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Flame Box Elder

Bleach the wood after turning it and then finish with a acrylic lacquer. The kind of bleach needed is the two part bleach which apparently isn't available, but you can make your own fairly easily. I wrote a tutorial HERE and then discovered that there had been an earlier article in the February 2013 issue of American Woodturner that gave the same information.
 
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pete marken said:
What would be the best finish to use on flame box elder? To bring out the red but not darken the light wood.
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I don't get box elder in Florida. These pieces of box elder some flame all went to new homes around 2002. They were bleached then finished with a clear water based finish containing a UV inhibiter.

I think the bleaching extends the life of the red as will a UV blocking finish.
But it is going to to turn brown :-(
 
If you want to keep the red, put it in paper bag and pull it out on special occasions
 
To keep the white white longer use water based instead of oil base top coat......poly or lacquer.....over time it will yellow...... sunlight is the culprit again......the ole paper bag storage and bring out on special occasions is the answer
 
I have a medium size vase that I made about three years ago and finished with thin Starbond CA. It still has retained most of its red color, but I expect that over the long term it will also fade. I have a couple other FBE pieces made by others. One is about eight years old and completely faded to tan. The other is about five years old and still a nice pink, but not red. C'est la vie. Woodturners get to see the transient beautiful colors in wood that others never see ... the bright yellow of bois d'arc, .the iridescent rainbow of colors in eastern redbud, etc.
 
Bill Boehme said:
I have a medium size vase that I made about three years ago and finished with thin Starbond CA. It still has retained most of its red color, but I expect that over the long term it will also fade. I have a couple other FBE pieces made by others. One is about eight years old and completely faded to tan. The other is about five years old and still a nice pink, but not red. C'est la vie. Woodturners get to see the transient beautiful colors in wood that others never see ... the bright yellow of bois d'arc, .the iridescent rainbow of colors in eastern redbud, etc.
Click to expand...
I try to make the best curves, shapes and forms that I can. If colors fade a great shape is still there.

The three most import parts of a hollow form are shape, Surface and finish.
 
This is SOME of the box elder I got in Daytona after the recent hurricane.
And it wasn't the first tree. A year ago, I stumbled on a tree that had just been downed about half a mile from my house in Ormond Beach.
The pieces pictured went to one of my club auctions.
The hollow form is long gone but from the earlier tree... Finished with a water based poly.Auction.jpg
BoxelderHF1b.jpg
 
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