Maple Fungal Help..

[Michael Menzli]

Greetings creekers, (Please move if this is not the right forum)

Ive done a few searches and cant quite find the answer Im looking for. I recently cut down a moderate size silver maple with Ambrosia beetle damage. The beetle left some beautiful streaking throughout. Now the problem. After cutting the tree I did not seal the ends as Ive run out of anchorseal. The logs have been laying for about five days, two of which were very rainy. I went to harvest and begin to cut the wood into rounds yesterday and all of the ends have some greenish/brown fungal stuff growing. I would liken this to mold on bread. I cut one of the logs into rounds and the green has penetrated into the wood, causing major discoloration in the wood, especially the ambrosia . The wood is still fairly wet.

So... am I at a lost cause? Ive done some digging on the net and have read various suggestions for maple fungal growth which include bleaching. My concern is the bleaching will kill the color in the ambrosia stains. Ive read that sun may do the trick.

I would love suggestions as I have a decent amount of lumber I would hate to lose.

Thanks

[Scott Hackler]

Sounds like the decay/spalting process begun. Not a real big problem and in fact the added spalting might actually improve the coloring of the wood. Cut off the ends and turn your bowls or whatevers. A soak in denatured alcohol (Dna), over night, would likely kill any bacteria or fungus. If you don't soak your rough outs in Dna, you could still saturate the piece in Dna and wrap it up in a plastic bag for a day. At least that is what I would do.....

[Prashun Patel]

Post a pic. Black or fuzzy mold usually doesn't penetrate that deeply that fast. Some maples Can turn from a bright blonde to burnt brown in hours when exposed to oxygen. That's not mold though, and that also is localized to the surface. These two will mill away pretty easily.

If the discoloration is more pervasive and deeper, then it might have been present all along. There's no way to reverse that.

Checking, cracks, and surface discoloration may happen quickly, but "Major" discoloration of wood doesn't normally happen within 5 days of a tree falling - at least on the few fresh-fallen maples that I've worked with.

[Michael Menzli]

Thanks Scott, I actually picked up some DNA the other day and will def. give these a soak. I'll get some pics posted as Im terrible with descriptions. I hope it does assist with color, right now the funk is adding a funky greenish hue to everything...including the tan parts of the heartwood. I would say this fungal is predominately in the heartwood area and radiates out ..very little staining going toward the bark...which is usually where I see the spalting..Ive actually toyed with some spalting over the summer...fun stuff.

[Jon McElwain]

I usually use Tinactin for my fungal problems.....

[Wayne Hendrix]

I usually use Tinactin for my fungal problems.....

I find this works best, its very tough actin!

[Reed Gray]

All maple trees have a fairly high level of sugar in them. Great for all those little pests that love to turn solid wood into compost. Most of the time, as said before, the mold doesn't penetrate very far. You might want to get them covered, off the ground, and sealed. Cut into sections, center cut them down the pith, and seal.

robo hippy

[Bill Wyko]

It's also possible that it will turn black over the drying process. Keep us updated on your progress.

[Michael Menzli]

Thanks for all the help guys..Im def. ignorant when it comes to these sorts of things. Outside of faliing trees for firewood I have limited cutting experience.

Sorry for the yelowwish hue..took these under my icadescent lamp. The maple I cut is known locally as a silver or swamp maple. Its also a "soft maple" . The standard for this is a tan to brown heartwood and a creamy white sapwood. The heartwood almost always has variation.

The 1st 3 pics depict the issue the best. The heartwood on this cut is a light brown..as you see toward the middle it becomes green with the outer most edges turning a dark green and black in some spots. This green was not present when the tree first fell.. it is now prominant in everything with some decline closer to the trunk.The last pic is a small bowl I turned out of this tree showing the beetle damage and cool coloration. This is why I want to save what I can.

IMG_9258.jpgIMG_9262.jpgIMG_9263.jpgIMG_9265.JPG

[Tim Browne]

I'd take a sample chunk and cut it into slices. Put 1 slice in DNA overnight, put another in bleach and dry a 3rd slice in the microwave. This test will help you determine the best course to take with the balance of the wood you have.

[Dick Strauss]

The ambrosia maple that I've seen often shows both browns and greens like what you have shown. Both the greens and browns are from the ambrosia beatles as far as I can tell so I don't think it is a fungus issue. I think the greens look more brown when fresh cut and change to their real color of green as the wood dries.

Your wood looks great and you are lucky to have such a find!

[Prashun Patel]

I've not seen that coloration before on spalting maple. It almost looks like the green/black hues you can get on poplar.
If it were me, I wouldn't try to alter this at all; I'd turn it as is. If it's not punky (the last pic suggests it's not) then I think yr results will be beautiful.

So, I'd just turn it as is.

For me, the white on maple tends to get brown and unsightly during the first stages of drying. This presents me with problems when finish turning green wood; it's hard for me to sand it all out. So, if I had that wood, I'd be rough turning it and waxing it for a couple months, and then finishing turning it when it's dry. I believe that green will remain.

[Jim Burr]

To take another route...
I don't own any Anchorseal but also have a lot of stuff at 12" or there about. 18" plastic wrap has worked fantastic in every case I've used it. I have some 12x18 split walnut logs I received from Michigan soaking wet. They have a bit of mold, but have not even a hairline crack to be found after 10 months wrapped up. There is also some mesquite, Euc, maple and something else I've forgotten about on the shelf. All in plastic wrap and all un-cracked/checked. If you haven't tried it...don't knock it yet!

[Michael Menzli]

Cool Jim...Thanks for the heads up. I will def. try some plastic wrap... do you store it indoors or? Ive made a little makeshift kiln that I like to dry things in but havt dialed it in exactly..it runs around 10 % rh and about 80 degrees.. I have read a little about stripping a few strips of bark on the maple to let it lose moisture out of the sides instead of the ends.. This mold or whatever it is has caught me by surprise...but then again if this is some sort of chemical reaction from the beetle then it makes a lot more sense..especially how it runs from one side to the other. It almost reminds me of mineral streaks a bit but the stuff is soaking wet. It hasnt tainted the outdoor creamy sapwood...just the heartwood. I really havnt had a ton of checking outside of stupid mistakes/ignorance..but once I got things sealed all has been ok. Now I have some bigger stuff I need to get under cover before the snow hits..some of it goes quick in the elements...ie birch and sycamore.

[Jamie Donaldson]

Michael- silver maple is a soft member of the maple clan, and yours was obviously very wet, which promoted the rapid spread of the spalting stains. I usually try to dry it in half log sections, enough that it doesn't spit moisture at me when turning. It tends to be a stringy mess when worked wet, but sometimes the color makes the effort worthwhile. There is a high incidence of splitting as it dries, due to the high moisture content, and the pith is often punky.