A Little Beech

[Baxter Smith]

After recently having one of my wife’s friends decide “not to cut” the walnut tree in her yard this month, I had to console myself with something else. I had noticed this Beech in the woods not far from the road where I often ride my bike.
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After contacting the landowner and getting permission to cut, I spent Saturday morning bucking it up. After coming home with a load, I turned a few small 10” bowls from some of the limbs. I was too worn out to tackle the bigger pieces.

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The tree was only a mile and a half from my house and I could have driven the old Farmall there easily. Unfortunately, I probably would have gotten stuck coming out with a bucketful so the trunk sections needed to be split before I could pick them up. After thinking about it Sunday, I spent yesterday cutting and ripping the rest of the usable stuff.

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This is the third and final load.
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After seeing George Watkins beautiful English Spalted Beech posted on WTA, I knew I wanted to try spalting some.

Hauled 2/3 of it into the woods and spread it on the ground. Covered it with some shavings, then put on another layer of wood followed by more shavings.
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The center of the trees base was rotten so put some of those pieces into a couple tubs with some blanks and shavings.
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There is still a bit stacked behind the shop that I will start on tomorrow.

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Roughing out green bowls is fun but some of this will probably end up being spalt material as well.
Then there is the piece of the stump.....
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If you need some beech.......
Comments or suggestions are always welcome!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Baxter on a great haul.

[John Keeton]

So, life really is a beech!!! Looks like some great wood, Baxter. I would think spalting will occur quickly once the temps come up.

[Russell Eaton]

I have a couple of pieces roughed out waiting to dry. No spalting though, your should be great. Nice haul.

[Dennis Ford]

If those rough-outs have even a trace of spalting, you can improve the spalting greatly by coating the entire rough-out with anchorseal and storing it in the shade. This does not work every time but sometimes it works wonderfully.

[Alan Trout]

Baxter,

That is quite the haul and some nice bowls.

Alan

[Hayes Rutherford]

Nice work, I'm jealous of your hardwood variety.

[Tim Rinehart]

Some nice looking color in those pieces. I have a little bit of some kiln dry beech I got from a guy who knows a guy who makes furniture and they were the 'scraps'. Mostly 4/2 stock, but hard tough wood. I can see why furniture makers would like it.
I use it for handles, and it takes a nice finish. Looking forward to seeing some of the spalted pieces when they get finished!

[Michael Menzli]

Man..looks great...spalting may be a little slow this time of year as some of it requires warmth..perhaps covering it with a tarp will help..I will say Ive learned than specific fungi like specific species so understanding your environment will be key..are there spalting species in your woods? This time of year ive read some folks use an old fishtank indoors...something to ponder.

[Sid Matheny]

Oh Yeah, time well spent!

Sid

[Jon McElwain]

Nice haul! That stump section looks like it should yield some fiddleback grain.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Baxter, if you are going to spalt in a tub the spalt lady from Michigan Tech, who wrote the Fine Woodworking articles suggests vermiculite to aid in keeping the moisture high. The other thing necessary is a warm climate. I put my rough outs on end and only the lower half spalted. The next time I will just use contractor plastic bags (better seal and cheap). I don't anchor seal them, but I haven't done that many. I would think if the wood is really wet it may help, but if it were somewhat dry it would not be a benefit.

[charlie knighton]

good haul......

[Dan Forman]

Looks like very interesting pieces in there!

Dan

[Primvs Aebvtivs]

About the spalting technique - I've been informed (but not tried yet - stuff spalts like crazy on the ground here), try a pot of yoghurt (yogurt?) on the top end, and seal a plastic bag round it. The bottom should start splating from the moisture / contact with the floor, and the top from the yoghurt - may get a lovely pink colour if you tried strawberry...!