Spalted Basswood?

[whittlinJim]

I went down to the local sellers of fine wood today to get some carving wood and looked at their Basswood. They had what would have been a nice selection of 8/4 and larger Basswood if it hadnt of been all moldy! Picture a piece of wood 12" wide all covered with tiny purple dots! At first I thought it was just on the surface and could be planed off. No dice! Looking at the edge you could see that the stain went into the wood a 3/4 of an inch. No wonder it was on sale! I left without any wood but with a great deal of disgust. My question now is there anything short of compost that the wood could be used for? Is that the kind of quality the rest of you find, or am I just lucky? Thanks for letting me rant!

Jim

[Eddy-Smiles]

Jim... I know that there's been some discussion of the dangers of power carving spalted wood but as far as hand carving goes if your intent is to paint the finished product it my opinion it doesn't really matter. About the only clear basswood that I've ever come upon has been from commercial enterprises such as a carver's supply. But the majority of the wood in my stock is spalted, stained, molded and everything in between. All of my sawmill wood is stained because it was stacked and left to air dry in the open. My lumber yard wood is stained even though the yard had it drying in a kiln, probably because it sat in the yard for quite sometime before they got it there. And finally, and most recently, I was given a whole box full of spalted wood by one of our club carvers who takes an annual trip to a sawmill, picks up the wood, and then brings it back to dry and cut up for sale. The wood that he gave me was from the ends that were stained and which he couldn't sell. I guess that what it all boils down to is that one mans trash is another mans treasure! If you're a painter I'd go back down and grab some of that wood while it's still on sale. If nothing else it has character!

[whittlinJim]

I had wanted to use the wood for some relief carvings and felt that having my carving coverd in little purple spots would somewhat lessen the effect. I hadnt thought about painting it. would you have to prime it before painting so the spots dont show? Thanks for your repy, it gives me something to think about.

Jim

[BobD]

To paint it, I'd wipe it with bleach first to kill the mold. Then seal it with lacquer or shellac first, and prime and paint as normal!

Bob

[Wolf Kiessling]

Wow, what you are talking about is premium wood to turners. Most turners would pay extra to get that spalting. Myself, being a turner and carver, I favor the spalted woods but do have to admit that when I get carving wood, I try to get it as clear as possible. I have to point out, however, that the clear wood is only of value to me if I carve something like human heads, or anything else realistic. "Character" in the wood seems to detract from facial details. On stylized stuff, I actually prefer the spalted over the clear because I feel it gives the carving character. One other thing, I feel that if you have a carving that is created from spalted wood, you can create some really interesting looks by combining the spalting with stain. Sometimes, I use two or three different color stains on one carving. I don't mean mix them together but apply the stains to different sections of the carving being sure to blend them where they meet. I have even combined acrylic wash with stain.

To give an example, I carved a stylized piece out of aspen (which is very similar to basswood) finishing with a combination of acrylic wash, stain and different colored danish oil and EVERYBODY thinks it is made from cherry wood. At the least, nobody recognizes it as aspen wood........

[whittlinJim]

I have seen some beautiful turnings done with ribbons of spalt running along the grain and the effect is very striking. The stuff I saw just looked like it had purple measles. I went there looking for wood to use in a relief carving with a natural finish. Now that I dont have wood for that, maybe I'll find a project that I can paint. Thanks for the info everyone!

Jim

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Make sure you wear a mask!

[Alice in Wonderland]

Give me spalted wood anytime ,I have never seen Basswood spalted ???
I prefer Birch,Maple and Alder spalted. But I guess it would make no sense if you want to paint it, below is spalted Birch, wich I had a lot after we had the 1998 ice storm unfortunately Birch goes from nice spalted to rotten very quickly even if you keep it in dry location.
Alice

[whittlinJim]

Alice, That kind of spalting looks great and is very spectacular and if the wood I saw looked like that I would have done something with it. As it was it just looked like purple polka dots. Maybe its just my lack of imagination at the time because I couldnt see any use for wood, however since posting this I have been shown that the wood might still be useful in other ways. I think your carving looks great and the spalting just adds to the visual interest.

Jim