richietwilight Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 hey all.... nearing the final stages of my first, overly ambitious body.... 5 piece laminate with new guinea rosewood wings, two bubinga strips and a wenge middle strip, with a 1/2 inch spalted maple top.... I'm just wondering, I want to leave the finish as natural as possible, but would also like to bring out some of the 3d in the maple, as it's also lightly flamed.... how should I go about it all? was considering just oiling the body, but I'm worried about the softer parts of the spalt maple. can anyone suggest any products to use to harden the top at all? total newb fumbling in the dark here... hehehehe... Richie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 dont quote me on it but i think some people soak their spalt in glu to make it hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Any old glue won't work. It has to be the watery variety of CA(superglue). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richietwilight Posted March 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Any old glue won't work. It has to be the watery variety of CA(superglue). yeah I've heard of using superglue... but does that in any way change the ability to bring out the flame in the wood? I'm guessing it would seal it to a degree.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Yes, it will seal it for sure. Ie: no staining, etc. after you glue it. I'm working on a spalt top right now.... DO NOT try the superglue thing if this is y our first spalt top. I'm saying this for several reasons 1) It really soaks in there, and if you don't do it 100% right you'll end up with an ugly splotchy top. I know cause I did this, but luckily had left it thick enough that I was able to go backa nd sand off a good 1/16" and get rid of most of the soaked in CA and therefore the splotchiness too. 2) If you don't have goggles and a respirator it'll mess you up something big. My eyes burned from doing it (cause it takes ALOT of CA... like ALOT, like more than you'd ever think you'd need). My suggestion is use a slow setting epoxy. Unlike the superglue it won't soak in NEAR as deep, just kinda on the surface adn a tiny bit into it. However since it's not soaking deep, it won't soak uneven if you won't but exactly the right amounts and therefor you won't get the splotches. Both are truely acceptable methods. But like I said, from my experiance.... go with the epoxy. Now that I've sanded off all the CA soak in on mine I'm going to be doing the epoxy method before4 I finish it. And yes you DO have to use one of these methods, cause if you don't, the wood will just drink down your finish and you'll NEVER get a flat finish on that spalt. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richietwilight Posted March 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 is there anything I can do to it first to bring out the flame? any could you throw around some brands of epoxy and so on? cheers Richie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Devcon 2-ton goes on clear, so that's always good. I've used it once but didn't like it cause it took FOREVER to sand back... but that's cause I used th 5-minute (thick), aparently the 30 minute vareity is quite nice. I'll be trying it this time around, however I can't tell ya how it goes cause i'm yet to do it. Just as long as it goes on clear and has a thin vicosity and slow setting time it's all good. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 i recently used the minwax brand of epoxy...at least i assume it's an epoxy. it's marketed as a wood hardener. i'm not sure how it does it but you don't have to mix it and it seems to have a good shelf life after the can is opened. anyway, i had a large piece of spalted maple that i was going to use on an art project and a lot of it was way too soft so i tried it and it worked fine. be sure to buy plenty of sandpaper. the stuff loads up a sheet pretty quick when you first start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 Epoxy and CA are both fine to use, but if you go with epoxy you need to use the thinnest stuff available. There's no reason not to use stuff with 1-2 hr cure time, or even 24 hr cure time, you're not in a hurry here. Both will make the flame come out nicely, although epoxy has a slight bit of ambering that CA does not. You definitely want it to soak into the wood, you don't want a thin shell of epoxy on top (with soft wood underneath) that will crack & flake off at the first hit. You want it to soak in. Chris, the sand-back that you did on your CA job is normal (although you're not supposed to sand back all the way....). I had to do this CA-sand cycle about 5 times with the spalt top on my doubleneck before everything was level. It goes with the (spalt) territory. Forget about the 5-min epoxy, go with the really thin stuff, lest you wind up with a thin candy shell (think M&Ms...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 if you go to a thread about my CAing from a little earlier back, you'll see it wasn't the need to get it flat... it was the the CA soaked in irregularly and created a blotched look that was disgusting. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 I've got several spalted tops I'm getting around to. Part of my problem is my need to over research the issue. I'm applying Polycryl to my spalted tops, both tops and bottoms. Firat apply a 15% solution, then a 30%, then a 45%. Apply, let sit in plastic overnight, then do the next application the next day. You are adding moisture to the wod, so be sure to let it dry out completely before working it. It can be glued, but you should mae sure it's completely dry before gluing or finishing. I'll let you all know how my experiment works out, but it looks OK so far... oh, and don't do one side thinking that "I'm gluing the other side, so I don't need to put the acrylic on that side". It'll warp the heck out of your wood. Polycryl FAQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richietwilight Posted March 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 hey all... thanks for the help so far.... quick question.... I don't know if I'll be able to get polykryl here in aus... can anyone from australia suggest the name of a suitable product here and where I could get it.... I go to the usual stores and they look at me blankly when I explain what I need..... checking out a specialist timberyard tomorrow, see if they know anything..... cheers richie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 hey all... thanks for the help so far.... quick question.... I don't know if I'll be able to get polykryl here in aus... can anyone from australia suggest the name of a suitable product here and where I could get it.... I go to the usual stores and they look at me blankly when I explain what I need..... checking out a specialist timberyard tomorrow, see if they know anything..... cheers richie Richie, I would guess that a reduced acrylic finish would suffice in a pinch, perhaps even following the formula of 15%, 30%, 45%, and then perhaps even finishing the wood with the same base acrylic finish after the moisture has dissipated from the wood. I'm no expert, but one of the things I've discovered is that there are alot of ways that will work, and acrylics have a lot of common properties for stabilizing woods. Grim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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