"Woody" wrote in message
...
Jeff wrote:
I have a piece of maple with very heavy spalting. It is rather soft in
spots. Is there a way to stabilize the wood to make it more durable.
Thanks.

Assuming you're trying to stabilize dark spalting, you can try adding a
tinted epoxy to the spot. Another option is to use cyano-acrylate (super
glue) on the area to stabilize it.


I would assume (yep) that he's trying to stabilize the white areas, which,
as they are the ones which have lost lignin, are the soft ones, rather than
the stained darker areas. Minwax and others make "stabilizers" if you're
looking for commercial products.

Turners use CA - hot and fast - somewhat unpredictable, shellac, or
lacquer to stiffen the fibers. I'm going to doubt that BLO will ever be
even as tough as the spalted wood, since a cured oil can be easily rolled
off an impervious surface with a fingernail. Now if it had a high phenolic
or urethane resin content, perhaps, but the others are faster and darken
less.