Spalted wood stabilizer?

[M.R. Ogle]

I recently picked up some blackline spalted maple for a future project.

The wood is totally raw, unsealed, unfinished, and I know i read about some kind of wood treatment product that either stabilizes the spalting, stops it, or seals it... something that people were treating spalted wood with.

But... I can't remember what the name of the stuff was. If anybody knows what is is and where to get it, I'd sure appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

[SDB Guitars]

I've used water-thin CA in several treatments... but nothing comes close to Larry's Acrylizing process.

[PasdaBeer]

a lot of people use epoxy to fill and harden spalt and burl woods.

[pilotjones]

I think people have used Minwax Wood Hardener.

[Luke Sheridan]

Probably depends on the extent of the punkyness. I used Minwax and it helped in some spots, but others were still way soft. I second the suggestion on Larry's woods. There will be no guessing with stabilized.

[T2W]

I used straight-from-the-bottle CA. It worked. First time I did it I didnt wear a mask, and on top of that I was sanding it in, some CA got on top of the paper and melted the gloves I was wearing. So I spent the rest of the night stoned as hell, scratching CA and sandpaper off my fingers with a rasp. But the Maple is rock solid though. I did it twice and worked very well, especially in the very thin parts, like the arm rest, it didnt crumble down.... damned spalted maple.

[erikbojerik]

An epoxy with a long set-up time, or thin CA (superglue), either will work fine.

You can get good quantities of CA (like 2 oz) at craft stores like Michaels. I use the "Zap-A-Gap" stuff in bottles, you'll probably need two. DONT start sanding it until you've got at least one good soak over the whole body, otherwise the punky areas will sand much easier than the hard areas, and you'll end up with hills & valleys.

If you go with epoxy, don't cheap-out... none of that Home Depot stuff. System 3 or West System, you want something with a long set-up time that will have a chance to soak into the wood.

[M.R. Ogle]

Thanks! I'll experiment with the CA and the Epoxy on a cutoff piece first.

[SDB Guitars]

I use the 4 oz. Bottle of Hot Stuff water thin (red label). It runs about $18, and lasts a long time (unless you are soaking a LOT of wood with it... )

[erikbojerik]

Hey Shawn....the Zap-A-Gap at Michaels is the same water-thin stuff, about 1/3 the price of the Hot Stuff.