Spalted Maple Strength

[Prashun Patel]

My go-to finish is usually oil/varnish. I think I might shellac this chair, though. I saw some shellacked chairs at a show a few weeks ago, and it felt so nice. Also, been itchin' to spray again.

Anyway, my q is regarding how to harden any soft spots. I'm planning to inject some CA glue into a couple patches. But should I do this before, in the middle of, or after I shellac? I'm planning on using Garnet.

My instinct is CA first, and that it won't hurt the color.

[Prashun Patel]

I finished rough carving the seat blank. This is an experiment. Not sure how it'll even look....

[Seri Robinson]

CA glue before you shellac. The shellac will then help even out any color change.

CA glue is your best bet for spot hardening of spalted wood if you're using a penetrative finish. You could skip the whole mess though if you just used a top-coat water based.

[Dennis Lopeman]

I liked that first link to the Baur Stool... cool look - looks like a butt-splitter thought!! HAHA...

ok - that's all I had... if anything I just like to make jokes... a lot.......

[Cody Colston]

Shawn, that chair is gonna look spectacular. I'd build it just too look at, even if it was too weak to sit in.

+1 on CA glue for small soft/punky areas. The thin CA will really soak in, too.

You could also consider Minwax wood hardener for large areas or maybe even the entire seat. It's about the viscosity of water and will soak in just like the thin CA. I use it, as do many turners, on lathe pieces that are punky. I'd check it on a test piece first, though and see how it looks under shellac.

[Prashun Patel]

This has been an interesting experience.

All the joining and crude shaping is complete. Now comes the fun/hard part: sculpting. The last time I did this, I used handtools for about 90% of the work. I'm trying to use the grinder and ROS as much as possible on this one. That's really the only way to be able to do this multiple times.

Carving spalted wood is very difficult. Soft areas tend to machine like soft pine. So, getting smooth flowing lines is hard with aggressive tools like grinders or rough rasps.

I'm going to try to harden some of the soft areas before final shaping.

Live and learn, yo!

[Cody Colston]

That chair is gonna look awesome! You are working very fast, too.

I can hardly wait to see it with finish on it.

[Prashun Patel]

Coty-you know that 90% of the work is the sculpting and finishing!!!
I also took a shortcut: I didn't roundover the leg joints. I squared off the mortises with a chisel instead. I wanted to test how it looks on this 'prototype' chair...

[Prashun Patel]

Finished.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ed+maple+chair