waste of time or worth the effort

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jimr

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Jan 28, 2004
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190
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Clarksville, Arkansas.
Here are a couple of pics of an elm blank I started. I am leaning toward turning down to the tube and trying another one. Elm spalts very easily and I am afraid this one just crossed the line from spalted to punky. The gouges are very sharp and I even applied CA to get it to this diameter but still lots of tear out. Any opinions would be welcom. It is a European kit, hence the tenon.

20054313950_elm.jpg


200543131044_elm2.jpg
 
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wdcav1952

Activities Manager Emeritus
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Mar 18, 2004
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Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA.
Have you tried the sanding slurry technique? Sand with 400 grit with lathe at lowest speed. When you have a fair amount of sawdust on the sandpaper, drip thin CA on the blank and move the sandpaper back and forth to spread the CA. It will pick up the dust and embed it into the defects. Do this a couple of times on each blank, and it should have a better surface and be easier to sand. Put the tools away, and finish it with sandpaper, using slurry again as needed. Hope this helps.
 

darbytee

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Aug 25, 2004
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Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Jim, I just had this exact same thing happen yesterday on a piece of mimosa that I had left alone for too long. I turned it down to rought size with the skew and then used my grit gouge to get it to final shape. Of course, I tried to get fancy after that and cut a spiral and still messed up the blank LOL.
 

dougle40

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Nov 13, 2004
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Essex, Ontario, Canada.
I've had the same problem with some Box Elder and found tha lots of CA solved the problem I actually applied 4-5 coats before it stopped soaking it up like a sponge .
 

jimr

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Jan 28, 2004
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Location
Clarksville, Arkansas.
I haven't done anything yet. I took it off the mandrel and there it sits. Leaning toward turning down to the tubes. I have a bunch of these blanks and I may try another one to see if it may not be so far gone. The spalting is very nice but I'm not sure the finished prouct would be worth the time. I will let you know if I decide to try another blank.
 
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