Spalted Mango

[Haynie]

I am dealing with my first spalted wood. I had no idea how soft this stuff was. Tear outs and break ups are normal. I am about to go back to acrylic and PR. Sooooooo much easier to turn.

Is there a way to make this not so crappy to work with?

 

[keithkarl2007]

Sounds like it has gone too far and is gone all punky. You could always get it stabilized.

 

[Justturnin]

You can stabilize it . Have it stabilized / Soak w/ CA turn, Soak w/ CA Turn.........

 

[RogerH]

+1 on what Chris said. Coat with thin CA, turn a couple passes very carefully with a super sharp skew, then coat with CA again.

I just had the same problem with a cross cut zebra wood, and found that the skew and lots of CA did the trick. BTW, I put CA on each END of the blanks, as well as across the face.

The end result when you use spalted wood is worth the effort, though like the other members mentioned to you, it is easiest to turn if you buy it already stabilized (pumped full of CA under pressure).

Good luck.

 

[Haynie]

What do you mean soak in CA then turn. Do I literally put the blank in a big ol bottle of CA?

 

[Justturnin]

I would take a piece of folded up paper towel and w/ the lathe turning slowly drip the CA onto the turning blanks and rub it with the towel to spread. Dont linger becasue you will glue the towel to the blank or your fingers. Use Thin CA so it will soak in.

 

[IPD_Mr]

I have never had any problem with splatted curly mango, but it is a wood much like black palm in that you need a scary sharp skew. It is a beautiful wood and will require much more CA than most woods. If you take light passes, it should look like someone used a pepper grinder over your lathe.

 

[Haynie]

maybe that is the problem. Tools not sharp enough and using the gouge I always use to start out with. I will try the CA thing too.

 

[dmott]

Sorry for spamming the boards with a pen I just made, but it applies to this topic.

Made this from rotten spalted punky oak burl from a firewood pile. I used a lot of CA glue (thin) and squirted in the voids as far as I could. Did this twice while turning, letting it dry naturally (no activator) for 10 minutes or so. Then soaked again with thin before applying 20 or more layers of medium CA then finishing.

The wood had fairly large pockets of punky wood that would just fall right out, you can see the tube in a few places but goes OK with the gold hardware.

 

[ssajn]

Use sharp tools. A skew works best for me but any sharp gouge will work. Just take light pass's and stabilize using thin CA as needed.

 

[nava1uni]

Another way to help the wood not be so punky is to drill the hole for the tube then put the blank in a glass jar and cover it with Minwax hardener. Let it sit for a few days and then take it out and let it dry for a couple of days. You might find that this makes working with spalted wood much easier. I use this method quite a lot and it allows me to work spalted wood easily.

 

[workinforwood]

If it's super soft rotten away, it will semi stabilize with casting it in Alumilite too. Best way though is to use the cactus juice, and very best way would be to send it out to a pro stabilizer service.