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Moldy big leaf maple

I

Isaac Davis

Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Messages
80
Likes
24
Location
Portland, OR
Hi,I got a giant hunk of big leaf maple, its gorgeous, flame, ripple, spalting, three crotch sections. I turned a few bowl sets, did my normal procedure of wrapping in plastic and setting on the basement floor, to be moved to a warmer shelf in the shop after a few weeks. They started molding after a couple days, which I see from time to time, but then they really took off. Super moldy. So I read a bunch about big leaf maple, and it seems somewhat inevitable that its gonna mold. I do once turned bowls, If I just continue to let them air dry, they will eventually dry and the mold will die, but what will that leave me with? Has anyone developed a system for drying maple once turned bowls that lessens the molding? I found a thread where someone was suggesting freezing and thawing repeatedly, seems interesting. I might try that, I am also going to spin the bowl at a high rpm for 10-15 min after its turned to try to get rid of some extra water. Also going to skip the plastic wrap. tempImageIVIZkJ.pngtempImagezToP9u.png
 
Plastic bags are you mistake. I use yard waste paper bags and rotate to a dry bag every other day. No comments from the neighbors about me hanging paper bags on the cloths line yet! I once had a large kiln load of oak flash mold, I brushed household bleach on them and did not have any staining when the batch was dry. You should hurry though.
 
I do not wrap the big leaf maple at all. Most of the mold I got was little black spots, and they did not look good at all. Maple does have a fair amount of sugar in it which is food for mold, especially in our humid winters.

robo hippy
 
I have rarely found color change from mold to be good.
I dry in paper bags changing damp ones for dry ones every day until the bags are no longer damp.
If I see any mold I wipe with Clorox and discard the bags from the moldy bowl
Stopped early mold is hardly noticale

If you don’t like the mold color
You might be able to bleach it out - not all mold bleaches.
You can try some of the spirit stains. These give a nice multi color effect on big leaf maple
Many options in its use.

You always have the black leather dye option
The best test of form is to make it black
Black bowls look terrific
 
I coat big leaf maple with sanding sealer and leave it on a shelf to dry. In my environment it doesn't seem to mold if sealed. Doesn't matter if it is rough turned or final turned while wet. I use the same procedure. After drying, sealer is sanded off of the final turned pieces before finishing.
 
When I get maple or boxelder that I want to keep fresh looking until I can get to it, I spray the endgrain with bleach diluted 50/50 with water before sealing. I’ve had good luck preventing mold/mildew from forming under the sealer by doing this. All of my hollow forms are once turned. I find maple to be stable enough to set it somewhere low in the shop (usually on a board on the floor) after turning and have no issue with it cracking or molding while drying. Maybe spraying your bowls with bleach solution and leaving out to dry will solve your problem.
 
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