Boiling spalted wood

[Jeremy Leasure]

I was curious if anyone had experience boiling spalted wood. Namely, does the boiling process harm the patterns and colors beyond the normal 1/16" depth that normally happens when boiling. I also thought that since the wood is starting to soften up anyway, boiling it might damage it further.

[Tim Rinehart]

Interesting question. I don't boil, but I wouldn't think it would affect the spalting much if any. Look forward to seeing what some with real experience say!

[Jim Burr]

I have a new, local source for amazing wood...if it's wet...he boils it. Normally I'd approached it with trepidation, but I stood 5' away from Jimmy Clewes turning several pieces of the boiled wood...I can't boil it, but I can verify the results...just amazing!

[Jeremy Leasure]

Hey Jim. Could you elaborate a bit on the pieces Jimmy was turning?

[Peter Blair]

I boil just about all my bowls most are splayed Maple. I have never seen any that were damaged or the pattern degraded.

[Jim Burr]

Yeah Jeremy. We supplied all of the wood he used. To be frank...I paid the most attention to the olivewood platter. I'm sure there is a pic on my phone somewhere. A guy down the road from me hooked Jimmy up with a lot of wood for the demo. We had a chat while I was leaving about his method for stabilizing "fun" wood. He swore by boiling...30 minutes, cool off in the same water and wrap it up. I don't know his exact method...once I start working again, I can approach him with $$ and questions and thoughts. I can tell you he has some amazing olive & walnut...I can't wait for some of either! He was cutting 4'x4' claro trunks on an Alaskan sawmill, 4" to 12" thick. 4 trunks standing 6' tall were in the standby area being steamed cleaned by his son. There are several threads on boiling...I am the worst for "how-did-they-do-that but if I find out more...happy to pass it on!

[Bruce Stangeby]

It seems to me that one adverse effect of the boiling would be that the water would increase the moisture content of the wood. The rotting (spalting) process will be encouraged and the wood will go punky if not used within a short time. I store my spalted wood (very prevalent in rain enriched Oregon) to get the moisture content low enough to stop the spalting. If the spalting is allowed to continue, the wood becomes to spongy to turn.

[Jeremy Leasure]

It's humid here as well, miserably so. I wonder though, if the accelerated drying after boiling would offset the wood becoming more punky. It would kill all the fungi currently living in the wood at any rate. I guess this weekend I'll rough out a bunch of cherry bowls and toss in a couple of spalted rough outs to test the waters.

Yeah Jeremy. We supplied all of the wood he used. To be frank...I paid the most attention to the olivewood platter. I'm sure there is a pic on my phone somewhere. A guy down the road from me hooked Jimmy up with a lot of wood for the demo. We had a chat while I was leaving about his method for stabilizing "fun" wood. He swore by boiling...30 minutes, cool off in the same water and wrap it up. I don't know his exact method...once I start working again, I can approach him with $$ and questions and thoughts. I can tell you he has some amazing olive & walnut...I can't wait for some of either! He was cutting 4'x4' claro trunks on an Alaskan sawmill, 4" to 12" thick. 4 trunks standing 6' tall were in the standby area being steamed cleaned by his son. There are several threads on boiling...I am the worst for "how-did-they-do-that but if I find out more...happy to pass it on!

Thanks, very interesting. I've yet to turn any olive but I've seen pictures of finished items with it. Needless to say, I'd like to.