[ocd]

Hi,
I have not posted here in a while. Thanks for any input.
I have a piece of really beautiful Eucalyptus burl-jarrha, I think.
Only thing is it has major bark inclusions, voids, etc in it. Shot through with it.
I really have no idea what to do with it. I am not a turner.

I would like to make a box from some of it, but would like to fill in the voids, and be able to work with the wood after filling them in.

The entire piece is about 14" square, 4" thick.

I know that some of the turners have wood like this stabilized by speciality companies. If I do that, what cautions would you all give me, and how workable is the wood afterward?

I just uploaded a picture of it, I can't tell if it attached.

Thanks much!
David

 

[Steve Neul]

It's like any other burl. It's so busy you should be able to fill the voids with most anything and make it work. I would be inclined to put some finish on some of it to see what the colors would be and mix some bondo in different colors that match the finish color and use that to fill with. You can use a universal tinting color to tint bondo, just make it a little less red to allow for the red in the hardener when you mix that in. You could also just use different colors of wood putty but if the voids are very big may take several applications to fill.