I'm working at carving a Silver Maple bowl,

Re: I'm working at carving a Silver Maple bowl,

Keith Newton

A little more info. I harvested this tree back in Dec, and now there is some gray stain showing up in the sapwood, so I'm working with just heartwood, but today got pretty warm here.

I just parted it off, double paper bagged it, then put it in the fridge. I seem to recall that harvesting some of these high in sugar woods is best in Winter to avoid sticker stain, so I may just have to take it out and work it intermittently. unless someone has a sure fire solution.

I was wondering if alcohol would do anything?

Lemon juice or bleach

Re: I'm working at carving a Silver Maple bowl,

John K Jordan

I had some green wood start to develop mold during a recent warm spell when temps reached the 70s. I've had moderate but not 100% success with a household bleach solution, about 1/2 water, 1/2 bleach.

I haven't tried it but I've been told the 2-part wood bleach is good.

I wonder if putting your piece in the freezer when not working on it would work. I wrapped some green blocks in plastic and kept them in the freezer for several years.

JKJ

Just don't spin the wood again while it's wet.

Dennis in Southern Oregon

Thanks John and Dick *LINK*

Keith Newton

First, I can report that putting it in the fridge halted it for the night. I initially thought about going into the freezer, but I'm now at the point of wanting to start drying, and though having it frozen might cause another issue with surface drying while the core was still bound frozen.

I did thing about adding household bleach, but didn't like the idea of using that while I was still carving. Isn't it corrosive to steel? I was also concerned about breathing the dust or fumes. I wrecked my respiratory system once cleaning up the interior of an old BMW car that I bought which had been parked for a year with one window down. The back floor footwells were full of water, and everything was mildewed.

Ive decided that if I can't carve the little bit off, I'll do the two part bleach on the outside.

I've done a fair amount of carving over the last fifty years, and thought by now I could choose a chunk to start with. However, I missed something this time, and had to fight this project to get it this far. After roughing the blank on the bandsaw, and turning some of the base and hollowing the round bowl, then stretching it into an ellipse, When I started sculpting the shape on down, this wood, which was growing extremely fast through these years, was acting a lot like reaction wood. It really wanted to fuzz up if I used coarse abrasives, or if the chisel went even the slightest against the grain. About half way to carving it this far, I was wishing I had tossed it when the first signs appeared, but this was already the second attempt. After shaping the inside of the first, I cut through from the outside of it.

While I wasn't trying to get perfectly smooth flutes, I sort of wanted a bit of freehand crudeness, but I'm not quite getting that. This is sort of a new direction for me. It started out to be a bird form, with two eagle heads facing opposite where the V starts along the long sides, but I wasn't liking how they were working, so ditched that and headed another way.

Here is a link to where it is this morning. Since I worked through the weekend, I'm going to take off now and may not be able to get back for a couple


https://www.flickr.com/photos/7391658@N03/sets/72157681537415806/

Re: I'm working at carving a Silver Maple bowl,

Dale Gillaspy

Alcohol always helps. I lean towards Vodka myself, but a good Scotch or 2 and you won't care what black spots show up on your bowl.

Oh, wait....were you talking about putting alcohol on the bowl.

Re: I'm working at carving a Silver Maple bowl,

robo hippy

Maple is generally pretty stable and easier to dry than some woods. I have found that when I turn maple (thin to final thickness), if I plastic wrap the rim, it tends to get spotty under the plastic, which isn't an issue for most woods. My guess is the sugar content, which is higher in the maple trees. You can try the paper bag around the bowl, and then that bag inside a plastic bag method. Change out the paper bag every day. You don't want to try storing it in damp shavings. Some times the spots can be turned out, as long as you catch them before they get too deep. I know lemon works for metal stains, but not sure how it works on mold. I would expect that it would kill it though...

robo hippy

Lemon works like I said

Dick Coers

I watched Lyle Jamieson wipe a sliced lemon on wet walnut sapwood at an Indy Fest to keep it white. So I feel certain it works since I witnessed the positive effect.

LEMONS

Pros: Lemons are a super-safe household staple. You don’t have to worry about kids getting into them or harmful residue left over after cleaning. Much like bleach, concentrated citrus peel oils have been proven to be strong antimicrobials. Recent studies have shown that lemon juice and lemon peel oil are effective at removing multiple bacterial strains, including salmonella and E. coli. The pH of lemon juice is similar to vinegar, which is also recommended for mold removal and treatment. This acidity means that lemons can help to safely break down grime and remove stains.

Re: Lemon works like I said

robo hippy

I have noticed that the lemon juice, when used to remove metal stains from dried pieces of wood will bleach it out a bit. I have known for a while that salt and lemon juice are excellent 'cleaners' that kill just about everything, so good for bowls and cutting boards...

robo hippy

I've used lemon juice on maple before,

Keith Newton

But for a different reason. I was debarking a tree that I turned into a stair. As I was mostly knocking it off with a hammer, I could see some bruising under the impact zone. I remembered my mom wetting the bananas with lemon juice in her fruit salad to keep the slices from turning brown, so I tried it, and it worked for that.

I may try it on the high spots where it'll be easy to carve away if it causes other issues.

Thanks for the reminder.