[Woodcarver] Water/alcohol 50/50 mixture

[Dave Tygart]

Joe Dillett's voice was heard in the wind saying:

> Another benefit of 50/50 alcohol and water is making very soft wood more
> carvable, especially on endgrain. The soft fibers of the wood absorb the
> alcohol and water expanding, offering more stability and a better chance for
> cutting the fibers without crushing them. This was very helpful for me in
> carving a large cypress statue where the endgrain, on the top of the
> shoulders, had very soft sap wood. The water/alcohol mixture made it easer
> to slice the endgrain without crushing it.

I use alcohol and a toothbrush to clean up a carving prior to finishing it.
You have to wipe it off before it evaporates or you've just put a skin 
of oil all over the carving but if you wipe quickly it does get the 
basswood (at least) nice and white.  It will raise the grain a bit.
It also takes off acrylic paint nicely.<G>
-- 

Regards from Iowa,

Dave Tygart & WT Morgan (he has discovered he is no kind of a painter)
"The mile is theirs by birthright" - Dick Riker
What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?


-- 
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