What is that black stuff?

[Mundele]

Hey Guys...

My wife got me some wood for Christmas from one of those woodworking specialty stores. It's eucalyptus wood, and it came coated in wax. Well I'm now using it in a handle and I'm having a bit of a problem. There are a few streaks of black stuff in the wood. When I sand over it, occasionally little chunks of it come out.

I have two questions. First, what the heck is it? It kinda looks to me like coal (black or very dark brown, shiny, etc) but that can't be it.

My other question is how I might fill the little holes left when the stuff 'chunks' out? I am planning to finish it with Danish Oil (if that matters).

Thanks in advance for your advice.

--Matt

 

[L6steel]

Matt, I've got a chunk of eucalyptus and it's spalted, ate up with fungus internally. I don't know if all eucalyptus is like this but it sounds like what you have is. I would remove the wax and send it off for stabilizing. Be well worth the extra few dollars in my book.

 

[Matt Shade]

That sounds about right. Exotics like that tend to be touchy about the elements right after they've been cut, checking darkening etc. Most block sized peices are coated in parafin, and judging by the gobs of it they have on every block at the local woodcraft they just throw the blocks in a tank and chisel them out when its cooled off. It probably picked up grit and turned black as you were working with it. You might be able to take the bulk of it out of the face or your peice with a hair dryer or heat gun to soften it up. I don't know about filling the gaps though. If you can get to a woodworking store, they sould have some high build finishes for lathe work that might do it. Stabilizing might be a better route.
If you alrady have it attached to something and realy want the oil finish ( I like danish oil too, its good stuff) Go ahead and coat the handle in thin epoxy, let it cure and then sand it off. If the gaps aren't horrible the epoxy should fill them and seal them, and you can still use the oil finish.

 

[Mundele]

I'm pretty sure that the grit is inside the wood itself. It is much too big to have been picked up from somewhere else, and it follows the grain. The wood is already part of the handle. As I've shaped the wood, I've run into this stuff (uncovered it).


???

--MAtt