Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Sanding Spalted Wood?
Ron in Drums PA
>I have some beautifully spalted birch. I soaked the wood in thinned Deft sanding sealer to help firm up the wood.
There are some very soft and hard spot though out the wood so when I sand, the soft spots quickly become divots. These divots appear after about 15 seconds of hand sanding on the lathe even when I start with 220 grit.
Any suggestions on how I can prevent these divots or should I just live with it?
Re: Sanding Spalted Wood?
Mike Schwing from Md.
>If the areas are well defined, you can treat just those areas to stiffen the fibers up with sanding sealer. CA, lacquer, or white glue. It is only a half decent suggestion, but one I use when needed. Won't solve the problem but will help.
The best thing, of course, would be to turn it well enough so it didn't need sanding. (yeah, right) Good luck, especially with spalted wood!
Re: Sanding Spalted Wood?
Robert Simmons, Atlanta
>Minwax Wood Hardener does a better job of firming up the soft spots than anything else I've tried. Sanding sealer does OK for some areas, but punky bits need a little extra.
Robert
Re: Sanding Spalted Wood?
Andrew Hilton
>This is a common problem with hand sanding these kinds of woods where there are soft and hard spots. Our fingers tend to follow the soft spots and dig a bit deeper in those. I see that you've tried to harden the softer areas a bit with some thinned finish so here a couple of other things to try...
- Use a firm pad between your hand and the sanding paper. Try a high density foam about 1/8" - 1/4" thick or something similar. This will help a little.
- Use power sanding with a (relatively) larger disk. Using a small disk on a large surface isn't good but then neither is a disk that's too big to fit into a bowl either.
Thanks!
Ron in Drums PA
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