Have I ruined this holly?

[Greg Crawford]

I removed a holly tree that had been downed by Ike. I saved it, including the root ball. I let the log air dry with the bark on, and it developed some discoloration and some serious cracks. The lighter color cuts are fresh, the real dark, moldy looking piece is a cut when it was removed. The cut at the top of the root ball was about 4 feet from the exposed end of the log, so that crack isn't from not sealing the end. From the outside, it looks like some nice burling in the root ball.

I've read that holly is very touchy to dry and keep it white. Is this wood ruined? Would bleach help? I've saved the small pieces to experiment with different bleaches.

Thanks,

Greg

[Matt Day]

I'm no expert and haven't done what you're doing before, but I think you're supposed to seal the ends to prevent checking. I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in with better info.

[mike holden]

Greg,
Is the wood ruined? Not really, but depending on what you intended to use it for, you may have lost some board feet.
If the goal was to make stringing, then you still have usable stock.
If the goal was to make turnings, then you may be losing a fair amount.
If the goal was to make boards then again, you may be losing some.

But no board is ever completely turned into good wood.
What you can get from it appears to be much more that if it went into a chipper or a landfill, so in that way, you are ahead.

Could you have saved more? Maybe, but enjoy what you get.

( and if you cant make boards, make inlay, or sell/give to others who do use inlay - holly is hard to get)

Mike

[Frank Drew]

Greg,

You might get some nice stuff out of the root portion, where the grain can be pretty wild; above that, the checking will limit your yield, and the staining might limit how much you like what you can salvage.

In general, sealing the ends of cut logs, as Matt say, can help prevent some checking, but sometimes more important is to saw or split a newly felled log down the middle, which relieves a lot of the stress.

[Greg Crawford]

Frank,

I think you hit it (or split it) on the head for this log. I should have studied more about holly before I left it whole. I knew it was rare, as it grows slowly. I was hoping for some nice inlay or stringing, and I know some turners that might want the burl. I just hate to think I didn't get the max from something that precious.

If I ever get some more holly, I'll definitely split the log, and research the curing process again, especially the root ball.

Anyone know about the bleaching?

Thanks