't good enough to see the details in the pictures, but It appears that there is a lot of tearout ... maybe it is too far gone. If so, I agree with Mark Wollschlager. Maybe put it back outside for a few more years and let it finish enriching the soil.

 

[john lucas]

Depends entirely on how much time and possibly money you are willing to spend on it. Sometimes I get a piece like this and the challenge of getting something out of it just takes over and I spend far too much time and money for what I ever get out of it. I know I saved it and I'm really proud of it but no one else I show it too knows or cares. So I've kind of reached the stage now where I would rather just toss this and spend my valuable time working on a decent piece of timber. Even after I say that I still find my self trying to save a piece every now and then. I guess it's just the personal satisfaction of saying I did it.

 

[odie]

Tom.......I probably would have gone about as far as you did......then chuck it!

-----odie-----

 

[Gretch Flo]

Tom.......I probably would have gone about as far as you did......then chuck it!

-----odie-----

Or UNCHUCK it!!

 

[odie]

Or UNCHUCK it!!

Heh,heh,heh........true.......now, why didn't I think of that?

 

[olaf Vogel]

I'm guessing your issue is the tearout?
The grain would make for a nice bowl.

Soak it in epoxy and turn it when hard. You'll get a great piece.
For really punky pieces I soak and toss them in a vacuum chamber, to pull the epoxy right into the gaps.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I'm lucky that I live in the country, no neighbors. I also have a nice deep gulch that I use to dump green waste. Its only 30 yards from my shop. That piece would be at the bottom of the gulch already, lol Someday I would like to build a duct so all my shavings go into the gulch, seen something like that on a web site, but the guy was closer to the edge...

 

[odie]

I'm guessing your issue is the tearout?
The grain would make for a nice bowl.

Soak it in epoxy and turn it when hard. You'll get a great piece.
For really punky pieces I soak and toss them in a vacuum chamber, to pull the epoxy right into the gaps.

It would be interesting to see more on this process.

Using epoxy in bulk would be pretty expensive.....no?

-----odie-----

 

[Zach LaPerriere]

It would be interesting to see more on this process.

Using epoxy in bulk would be pretty expensive.....no?

-----odie-----

It's around 100 bucks a gallon at my local supplier. A buddy put over a half gallon of black epoxy into a single bowl! Stunning bowl. Though I personally am more partial to turning wood than plastic.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I saw a 0.85 fluid ounce package of Gorilla Epoxy Glue for $5.82. That comes to a hair over $875 per gallon.

Considering the shelf life and the rate that I use epoxy, I still come out ahead buying the little packages in the hardware store

 

[olaf Vogel]

It would be interesting to see more on this process.

Using epoxy in bulk would be pretty expensive.....no?

-----odie-----

Yeah the price is high, but its allows for options that I dont know how to get otherwise. And a gallon does last a long time.
Epoxy is a really amazing material to work with.

Personally, I love working with the pieces that have lots of character.

Here's one (before final polishing). About 20" high, 14" in dia.

I'm very different from many people. I have a giant wood pile, in various stages of decomposition.
This is more due to lack of time, rather than planning - admittedly. I'm just launching a new company and have a baby on the way, so turning is a luxury

When I get a chance, I toss a piece on the lathe and see how it looks. Its the wood has awesome colors like this, then I keep going.
This was punky enough to pull of chunks with my fingernail. I rough turned it, dried, soaked in epoxy, finish turned it and sanded. Then it got a final coat and polishing.

It now in the office of an investment advisor in Switzerland.

 

[Tim Leiter]

I would definitely toss it out. My opinion would be to not waste any more of your time on that piece.