I just got my wood slab planed down and ready for finishing work. However, I discovered the branch that is part of slab is soft and part had to be removed. I would prefer to keep the branch if possible because I love the character. Any advice on how to deal with a soft spot in the wood without cutting a massive hole in the middle of my slab? I have debated routing it down an 1/8 in applying wood finish then epoxy over to make it all smooth and solid. I appreciate the help.
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I've not used this on fine furniture projects, so maybe someone with more experience can comment. There is product called "Wood Hardener" (a MinWax product) sold in most hardware stores around here for repairs to flooring and water damaged wood in the home. I think its basically a very thin one-part liquid epoxy that soaks right into the wood. Might be worth a try. Anyone do this?
I found that Wood Hardener to be pretty useless. It didn't Pentwater at all, and flashed white on the surface. I wouldn't bother with it again.
Butterflies might be the best solution combine with epoxy
I encounter this on many large bowl turning, in fact I mostly turn tortured wood logs and use epoxy to fill such voids. In this case, you could mix epoxy with carbon black pigments to get a perfect black filler. A heat gun allows the epoxy to fill all cracks and air bubbles to escape. Here iron oxide and ash.
Nice bowl! Torturing logs is a terrible practice and should be banned.
Sorry for that but by the time I get them they’re dead wood.
It is not as bad as the sharpening of unicorns, but these creatures should be protected!!
Agree
RotFix is a two part epoxy that works great on stuff like that. Soaks in like a sponge. I've used it outdoors on a few punky spots, and it's been great.
Slow cure epoxy, tinted black (I cheated and used graphite powder), heat gun to get rid of bubbles and reduce viscosity so it seeps into small cracks and crevices. Good for knot holes too.
I would relieve the surface of the branch so its 1/8" or so below the surface, then what GerryLou ^^^ said. I've heard you can soak soft wood in thin CA glue, never tried it.
You can use clear if you want to keep the visual interest.
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