"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
:
: "mac davis" wrote: Try dripping a little very thin CA on it... (clip)
: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: A product called "Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer" is wonderful for punky
: wood. I have seen it used, and used it myself, for stabilizing some
pretty
: porous rot. I have used it to repair (rather than replace) rotted window
: sash. Made by Smith and Company, Richmond, CA.
:
:
I'm in the UK, and used to turn a lot of really punky wood, mostly Beech
and some Birch. A lot of it was almost spongy. Beech when dried properly
is usually a nice close grained firm turning wood which will take the edge
off your tools reasonably quickly, Birch is more open grained, can be
almost fluffy, can turn ok and can have an almost translucent sheen when
finished. Both these woods spalt and rot down really quickly.
I used a product sold for solidifying rotting window frames/sills. It was
quite expensive to use because it is so thin that a whole tin would just
disappear straight in to the wood. I sometimes used 2 or 3 tins before it
was saturated.
Once it had hardened I was left with a really spectacular piece of spalted
wood that I could turn into anything. It holds together really well, cuts
and sands well and takes a nice oil finish.
I just cant remember what it was called.
Watch out for the fumes from these volatile products even if you are working
outside, and especially if you are using a respirator, wandering around your
workshop stoned on these fumes is really dangerous even if it feels good at
the time.

Hotfoot.