Spalted wood

[Dan Williams]

Could anyone tell me what woods spalt easyest to hardest ar not at all ? If some of you force wood to spalt. How ?

Thanks
Dan

[robert hainstock]

Steve Schlumpf has fantastic luck with birch and maple. He uses a backyard setup. PM him for details. :)
Bob

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dan - just sent you a PM. Hope it helps.

[Mike Gager]

i saw a piece of red oak at lowes the other day that had spalting on it

[George Guadiane]

Could anyone tell me what woods spalt easyest to hardest ar not at all ? If some of you force wood to spalt. How ?

Thanks
Dan
Cherry doesn't really spalt.. It gets "rusty" (rots) and loses all of it's structure.

[Dan Williams]

Dan - just sent you a PM. Hope it helps.

Thank you steve

[Chris Barnett]

Not sure about wood but when I look in a mirror I see signs of spalting. And I presume natured alcohol is the only cure :D.

Scored about 15 pieces of maple this week, from 30 to 15 inch diameter. The black irregular ring on the cut face might be spalting. Hope so, cause I told the neighbor he needed to cut the maple down before it spalted too much and hit his house ;).

But really, am anxious to hear about spalting too. Have seen photos of many beautiful works in spalted maple on this site. Some good info available via the search tool.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

It's worth mentioning that working with spalted wood can be dangerous. Be sure to wear adequate lung protection. I've heard horror stories about serious lung disease as a result of inhaling spores from the mold.

[curtis rosche]

heres the link to a spualted peice i did, the lumber company had got the burls about 6 months before and left them out side in the "flowerbed" so they were half covered in mud, when i got them they were nicely spaulted, just gotta make sure no ants get them,.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=77444&highlight=cherry+burl


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=77444&highlight=cherry+burl

for other woods, i dont know but i know we had some trees cut down at the begining of summer and left them in the woods in the leaves and when we recently went out to cut them the rest of the way up they were all majorly spaulted so a little less than 6 months depending on conditions should work

[Edward Herbster]

Hi Ya'll!! This is my first reply on this forum, I do have some info that I use to spalt my own wood. Safety FIRST!!!!! As someone wrote earlier, spalted wood is BAD for your lungs!! Be sure to use good resperatory protection when doing anything to spalted wood especially sanding. When this dust gets into your lungs it can cause irreversable damage.. Spalting is no more than a fungus that looks great in the wood. This fungus is a form of mold and bacteria that is not good for us. You should also have a good dust collection system and good ventilation in your shop. I'm not trying to scare anyone I'm just trying to protect fellow and fellowett wood workers.Now for how I spalt my turnings.

I do it 2 differant ways.....
1. Get an old peace of carpet and put it somewhere damp. Place the stump you want to spalt butt side down on the damp carpet and let it set. The harder the wood the longer it will take. I usually like to spalt in the winter months when the humidity is high and the weather is damp. I find cherry, burch, peacan, maple and other soft woods do very well and don't take but a couple of months (4-6). Your hard wood such as oak take longer (6-12) months. You should get mold and somtimes mushrooms on your wood. The key thing here is to keep the carpet moist. How I tell if the spalting is all the way through is cut a thin chunk off the top, if it has little black spots your ready.
2. This method works as well but you always have the chance of insects eating your wood. Just simply find a damp spot in your yard,woods,by the creek,ect. Place the log butt side down on the ground and let nature do her thing. I have heard of people puttin insecticide on the ground before placing the log; personally I have not.

There are probably several other ways to do this out there, This is what I do and it seems to work for me. I still have not been able to spalt walnut. Cherry will spalt you just have to watch it a little closer. I hope this helps someone. I have made some beautiful turnings using this method. Good luck, happy turnings, and PLEASE WEAR LUNG PROTECTION:eek:
Thanks
Herby

[Mark Patoka]

I've found that Beech spalts easily. My only experience has been a tree that blew down behind my house and laid on the ground for a year before I got to it. It had spalted perfectly and wasn't to the rotting stage yet. Another came down this past year and I'm hoping the same happens.

I've heard of people forcing wood to spalt by wrapping it in plastic and submerging in water or very damp ground/leaves and end up with nicely spalted wood in a few months.

[Andy Hutyera]

I've had good luck by simply tightly wrapping the green wood in wide thin plastic wrap and letting it sit in the cool basement shop for 4-6 months. Worked on maple, poplar and beech. Just trapping the moisture in there seems to do the job.

The warnings posted above about saftey and a respirator are not to be ignored. I once turned an unknown spalted wood box. Several hours later I had terrible nasal irritation that lasted for several days. Hate to think of what that stuff would do to your lungs!