I have been working with some pieces of dry brittle dusty wood. I have a suspicion it is box elder based on the smell and the red stain in the wood. I ususally don't have any big issues hollowing, but I haven't been able to find a way of effectively hollowing this wood when turned in the end grain orientation.
I have tried scrapers, bowl gouges, spindle gouges and even the trusty termite tool. The wood seems to be too dry and too brittle to cut cleanly. The termite comes the closest to what I would call a shaving, but even then it is a short cut and then "rip the wood" the rest of the way. I have been considering treating the wood to see if it makes it more "docile". I was thinking about using cellulose sanding sealer to see if that strengthens the wood enough to get a clean cut. Or perhaps using an oil would make the wood more flexible and give a cleaner cut? Does anybody have any experience with these techniques? Or is there something else I haven't thought of (other than the firewood pile) that would work?
Of course I can always stick with the termite, hog it out and use the 80 grit gouge to clean it up.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Jeff
I have tried scrapers, bowl gouges, spindle gouges and even the trusty termite tool. The wood seems to be too dry and too brittle to cut cleanly. The termite comes the closest to what I would call a shaving, but even then it is a short cut and then "rip the wood" the rest of the way. I have been considering treating the wood to see if it makes it more "docile". I was thinking about using cellulose sanding sealer to see if that strengthens the wood enough to get a clean cut. Or perhaps using an oil would make the wood more flexible and give a cleaner cut? Does anybody have any experience with these techniques? Or is there something else I haven't thought of (other than the firewood pile) that would work?
Of course I can always stick with the termite, hog it out and use the 80 grit gouge to clean it up.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Jeff