Spalted maple risers?

[Stephen G]

I have fallen in love with the look of spalted maple. Gorgeous!

Question: Can/should this be used a riser? Does the spalted wood potentially weaken a riser?

[Roy from Pa]

It's holding up for my all wood tri lams..

[Dmaxshawn]

yes it will hold up as long as its stabilized.  If not your pretty much wasting your time.  Here is what you can expect
 

[rmorris]

Solid spalted maple riser you would want to look into getting it vacuume stabilized. It would be rather pricy but truly amazing. The spalting is a fungus that eats and breaks down the wood.

[Stephen G]

DMAXSHAWN-very pretty riser sir! What is the other wood in the riser?

Any chance of you guys sharing a source for the stabilized stuff?

[wood carver 2]

You could always laminate a strong I beam in between two pieces of spalted wood.
Dave.

[R. W. Mackey]

Stephen, the stabilizing process is not hard to do but the
Resin that it takes is very expensive. I use it on some of my
Game calls turns a soft piece of wood into iron.
  I think I saw on here somewhere that South Cox of Stalker
Stickbows will do it. Got to be expensive though.
RW

[FOX SQUIRREL NUTS]

I'm starting a riser in spalted maple here shortly.  I'm planning to add phenolic strips in it to help out as well as maybe treating the it with thin superglue and allow it to seep in.

[BigJim]

All depends on how far along the spalting is. The very coolest looking ones are typically a little far gone for risers but can still be used in limbs.
You can still get good looking spalted that is solid though. The best risers have some sort of support anyway. In one piece bows, the glass on the back is usually enough. in three piece bows, risers backed with glass are much more durable especially with woods that could be questionable.

This glass can be reinforced woven like G10 or just clear glass. It reduces the flex of the riser tremendously. Phenolic will help also, but it flexes much more than glass.

An I beam in glass ...or phenolic will really stiffen it up, but not necessary if done properly and backed with glass.
Remember, if you put anything else inside a riser that is not wood, you will want to be very discriminating about how dry the pieces you use are.
Even though different species of woods expand and contract at different rates, shrinkage is less likely to cause separation at a glue line between woods than between any line next to a sandwitched piece of phenolic or glass. Phenolic and glass expand and contract very little.
BigJim

[Dmaxshawn]

That riser is from Koa and spalted maple and Big Jim put the finish on it.  

Big jim has the most sound advice here on using questionable woods.  Stabilized woods and I beam with G10 and your solid .

[Bivyhunter]

I can stabilize a riser for you for $40, not too bad from an expense standpoint. The drier the wood, the better it will turn out (the more resin it will absorb). It is best to rough cut your blank slightly oversize (1/8" or so) to your riser shape, then you'll get the best penetration. I did a piece of actionwood the other day to basically make my own Diamondwood. I weighed the piece before and after and gained just shy of 50% in weight. It's a good way to increase the weight of your handle it you're working with lighter mass weight woods too.

[Andy Cooper]

I have some spalted maple I'll use for risers, but there will be a 1/4" G-10 I-beam sandwiched in the middle.  I'm thinking of using some spalted walnut veneers I got from Troy Breeding.  Haven't decided for sure yet, though.