stabilising punky wood

[gog64]

I've acquired a thick walnut slab that I intend to cut up for bowl blanks. It's very pretty, but quite spalted and punky in places. I've sawn a bit off of one end (the thin end!) and made quite a nice 14" bowl out of it. I'm pleased with the shape, but had no end of difficulty with tear out on the punky parts. With a nice sharp bowl gouge followed by a negative rake scraper I was able to sort most of that out, but some sections were beyond me.

I have read people mention stabilising punky wood. Can anyone share what that entails? If it was a little bit, I'd be tempted to try to CA glue. While that's worked for me with things like small cracks, I don't know whether it would work with a larger punky area. What about soaking the affected area with a resin epoxy?

 

[CHJ]

Try soaking with cellulose sanding sealer, thinned about 10% to encourage penetration. May need more than one coat, perhaps finish off with undiluted sealer.

If it is very porous try sanding the sealed area with abrasive whilst sealer is still wet during final coat, this will encourage the sanding debris to fill the pores and the sealer will bond it in.

 

[Dalboy]

+1 for CHJ.s recommendation.

I use the same with great effect patience is a must applying the Thinned sander sealer one day and let it harden overnight. This may take a couple of days to get the finish you want but can be worth the effort.
Have a look at my Walnut hollow form which I had to use the sander sealer on over three days

 

[Paul Hannaby]

Try wood hardener, it does what it says on the tin!

 

[gog64]

many thanks for the tips, I'll give them a try when I next get some wood turning time.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

+1 for CHJ.s recommendation.
I use the same with great effect patience is a must applying the Thinned sander sealer one day and let it harden overnight. This may take a couple of days to get the finish you want but can be worth the effort.

Also repeat the operation more than once if you're removing a lot of material - tearout can go go quite deep.

 

[Dalboy]

+1 for CHJ.s recommendation.
I use the same with great effect patience is a must applying the Thinned sander sealer one day and let it harden overnight. This may take a couple of days to get the finish you want but can be worth the effort.

Also repeat the operation more than once if you're removing a lot of material - tearout can go go quite deep.

Yes correct I did my one over 5 times to get to that stage

 

[Stefan999]

Try soaking with cellulose sanding sealer, thinned about 10% to encourage penetration. May need more than one coat, perhaps finish off with undiluted sealer.

If it is very porous try sanding the sealed area with abrasive whilst sealer is still wet during final coat, this will encourage the sanding debris to fill the pores and the sealer will bond it in.

nice idea!