Sorry, Andy. Thought it was a fun read.
My “tricks” for working with spalted wood are 1) soak it with linseed oil (don’t just paint it on, but actually fill it and wait for it to start seeping through, then pour the bit of oil still on the inside back into the jar) then give it a few days to cure, or 2) impregnate it with
resin and bake it into something solid.
I’ve got a dozen pieces of
interesting wood sitting on a shelf waiting for the resin treatment. Hopefully that’s still a “this winter” project, but we’ll see…