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Greeting. Can anyone give me advice on stabilizing spalted maple. I look up this subject in the archives but didn't find a lot of information. Any help,would be appreciated. Wood seems to have very little to no "punk" but I don't want to take. A chance. Thanks. Ken

CA, or thin epoxy.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thin CA ---- capillary action draws the adhesive into all the voids. Follow up with clear epoxy to smooth irregularities.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

It depends how spalted it is. What is the intended use? How about a photo!

I have used a Minwax product, Wood Hardener, to firm up or stabilize spalted maple when turning bowls. Deals with punky spots. Seems to be some kind of epoxy.

Probably you are not considering this, but a chance to remind of my bad experience.

I bought a really nice pair of 1" thick spalted, high curl maple boards years ago, such as you might use for a drop top or resaw for backs. I sent it off to have it pressure stabilized with plastic resin. The result was that the color and contrast were dulled, and the curl became barely noticeable. So, someday it will be bases to display objects.

Probably you are not considering this, but a chance to remind of my bad experience.

I bought a really nice pair of 1" thick spalted, high curl maple boards years ago, such as you might use for a drop top or resaw for backs. I sent it off to have it pressure stabilized with plastic resin. The result was that the color and contrast were dulled, and the curl became barely noticeable. So, someday it will be bases to display objects.

Greetings,

I was asked to post a picture or two of the spalted wood. "A" is soft maple (probably red maple). "B" is sycamore. The outline is for a classical guitar which was handy when I took the picture.

Thanks, Ken

Hey Ken. Nice looking Spalt. It's a bit of a tough call. For me, the defining line would be if it showed any sign of structural degradation my gut would tell me not to use it for B&S. I guess the simple test is to use your thumbnail. Poke around and if you feel any soft spots, I personally wouldn't use it. If you're planning on using for a personal guitar, that's another matter. As we know, you can build a guitar out of darn near anything.

Here's my one go at using Spalt for b & s.


I did stabilise some of the heavy Spalt lines with ca. They do tend to be weaker. I would not like to see this guitar go into an area of low RH. It lives in a pretty stable RH here in BC. This one's about 6 months old and will be coming home soon for a pup. I'll let you know more then.

Cheers!

I am interested in this because I have a couple spalted B & S sets. I have not used them but I have looked into it a bit. I would be very interested in what others have found who have used spalted wood with some kind of penetrating reinforecment.

There are epoxy products formulated to penetrate and strengthen wood softened by rot. Issues could include finish adherence and changes to the tone of the wood.

I know a number of luthiers use Smith epoxies for bonding, but I haven't heard of people using Smith products to harden spalted wood.

There's some information here about these epoxies and how they work:

http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/index.html
http://www.woodrestoration.com/

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."