Hi P

I just finished a 15" wormy spalted silver maple shallow bowl, there are
enough smaller and larger holes in there to make it interesting, don't
know how yours is but I know that my bowl is definitely not a salad
bowl, would make a good fruit bowl, lots of air circulation G.
Point is if there are only a few holes, maybe fill them, if there are a
lot make it an attribute, whomever wants the bowl certainly knows the
holes are there and they will be able to keep or get them clean, blow or
rinse clean comes to mind, filling the holes with clear plastic does not
do it for me.
A 2 part epoxy polymer can be use to fill, but it won't be easy to do on
a bowl form, unless you fill the whole bowl.
Lee Valley sells some, but I have no experience with it though.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Prometheus wrote:

Hello all,

I've got an approximately 8' long section of spalted maple sitting by
my lathe just waiting to be turned- I've used a bit of it, and it's
pretty nice, dried, with a good spalting pattern and a bunch of worm
holes. I kind of line the holes, but I'm a little concerned that
they're going to get filled with bits of crap over time if I leave
them open. I know some of you guys fill such things in with various
things ranging from coffee grounds to turquoise, but I'd like to keep
the appearance of a hole there. Any suggestions for a clear product
that will fill those smooth bore holes that won't yellow too much with
time, or pop out if the humidity changes? If need be, I'm sure I can
fill them in with mulitple coats of polyurethane, but it's likely to
look like a hunk of plastic by the time I've got all the little bits
filled in.

So what works for you in these cases? Specific brand names would help
out a bit, as I've found that there are rather signifigant differences
in performance of some products depending on the manufacturer's
formula.

Thanks!