Freshly milled wide spalted maple (pics)

[Sean D Evans]

I just came home from milling a maple tree that had fallen down in someone's yard. It has some beautiful spalting and colouring. I remember (vaguely) someone talking about treating the wood with something to stop the rotting from progressing while the log is drying. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
I guess I can't submit pics from my phone. I will add them later.

[Sean D Evans]

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[David Weaver]

It will naturally stop if you leave the logs in a dry place. You can heat them above 100F or so and they'll stop, but they will stop if you let them air dry inside. Or put them in a vacuum bag, which might have other consequences (drying would seem more practical and certain if you didn't want them to stay wet).

I'd just let them dry, and if you have concern because they are still very very wet (they should be below 25 percent pretty quickly, even air drying), you could find someone with a kiln and stop them in their tracks.

[Wade Holloway]

David is correct it will stop as the moisture content goes down, just be sure to stack it where you get air circulation. I did the same thing with some Spalted Dogwood I had once it stated to dry the spalting stopped.

[Rick Fisher]

I have 2 big spalts in a warehouse .. as soon as they dry, the process stops.. been over a year now..

Wear a mask when you mill that wood .. its not good for you .

[Sean D Evans]

Thanks all. The posts I was thinking of were from turners. Alcohol was often prescribed. Those guys seem much more worried about checking from drying. I guess because they are dealing with shorter, thicker chunks of stock.

(I hope it's not that bad for you. I spent about 4 hours with my head directly above a big Stihl saw spitting out chunks of the stuff. If you never hear from me again...)

[Michael Ray Smith]

Just curious -- what species of maple?

[Charlie Stanford]

I just came home from milling a maple tree that had fallen down in someone's yard. It has some beautiful spalting and colouring. I remember (vaguely) someone talking about treating the wood with something to stop the rotting from progressing while the log is drying. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
I guess I can't submit pics from my phone. I will add them later.

That seems to have progressed a bit to far - at least some of it may have. You'll have to be careful picking your spots to use it.

[Sean D Evans]

Red maple. At least that is what I have always called it. Maple tree with dark red leaves.

You might be right Charlie. I'll just have to wait and see how it turns out in a couple of years.