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Spalted Curly Maple

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Will Roos

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Jul 17, 2008
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I have 2 pieces of spalted curly maple. Have turned a bowl out of 1 and encountered punk and extreme soflness. Tried Minwax wood hardener to no avail. It doesnt live up to its name in this wood. The hardener effects the finnish also. Anybody with a magic bullit or helpful advice?
 
You could try Polycrill. Or you could try three part epoxy. To make three part epoxy mix up epoxy as you normally would. Then add denatured alcohol solvent.
 
oil soak

I rub on walnut oil from the grocery store and let it soak a little and then cut with a really sharp tool or scraper with very light cuts. This does not harden the wood but lets you cut it instead of pull it out leaving pits.

Vernon
 
This is what happens when wood becomes spalted over too long a time or is stored improperly during that period. There are treatments to harden rotted areas which can certainly be applied and there are numerous products designed to do this, but a judgement should be made as to how extensive the rotting is.

Care should be taken to avoid breathing the dust.

Malcolm Smith
 
Another opinion on spalting. http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/producing-spalted-wood.pdf I've found the scientific information at the site extremely valuable.

So you're likely dealing with white rot, the type that destroys the lignin as well as the cellulose. Lignin is the glue that holds the fibers in place, so I'd suggest glue as the solution. CA is often used, but it must be reapplied quite often, because even the thin stuff doesn't go in too far. Polyvinyl glue - standard wood glues - are water based, and water binds to cellulose (what's left of it), so some people take a 50/50 mix to thin and let the water drag the glue. Acrylic finishes diluted with water will do pretty much the same, staying behind to "bulk" the fibers and hold them together. Not attractive visually, sad to say.

I'm fond of cutting sharp and thin, sanding broadly so that I don't dig into the soft spots, then consolidating with shellac. The alcohol isn't quite as active as water at binding, but it does carry the resin in at a 1# cut. Doesn't give an opalescent look to the spot, either.

If you're allergic to molds, make sure you mask up and keep Benadryl handy when working with the bark. Lots of spores in and under.
 
The problem with most solutions I see posted is that they only solve the issue of cutting. They don't solve the problem of fiber or wood hardness in those punky areas. I got a product to test called polyall that would work. It is made for that type of issue and I first dismissed it because it drys opaque yellow, but thin enough and it would work in this application. It is essentially a two part casting material that could be brushed on or soaked in and drys FAST, about 10 minutes before you could turn it. It is a two part mix and water thin, so it may soak into the areas you are trying to harden. I will disclose that they gave it to me to test to look at creating a "how to" here, but I didn't like the results for what I thought would have been stabilizing.

I use it for quick turnaround one shot molds and it works well. But that's not what we are speaking of here.
 
You might also try a 1 lbs cut of shellac, or a nitrocellulose sanding sealer. True it does not penetrate very deep, but with patience it can get you there. Also, you may need to hone your tool or break out the 80 grit gouge.
 
You might want to try pc petrifier. It's water based similar to polycryl, except polycry works best on wet wood. pc petrifier works best on dry wood (that's what they told me when I called them) I tried it on some spalted maple that I rough turned to shape while wet, then left it to dry before soaking with pc petrifier. It seemed to firm up the punky areas real well, although I haven't finish turned it yet. From what I read before I tried it, water based is preferred to epoxy as epoxy can tend to give a blotchy finish while water based does not.

Check out http://www.pcepoxy.com/woodproducts/woodpetrif.asp
I found it at Rona Home Centre in Canada, Home Depot or Lowe's may stock it in the US or it's available on-line, check out amazon.com
 
Steve Worcester said:
The problem with most solutions I see posted is that they only solve the issue of cutting. They don't solve the problem of fiber or wood hardness in those punky areas.
Click to expand...

Can actually worsen the problem, because the stiff surface is so shallow that "breakthroughs" to the soft stuff underneath can happen, adding an ugly crushed area to the equation. Why I cut without.

Sanding can become a problem as well. The heavy-duty stiffeners like epoxies can result in a proud area, while the glue or shellac can soften and gum up the paper with surprisingly little heat. Why I like to sand without.

Of course it takes the broad gouge with lots of bevel kissing the wood to cut, and a supported sander to do it best.
 
MichaelMouse said:
Can actually worsen the problem, because the stiff surface is so shallow that "breakthroughs" to the soft stuff underneath can happen, adding an ugly crushed area to the equation. Why I cut without.

Sanding can become a problem as well. The heavy-duty stiffeners like epoxies can result in a proud area, while the glue or shellac can soften and gum up the paper with surprisingly little heat. Why I like to sand without.

Of course it takes the broad gouge with lots of bevel kissing the wood to cut, and a supported sander to do it best.
Click to expand...

True. Easy to pick up an open grain bowl and feel the undulations across the grain between the early and late wood caused by excessive and or aggressive sanding.
 
Part of becoming a good woodturner is knowing when to quit. Just because it's curly AND spalted, doesn't mean it's good or worth the time. I would never try to save punky/soft wood it will never look good. Look how much time/effort/expense you have in it already. A few trial cuts and toss it if it's too soft is my best advice.

Life is to short to turn crappy wood.😀

John
 
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