Spalting - Patience - 2 bowls 6 month apart

[Randy Gazda]

I cut down a soft maple tree on the family woodlot in Minnesota a few years ago. Most of the wood I had cut to 4/4 and 8/4 by a portable bandmill. However, there was plenty of off-cut and limbs for bowls. The first photo is a bowl from an off cut of the bandmill. The second bowl is from a limb that I cut 6 months after the milling, the limb was laying on the ground. I wish I would have let the whole tree sit on the ground and spalt for a 6 months before I had it milled!

[John Keeton]

Mother Nature and our Creator certainly have an aristic flair, don't they! Both are nice, but as you have noted, a whole tree of that would be sweet.

[Greg Just]

Very nice Randy especially the spalted one.

[Baxter Smith]

Both are nice but the color adds more than just a little!

[Randy Gazda]

I loved the spalted look. However, I have had several people glance at the bowl and say "to bad it cracked" when they see the black line spalt.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Randy - spalting wood - especially controlled spalting - is just starting to come under a lot of study the last few years. Depending on the fungi used to start the process - you can even get different colors within the spalt zones!

We are lucky to have an actual expert in controlled spalting as a member here. Check out Seri Robinson and her work if you would like to learn more about the process.

Here is her website: http://www.northernspalting.com/

[David E Keller]

Nice work... I love that spalting.

[Mike Minto]

very nice work; the comparison photos are a real treat!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice bowls. The spalted one really stands out.

[John Tomasello jr]

It's truly amazing how a little time under the right conditions will change plane Jane maple into some thing outstanding. Good job on both.