ITs red oak questions

[Anchor Sarslow]

I got out and cut up some oak logs. I think the first one I got into is spalted but am unfamiliar with what it should look like. The attacked pictures show some of what I got.

The first pic is of the end grain off the majority of what I cut. It is still quite wet wood.

The second is a pic of a the 3 larger pieces I cut and you can see the third piece looks quite different Is this spalting?

The third pic is the smaller pices I have..

All of these are red oak.

[Jon Lanier]

There looks to be a weee bit of spalting in pics 1 and 3.

[George Guadiane]

There looks to be a weee bit of spalting in pics 1 and 3.
It also looks like some SERIOUS end grain checking to me. If you are going to turn this, start off with low rotations and a sturdy face shield, just to be safe. It looks (to me) like the ends are not sealed, red oak cracks A LOT, even with end sealer.
Not good news I know, it looks like you went to a lot of work to make that big lot of blanks.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Anchor, if I may let me offer some advice. First, double or even triple coat with AnchorSeal and coat ALL cut surfaces. Then store as cool as you can, not someplace hot. After rough turning if there are any cracks or checks CA them, wait about 15 min and get the piece into the DNA. leave it for about a week. When you take it out of the DNA bath the CAed areas will be white. That is OK. Put in a brown paper bag, not newspaper, and leave for about three weeks or a bit more. Next finish turn. Expect quite a bit of movement in the wood. Beautiful stuff. Let us know how it turns out.:)

[Chip Sutherland]

I harvested some red oak here in TX. Your's looks positively brown. Mine was pinkish just like you'd see at a local homeowners store. Mine was from a felled tree and the cambium layer had spalted. Anchor seal did not stop it from cracking. I turned it like a natural edge bowl to keep the spalted rim. I played with some turquoise Inlace and filled in the cracks. It was a hit. I sold it in a craft show last weekend. It was sold before I even put a price on it. Turning red oak is a bit of a beating but it can be as pretty as other woods. I didn't sharpen my tools as often as I should have...at least not until I was going for a final shape. Here's the outcome except I had not finish turned the foot in these pics. The last pick is the bandsaw cutoff of the blank. I wetted a small spot.

[Anchor Sarslow]

The logs and libs this stuff came off of werer standing trees 3 months ago. I am thinking the one limb was on its way out when cud down for firewood. ( I got my neighbor to let me cut a few chunks up. Lots more to go if I want too) There is some serious checking in a few of these pieces and they fell apart in my hands.

I love Oak, I hope these turn out as nice as yours. I dont know if I like the turquoise crack filler or not. I have yet to do a bowl anyway.:)

I like your bowl though... and I love natural edge stuff in particular.

[Reed Gray]

The first piece has some serious end grain checking (cracks). I wouldn't even bother with it. Too much risk of it falling apart, and pieces flying off while you turn. The black around the lines comes from water and air getting, and it starts to rot and/or oxidise from the minerals coming in. The tree looks like that part at least was damaged a while ago. The other colorations are interesting, and I see it in a lot of woods. It isn't spalting. As an arborist explained it to me, they are defense lines that the tree sets up to fight infections, and deterioration. They don't follow the growth rings, and move in interesting patterns. You generally won't see as much spalting in oak (high in tannic acids) as you will in maple (high in sugar). Spalting tends to be black fungus lines, some times almost like spider webs. The oak you have looks more like the Oregon white oak we have here. Red oak has pointy leaves, and white oak had rounded leaves. The other pieces you have look to be more solid. Oak is rather hard, but pretty.
robo hippy

[Chip Sutherland]

I originally started with black colored epoxy to stabilize the cracks. I don't like getting whacked in the head much either. It's bad enough that the bark hits. I eventually turned all the epoxy out. Inlace is expensive but the epoxy was about 1 tube of the 2 part from HD only $2. I didn't look bad either. A little brass filings from key grindings would have been a nice accent, too. Have fun, be safe.