What to do with Bartlett pear bowl?

[pmpartain]

Sorry, I am at work and do not have pictures. I recently got a 33 inches section of a Bartlett Pear tree about 16 inches in diameter at the base. I got the piece from right at the ground up to 33 inches. I split the stump section through the pith and turned one half of the base of the tree and found that a lot of the heartwood is "punky" I don't know if that is the right term. There is spalting in the wood and a lot of the heartwood does not turn well. The wood is not rotten, but it might be on its way there. Mostly turns into gibbles when cutting. Is there a product to soak into that area so that it turns well? It is a fairly large area. I tried a sharp bowl gouge and even scrapers but was not very successful in avoiding massive tear out. Any advice is appreciated. Oh, the wood is wet, I treated the first one with end grain sealer and am waiting for it to dry. I have the other half, and another section for two bowls about 14 inches in diameter from the next section of the tree left.

Thanks very much.

 

[bensoelberg]

I've never done it, but I've heard some people will soak the bad spots with Elmer's white glue diluted with water. I've also read of people mixing Epoxy and Denatured alcohol until it is a milky consistency and painting that on the punky wood.

 

[pmpartain]

Thanks! Good suggestions. I thought about thin CA glue (works on pens) but I thought that would be really expensive and I'm not sure how safe it would be to let that much CA out of the bottle at one time!

 

[ohiococonut]

Those are pretty good sizes but you could try pouring/soaking them in Minwax Wood Hardner until it doesn't absorb it anymore. I stabilize punky blanks with it and it works very well.

 

[bitshird]

How wet is the wood, Bartlett Pear usually turns well when wet/fresh cut, it even turns well dry. The heartwood should be reasonably compact grain, unless it has been attacked by a fungus or other tree disease. Sounds like a great challenge, and a nice size for turning stock.

 

[pmpartain]

The heartwood that is unaffected turns great. So smooth just from the bowl gouge. There are black spalting lines running throughout and two tones of the punky wood. If I don't wreck it, should be some pretty nice stuff. The tree was alive and well until the excessive rain here softened the ground and then high winds blew the tree over. Roots were not that deep. I was suprised to see the spalting and punky wood. Another challenge was that it appears that two trunks merged together and left deep valleys on one side. I tried to incorporate that but ended up having to turn that section completely off. I have two more halves to try. I have them in a garbage bag to slow moisture evaporation until I can turn them.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I've turned a number of pieces from Bradford pear... if you have "punky" wood in the heart, the tree was being stressed and is beginning to rot... usually all of the wood I've had has been really solid and relatively close grained.... as the wood dries, it will go from the initial gold and pinkish colors to a nice light amber color... I like turning the wood.

Bradford's do have a tendency to stress easily and have internal stresses that cause them to break... as a tree they do seem to be brittle to some degree.

 

[pmpartain]

Has anyone ever used the Polycril or Pentacril products from Woodcraft or Craft Supply? Do you have to submerge the piece in the liquid or just brush the stuff on? Does it work well?

 

[srf1114]

I have two more halves to try.

How did you get more than 2 "halves" in the first place? :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[pmpartain]

Cut the stump into a 20 " long and a 14" log. Got 4 halves really. Call me a politician. Oops that politics isn't it. Guess I should talk about religion too since the world ends tomorrow.

 

[Akula]

Minwax Wood Hardner

 

[pmpartain]

Second recommendation for the Minwax. Apply with the wood wet or after drying? I can get that at Lowes I think. Thanks.

 

[KenV]

John Jordan is often quoted (with slight change of words) "why turn crappy wood". There is a lot of sound safe wood around.

Sounds like heart rot -- and perhaps something called "shake" that comes in hard woods from fungus.

Heart Rot is not safe to be trying to turn into a large bowl. Shake is worse. Cut back to firm wood and sometimes that means smaller bowls, or other items come out of it.

A woman died this week from injury when a turning blew up and hit her in the face with large pieces of wood.

 

[pmpartain]

Wow! That's not good! I do wear the triton respirator with a full face sheild and helmet. This isn't ring shake. The wood has spalted and maybe you could call it heart rot. I've already gotten the rough turning done and need something to harden the wood a bit to get rid of the tearout. I agree, be safe, but this stuff is ok to turn and it is going to look great when it is done.