Defect in Wood

[Donsexton]

I started this eagle with high hopes the cherry log looked nearly flawless but as you can see it had a hidden bark line in the eagles neck. I cut out the defect and filled the cavity with exterior grade wood filler. Here is the thing I wanted to just finish with oil. Due to the defect I will need to stain the whole carving as you can see I have a thin wash stain in some areas. I was planning to go the full measure with this one. Carving detailed eagle feathers and scales on the rattle snake, but not now. It will still be a nice carving when finished just not my best. I am still donating it to the local fire department for a charity auction I hope they can get something for it.

[Ron T]

Hi Don,

Nice fix. I know what you mean. Once the flaw shows itself, it's hard to want to put the time into the carving.

[Bill V]

Don.
Nice carving, looking forward to seeing the finish.

[jimmy joe]

That is too bad Don but I am sure you will end up with some thing nice . Good cause .

[Kevin Morin]

Donsexton, RonT,
I had a nice piece of wood that was flawed so badly I didn't want to work with it at all.
I decided to buy some of this product Wood preservation, rot repair, and restoration using epoxy resin on boats and homes. and try to salvage the piece. This slab was nice and large, had great color and I'd shipped it from a long way to my shop so I'd invested pretty heavily by the time it arrived.

This epoxy was very runny liquid almost like water when mixed. I poured it into the area of extreme soft rot- so soft I could pull the wood out with my fingers- and let it set up. Then I repeated that process until no more of the epoxy would soak into the area of pure rotted soft wood.

That area became rock. It was hard to carve and showed the soft spalted coloring and rotted coloration but the wood became so hard it dulled tools (all power) and took an edge that was very nice.

If you come across other pieces with a flaw that needs to stay int he wood, I'd suggest looking at this very thin penetrating epoxy as a possible solution. I'd say it turned my rotted 4" thick slab into a solid wood fiber plastic and I was able to keep an expensive blank which would have otherwise been lost.

The epoxy didn't allow the wood to be stained but it wasn't obvious when finished the impregnated area looked like a clear finish had been added, and when the entire piece was cut and coated? it looked uniform under a sprayed matte lacquer.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin

[Claude]

Kevin:
If you have any photos of that fix, i'd like to see them.

Claude

[Grayhorn]

Don when that piece is finished I'm more than sure the charity will be pretty glad to have it. It has all the character that you intended. Great scene.

[Kevin Morin]

Claude, that piece was gone (from me) several years ago- well before I photographed much of what I did. I do have another un-cut piece that I treated two years ago, which is air drying now, and I will try to lift the covers on that pile and cut some of the rotted area that was treated to show the results from a power tool edge.

This stuff can be expensive to ship because of the hazardous nature, but I still think it was worth that cost by saving some good looking slabs.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin