new boys question. spalting.

How do you prepare the soft spalted bits ? I am not talking spongy just softer.. ish.

Soak well in ca then try again with very sharp tools. You may have to do it more than once

To start with don't use anything to harden the soft areas as you will just waste time and any sealer you put on. Get close to the shape/form that you want then start to apply either CA glue or a thin sander sealer keep the tool sharp and take thin cuts if you feel that you have turned away the sealed area then apply more. Again keep the tool sharp you may be a little limited to the finish as the sealer will not allow oils to be used as they need to soak into the wood.
If the wood is not to soft then light cuts with a very sharp chisel can work without stabilising. Also be careful when sanding as you can get undulations if you over sand so a good finish off of the chisel and very light sanding. This last one means that you can use oils.

Avoid hand sanding and use a flat support for the abrasive to stop hollowing.

Peter.

I would say, once turned to somewhere near the finished shape, you can stabilise it with thin CA.

Dwelling on this subject I have perhaps 50 prepared blanks that are spalted in a great variety of timbers all sound but spalted. Then we come to punky, they go in the bin.
Tasmanian Black Hearted Sassafras is Spalted by nature where the spalting is just as strong as the rest but black in waves and lines (beautiful timber). The condition comes from a variety of causes,me I stick to useable and bin the rest,so many wonderful timbers in this world.I cannot access my blank room or I would do an essay with pics,I am getting there room by room. Today I found a bag with precious treasures put away for that special occasion,cut and drilled three rippers,gazing right now at four precious cast blanks from famous people in the US,ready to turn. Happiness is a beaut blank.The lathes are surrounded but will yield over Christmas .My New Year resolution is to try to get it immaculate.

Peter.

Bucks said:

I would say, once turned to somewhere near the finished shape, you can stabilise it with thin CA.

Click to expand...

Yep, or sanding sealer on milder cases. Just keep feeding the wood with either until it stops absorbing.

Lots of good advise above Kevin, but the key points are don't waste any effort or chemicals until you are close to your finished shape, and go gently with the abrasives - it's easy to hollow soft wood.

Kevin the ideal solution would be to stabilize the blank.

Thanks for all the good tips. I will see how it goes.

If it too soft, there is always the 80 grit gouge.