Stabilized Spalted Willow

[alamocdc]

I got this Willow from Dario. Some may remember his post about whether or not it would be turnable some time back. This is the last of my poly stabilized blanks. I start turning the plexi stabilized stuff tomorrow. I have to admit that this one turned out much better than any of the other poly stabilized species, but I'm not sure why. They all turned about the same. They were all VERY difficult to sand though... the poly gums up the sandpaper very quickly. Solved this by applying 3 coats (instead of 2) of Deft Sanding Sealer after the 220 grit. Then sanded with 320 and all the way out with MM. Finished with homemade lacquer based FP.

 

[pastorbill1952]

Nice looking pen. The spalt makes a rather bland piece of wood take on definition.

 

[Dario]

Billy,

Nice but looks like most of the spalting was turned away!!! Maybe one day I'll play with it but for now I have other wood to keep me busy []

 

[rtjw]

Good looking pen. It does look like there is not a lot spalting

 

[alamocdc]

Thanks, guys! While there were not many black spalt lines in this Willow, the spalting effect can be seen in the grain (though maybe not that well in my picture).

 

[wayneis]

Billy when ever I get woods that clog the sand paper like that I wet sand using blo, in fact I have a set of micro mesh that I use just for sanding with blo. If you do this it won't clog the paper and you will get a beautiful shiny smooth surface. This is what I hve been doing with woods like thuya burl and antique long leaf pine because they are both so resinous.

Wayne

 

[alamocdc]

Thanks, Wayne!!!! [] I just added a new wrinkle to my brain. I have a set of MM strips set aside for wet sanding my PRs and acrylics, but never thought of that.

 

[dubdrvrkev]

Looks good Billy.
A lot better that my first attempt at some. I turned without stablizing and I had a hard time keeping it round so it is hanging on the wall of shame right now.

 

[rlh]

Great looking pen Billy. Do you feel that the lacquer based friction polish is superior to shellac based? If so in what ways? Are application times basically the same?

 

[jvsank]

Great looking pen.

 

[alamocdc]

Thanks again, everyone! Richard, I'm not sure. I've not been able to get the gloss from the lacquer based that I get from shellac based, but I'm getting closer. The finish also feels more "natural" for some reason, so I suspect that it will wear better. Time will have to tell on that, but I've been happy enough with it that I'm sticking with it and now only using the shellac based FP for ornamental bowls and the like. Application times are nearly identical. The one exception would be that you need to let the lacquer based FP "cure" for at least 15 minutes between applications. I usually go about 30. Seems like a real pain, but so far it has been worth it. The last two pens I did, I applied two coats 20 to 30 minutes apart and then "burned" the finish in one last time after 30 minutes with no additional solution.