Spalted Maple Vase
Here is one of the last chunks of maple I have. This came
from a tree that was dead and upright for
four or five years. It is quite dry, but there are some moist
areas. A little mold too.
Half an hour later using one of my favorite tools - a grinder with a
chain saw blade, some spalting is
showing through.
A couple hours later, there wood seems to be part solid maple, partly
decomposed (the white area) and
a pretty nice spalt line.
The following day was a day for major headway. The
wood now shows three distinct hardnesses.
Pink is the hardest, white the softest, and the orange is somewhere in
between. Sanding is going to
be a challenge.
The piece is now round. I think I'll cut this into
two pieces and use the larger on for a vase.
The roughed out vase takes about two hours.
I sanded the outside down to 400 grit. The white area was
very soft so it was fortified with CA glue prior
to sanding. The orange area had soft patches. I
cranked up the speed and sanded it down using wave
disks on a 3/8" drill.
I've found that when you have different hardnesses, even sanding at
high speeds is the way to go -
in effect turning the piece using sand paper. It minimizes
sanding the vase out of round.
I am using an 1 1/4" Forstener bit with a 12" extension to drill out
the center.
A large bowl gouge is being used to hollow out the vase. I
wish I had some support
for the neck of the vase. but I don't.
The holloring actually went pretty well. I sanded the inside
using wave discs and a home-made extension.
I've got to get this thing off the lathe. I keep scratching
the vase. I will need a good, hard finish.
I decided to use True Oil. The vase has something of a
southwestern flair, I think.