dyed spalted wood or not

[ldoyle]

I`m just curious as to what people like .When you use spalted woods or burls for that fact , do you think it looks better a natural color or do you prefer it dyed and if so what color is more popular ? I have seen some natural that looked great as well as some brown ,green ,blue ,and so on that all looked nice , but was just curious if one seemed more popular ? I have some spalted pecan to be stabilized and was wondering ,should I go natural or colored ? Thanks

 

[carbonsteel928]

I can take burl dyed or natural depending on the species, but for spalted natural takes the cake in my book.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Simple spalted woods are best dyed. Plain colored spalted maple, sycamore, and similar woods are pretty blah as just whitish tan wood with stripes. I use brown dye and red dye to make them pop. The dye also makes any other feature, like curl, stand out better. I have been having spalted curly maple dyed red and stabilized with such good results that I have sent a lot of my good grade regular curly maple to be dyed and stabilized because it looks and polished so well. Dying the curly maple red before stabilizing makes superb looking kitchen handles, and dying it brown makes great traditional curly maple knife handles. All you need to do is sand to 1000 grit and buff lightly.