# Box Elder Candle thing-a-ma-bob



## SlickSqueegie (Mar 19, 2012)

I have much respect for people that can turn box elder... this stuff is a PAIN! It moves with every touch of the chisels, it tears out no matter how sharp, fast/slow you go with it, I even tried with a skew to just see if I could avoid tear-out and I couldn't. I think it was kinda punky but I have never turned this stuff before. Anyway, I'm not even sure that its tear-out on this piece because no matter how much I sanded It wouldn't go away.

I will also note that this thing sucked up sealer so fast it was dry to the touch within seconds. I couldn't apply it fast enough... Once I got the first coat of sealer on it it turned from a drab boring white, to a ton of different grain patterns and shades. but none the less those "tear-out" pits are everywhere, It kinda makes the bowl textured. you can see them plain as day in a couple of the pictures... 

The wife really likes this piece. :)

Thanks for looking...


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## DKMD (Mar 19, 2012)

Nicely done! I use shellac, oil, or water in much the same way that Cougar uses that lacquer… Anything to swell or stiffen the fibers will allow you to take light clean up cuts with less tear out. Some pieces of wood just refuse to be cut cleanly in my shop… Those pieces get the soak treatment, and I generally proceed to wet sanding which also helps me eliminate tearout. As a bonus, the wet sanding also cuts down on the dust generated.


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## West River WoodWorks (Mar 19, 2012)

I tried out a piece of box elder this weekend also, with similar tearout in the endgrain areas.
I put a contoured sanding pad on a power drill and sanded out most of the tearout. 
I will have to try the sealer method to see how that works as well.
Thanks for the photos and happy turning!
Tom


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## Kevin (Mar 20, 2012)

You won't have all those problems if you rough-turn it while it's wet. yes it was definitely punky before it dried so that makes it impossible to avoid tearout until you harden it. Try some of the stuff suggested - Tom's methid (skewchisel=bigcougers friend and one of my customers) has a tried and true method I would take cougers advice and use that method next time. 

Nice piece but after you harden it chuck it up again you get a mirror finish without the pitting. 


.


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 20, 2012)

Well it looks cool just the same I can tell just by looking at it that it is punky. Good challenge and you learned some things. So the next time I give you a crappy piece of punky wood you will know what to do The piece does have some nice color and spalting lines, and you girl likes it so it's a win win in my book. I have turned stuff that was so punky that I didn't know if I could save it and they did turn out textured like you said, but looked interesting just the same. I have some more of that box elder from the same tree, we'll see how I do, know I know to saturate it befor the final cuts and sanding Slick all box elder is not like that, you just had a tough piece, good job.


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