Spalting your own wood

[Betsy Yocum]

One of the replies to another post was:

"you can make your own! I dropped a maple tree a few years ago and left the logs in a bog for about 8 months before I took them to the mill. it was beautiful wood after it was sawn, and then I took it to be dried in a kiln. It now our kitchens cabinets and my wife loves it.
Give it a try!"

In theory - if you've had a stack of logs just sitting outside for several years and took them to get them milled - would that be wood be spalted or do you actually have to put the logs in a generally more wet environment. (The log pile I'm thinking of is unprotected for the elements - but its more hot than wet.)

Just curious - Betsy
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[Pete Lamberty]

Not sure about this Betsy, but I think there has to be a certain mold or fungus around your wood pile to get the spalting to occur. I don't think what you are suggesting would be a sure thing. Check out the post by Marcus Shaffer. It is titled "spalted maple". That maybe of some help. Sorry I can't be of more help. Hopefully someone else here has more info. Pete

[Terry Quiram]

Betsy

I spalt wood all the time. I just seal the end grain with Anchor seal, leave the bark on and store it somewhere, it doesn't have to be in the woods. The first time it happened it was laying on the shop floor. I have created lots of spalted turning stock that way.

Terry

[Betsy Yocum]

Thanks for your replies guys. I've never heard of Anchor seal - but I'll do a google and bet I'll find some. I'll give it a try. I've got a small pile of hickory and oak and what I think may be an apple tree - would be interesting to see what I can get.

Terry - how long do you need to wait to cut into the wood to see if it is spalted?

Thanks
Betsy

[Jim Becker]

Spalting is the result of the natural decay process and generally involves certain fungi and moisture. In many cases, both of these things are "available" to you quite naturally--I've even had a couple of Norway Maple tress on our property that were "pre-spalted" when they were taken down. Sometimes it helps to have some chips/shavings from spalted material of the same species to use as a "starter" when you are going to roll your own, but it's not absolutely necessary. Some folks find that bagging the material in plastic with the shavings for a time helps to speed up the initial process. One point though...you need to monitor things because if you let spalting go too long, you'll end up with very punky (rotted) wood that will essentially be unusable. Remember, this is a decay process. The only way to shut it down is to reduce the moisture below a certain level. Finally, when working with spalted wood, you absolutely need to use personal safety precautions, such as a dust mask. You don't want to be inhaling the spores from the fungi that gleefully make the wood happy. They become dormant when the moisture is reduced, but will reactivate if it goes up...like in your lungs.

[Terry Quiram]

Betsy

Anchor seal is an end grain sealer. It is one of a number of brands available. I like Anchor seal because you can buy direct from the company in LARGE quanities.

The Maple was soft Maple and laid under my bench from late fall until the middle of the next summer (6-7 months) before I did anything with it. I have radiant heat in the shop and the wood started to dry and split up the middle. The drying stopped the spalting before it progressed very far. I have had Maple spalt in as little as 4 months. You can see the endgrain and tell that is spalted.

Terry

[Jim Ketron]

I found some great spalted Box Elder in my Neighbors fire wood pile!
It has been there for a few years, and its off the ground but not coverd.
Jim

[Ralph Morris]

"The only way to shut it down is to reduce the moisture below a certain level. Finally, when working with spalted wood, you absolutely need to use personal safety precautions, such as a dust mask. You don't want to be inhaling the spores from the fungi that gleefully make the wood happy. They become dormant when the moisture is reduced, but will reactivate if it goes up...like in your lungs."

Jim, for the sawdust or chips from turning and/or sawing, would that reactivate the fungi? If you were doing it in the basement would it harm any of wood in the house or that I might have stored in the basement?<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Betsy Yocum]

Great question Ralph"

"Jim, for the sawdust or chips from turning and/or sawing, would that reactivate the fungi? If you were doing it in the basement would it harm any of wood in the house or that I might have stored in the basement?"

My uneducated guess would be that if the wood were finished in the house any "reactivated" fungi would be more of a problem for the 2 and 4 legged creatures roaming about than it would be for finshed furniture. The wood in the basement would be another thing all together. Seems to me that if it were constantly dry that fungi would not be able to grow on it - but since most basements are notoriously humid then growing fungi would be a problem - but again - that's my uneducated, novice thought.

And here's another question - in theory - any wood can be spalted - but we know not all theory works out to be fact. It would seem to me that spalted soft wood would be very difficult to work with in any stage of decay. Whereas spalted hardwood would be much simplier. Has anyone actually used spalted soft wood? <!-- / message --><!-- sig --><!-- / message -->

[Jim Becker]

Jim, for the sawdust or chips from turning and/or sawing, would that reactivate the fungi? If you were doing it in the basement would it harm any of wood in the house or that I might have stored in the basement?<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->I do not think you are at risk from this situation, particularly for the wood your house is built of. You'd need to re-saturate it before the fungi could have a chance to get a hold. Insects are a totally different situation...powder post etc., can infect certain building materials and need to be guarded against, but turning/working logs with regular clean up shouldn't present a problem. Storing infested logs in your shop could.

[Anthony Yakonick]

Two things I've found about spalting wood, first it's tough to spalt a whole log by the time the center is good the ends are rotten. Second, there's a short period time between spalted and rotten, I think it's about an hours difference :confused:

[Betsy Yocum]

Two things I've found about spalting wood, first it's tough to spalt a whole log by the time the center is good the ends are rotten. Second, there's a short period time between spalted and rotten, I think it's about an hours difference :confused:
My good luck here is that my logs are tiny (less than 30" or so) so I'll be keeping a close watch on them.

[Dooley Powers]

:rolleyes:Totally by accident after cleaning out my shop and setting some split logs around to side of my shop I discovered that to totally spalter bigger logs splitting them lenth ways and putting them cut side down on saw dust,scraps and dirt in a consistly shaded outside area where alot of leaves collected worked quite well ... as for softwoods ... I've used alot of spattered pine and spruce ... just keep a close eye on them and don't let them go too long .... about 8 to 10 months max in a warmer/ wetter climate .... then when you finish them make sure they are totally sealed on all sides... or they will continue to decay... if they are exposed to any amount of humidity ... and warmth. ... if there are any more typos I appoligize .. I'm having keyboard problems ... I think they are fixed however ..

Thanx

[Steve Cox]

I have no experience with spalting wood myself but I have a local sawmill that told me one day that they use beer as a starter and then when it has spalted enough they put the wood in the kiln to stop the process. I wasn't sure at the time if they were just pulling my leg or not.