James,

Not every piece of wood has to end up on a lathe. You are a creative
person. I know you can make something worthy of the wood just as it is.

Clay Foster

JRJohnson wrote:
Guys, I just got a couple of large box elder trees that blew down in the
latest storm. The reason they blew down was that they were rotted up the
heart. Only 1-3" of wood on the outside was solid. But when I cut the
trunks up, it had the most beautiful spalting and color you could imagine.
The problem is that the wood is too soft to turn.

Does anyone know of a method to harden the wood? A thin epoxy, or something
like that? Even a liquid plastic in a high pressure vessel? Any successes
out there at all? This stuff is absolutely beautiful, and it would pain me
to toss it out.

Thanks,
James Johnson