Spraying wood to soften

[bbeery]

Not sure Al, that your idea is valid about 2 fingers making the wood seem softer but it may make carving with hard wood more acceptable.
On a more serious note, what kind of alcohol is acceptable? I was referring to "denatured alcohol" and some one else refered to "rubbing alcohol". And, I don't see the advantage of soaking the wood before painting in a water/alcohol mixture.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

As my wife just threw out all my Beer, maybe I could show her this thread. Has anyone ever used the Golden Brew to soften up those fibers? I know after a couple of cans I seem to feel a lot more relaxed! Only kidding of course!

Gerald Sears showed me this trick a number of years ago and I've found it works just as well with wood thats TOO soft. I had a piece that was so soft that the fibers would collaspe when I went cross-grain. A couple squirts of my 50-50 mixture solved that problem. And I'm not talking about my Gin and Tonic!

[Thomp]

I'm carving some damaged cypress knee, of course the wood was stable and quite capable when i started on the outside but more and more as i found the figure under the chips as Lynn mentioned the fibers would crush tear or rip out,
i sprayed 50/50 rubbing Alcohol and blo on the effected parts left it over night and still being damp from the high humidity, i proceeded to carve the damaged area with quite a better results,
chips have to be cut thin and light bit the charter is coming out. I'm thinking of reducing the blo to 25% &75% rubbing alcohol.. to produce faster drying time but its working on this piece...

if this was noticeable to begin with i would have tossed the wood before carving it...

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by bbeery

Not sure Al, that your idea is valid about 2 fingers making the wood seem softer but it may make carving with hard wood more acceptable.
On a more serious note, what kind of alcohol is acceptable? I was referring to "denatured alcohol" and some one else refered to "rubbing alcohol". And, I don't see the advantage of soaking the wood before painting in a water/alcohol mixture.

Not "soaking" ...Misting the wood !

[bbeery]

Sorry about that slip of the lip HI HO.
From what I'm reading, rubbing is more acceptable then denatured alcohol. I do appreciate everyones imput, will apply the info; even Al's. Last night was my first attempt at 2 fingers of Jim Bean which might not have been as successful at Jack Danials. Will continue to experiment and keep everyone updated.