Well, I decided to make a bigger shop mallet out of a nice oak log so I wouldn't use up my precious black walnut. The outside of the log looked fine
As I was starting to shape a handle, I started running into these "sponge tentacles" for lack of a better description. I managed to yank them all out with needle-nose pliers, and then blew out/cleaned out the voids with DNA and pipe-cleaners. I'm assuming they're a fungus of some sort. I feel like Forrest Gump with his box of chocolates-"you never know what you're going to get" lol. I'm thinking about filling the voids with black epoxy, taping them up and then finishing it that way. I'd hate to think I made all those shavings for nothing!
I'm assuming you more experienced turners have see many surprises under the bark-I'd be interested to see some if you have pics. Aaron
As I was starting to shape a handle, I started running into these "sponge tentacles" for lack of a better description. I managed to yank them all out with needle-nose pliers, and then blew out/cleaned out the voids with DNA and pipe-cleaners. I'm assuming they're a fungus of some sort. I feel like Forrest Gump with his box of chocolates-"you never know what you're going to get" lol. I'm thinking about filling the voids with black epoxy, taping them up and then finishing it that way. I'd hate to think I made all those shavings for nothing!
I'm assuming you more experienced turners have see many surprises under the bark-I'd be interested to see some if you have pics. Aaron