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Flamed Spalted Maple/Cocobolo
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Russ Miller
Registered: April 2005
Location: Southern California
Posts: 85
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This is a handle I turned out of some spalted maple with some nice curly figure throughout the piece. The reel seat insert is cocobolo.
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| · Date: Tue April 26, 2005 · Views: 3,073 · Tags: 2 · Filesize: 32.7kb, 163.5kb · Dimensions: 1600 x 712 ·
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Keywords: Flamed Spalted Maple/Cocobolo
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Mick McComesky
Registered: March 2005
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 556
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Tue April 26, 2005 10:32pm
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Nice work, and a fine looking piece of wood.
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Steve Rushing
Registered: April 2005
Location: Atlanta (Decatur) GA
Posts: 118
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Wed April 27, 2005 10:56am
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I really like the contrasts in wood with the complimentary real seat. Outstanding finish on the grip. I have a hard time with the spalted woods.
btw, you might already do this, but thought I would mention it. On my last few cocobollo pieces, I have let them soak a little while in denatured alcohol just before the final sanding/polishing. The alcohol removes some of the heavier oily resin so that when polished the pieces are still "cocobolo" dark, but the grain and patterns stand out more. The timing of the soak I found out is key. On one piece, I left it too long and it lighten too much for my taste, it didn't have the cocobolo look I wanted to get the contrast. So now I keep and eye on it and when the rate of darkening of the alcholol appears to be slowing down, ie, the easy stuff is out, I stop soaking.
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Russ Miller
Registered: April 2005
Location: Southern California
Posts: 85
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Wed April 27, 2005 11:55am
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Steve, I have read on this board about using denatured alcohol with cocobolo, but haven't tried it yet. I usually just sand the piece to 1500 grit and let it sit a couple of days. The piece then turns a darker color accentuating the oranges,reds and blacks. I then finish it with a couple of coats of Minwax gloss polyurethane. I will try your suggestion on some scrap pieces to see what happens. This is the first spalted maple piece I have turned. It was an extra piece I got in an order of maple burl. I turned it just to see how hard/soft it was with no intention of putting it on a rod. When I saw the curly flames in it along with the spalt lines, I knew I had to use it. That is the fun part about turning wood, finding gems in an ordinary looking piece of wood. Thanks!
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Steve Rushing
Registered: April 2005
Location: Atlanta (Decatur) GA
Posts: 118
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Wed April 27, 2005 2:47pm
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That's interesting with the poly. Do you do anything special to get it to dry?
I love the look of spalted wood. My trouble has always been just that, my trouble. One thing I'm still struggling with is tool sharpening. I can't attach one of the jigs to my grinder, so I attempt to free-hand. Spalted wood has a way of showing me exactly how "un-sharp" my free-hand really is (: I guess one day I'm going to have to break down and buy a real grinding/sharpening system.
btw, finding those gems is one of the key reasons I have switched over to using predominantely wood in my grips. imo, once you find those gems, they stay gems in the finished rod and make the rod truly unique. So much so that now when I see a "perfect" cork grip, I think to myself: How sterile looking.
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