Spalted Beech

[alexf]

Came across our council Tree Surgeons yesterday and they were cutting down a fairly large beech tree which was dying. They were quite happy for me to take it away and even cut it into manageable sized logs for me. The tree was dead on one side and half the log is spalted and the other half is not. I don't know if I made a mistake or not, but when I got the logs home I immediately sealed the ends with pva. I would like to get the other half to spalt without the spalted part rotting. Any ideas anyone?

 

[TEP]

Mornin' Alex.

Do a search on Cornucopia's posts, he's the man for spalted beech. He spalts his own wood.

 

[loz]

Sorry to jump in - but rather than start a new thread,

I got hold of some birch yesterday - can this be spalted ? Does we have a list of spaltables ?


Ta

Loz

 

[wizer]

Yes birch can be spalted.

 

[loz]

Yes birch can be spalted.

Ta !

 

[Mark Hancock]

Does we have a list of spaltables ?


Ta

Loz

I would have thought most woods are "spaltable" as spalting is only a jargon term we use to mean wood that has started the rotting/decaying process :?:

 

[wizer]

From WikiPedia

Commonly Spalted Woods

The Ohio DNR found that pale hardwoods had the best ability to spalt [15]. Some common trees in this category include maple (Acer spp.), birch (Betula spp.) and beech (Fagus spp.).

Common Spalting Fungi

One of the more tricky aspects to spalting is that some fungi cannot colonize wood alone; they require other fungi to have gone before them to create more favorable conditions. Fungi progress in waves of primary and secondary colonizers [2], where primary colonizers initially capture and control resources, change the pH of the wood and its structure, and then must defend against secondary colonizers that then have the ability to colonize the substrate [2] [16].

Ceratocystis spp. (Ascomycetes) contains the most common blue stain fungi [17]. Trametes versicolor, (Basidiomycetes) is found all over the world and is a quick and efficient white rot of hardwoods [2]. Xylaria polymorpha (Pers. ex Mer.) Grev. (Ascomycetes) has been known to bleach wood, but is unique in that it is one of the few fungi that will erect zone lines without any antagonism from other fungi [18].

 

[loz]

Does we have a list of spaltables ?


Ta

Loz

I would have thought most woods are "spaltable" as spalting is only a jargon term we use to mean wood that has started the rotting/decaying process :?:

Hi Mark,

Oh ! - I though spalting was the patterning effect from some woods due to fungal effect brought on by starting to decay ?

Im not sure all woods do this ? Why dont we see more other spalted woods for offer ?

Thanks

Loz

 

[Bodrighy]

Most white or pale woods do spalt. It is a very hit and miss process however and so it is inconsistent. The most common woods seem to be beech, birch and maple though ash does spalt. I have had spalted hazel as well found in the woods. Although we tend to think of spalting as those black lines every where it also shows up as a mottled effect in some woods. Spalting wood deliberately cna be done as George proves, and can take anything from a week or two to a couple of months. I am sure he'll be on soon to explain how he does it.

Pete

 

[Mark Hancock]

Does we have a list of spaltables ?


Ta

Loz

I would have thought most woods are "spaltable" as spalting is only a jargon term we use to mean wood that has started the rotting/decaying process :?:

Hi Mark,

Oh ! - I though spalting was the patterning effect from some woods due to fungal effect brought on by starting to decay ?

Im not sure all woods do this ? Why dont we see more other spalted woods for offer ?

Thanks

Loz

Wizer found a good link to explain it. Basically the spalting affect is dependant on the type of wood, the different colonies of fungi attacking the wood and the environmental/surrounding conditions. Get all these variables right and you get some spectacular results.

The black lines you get in spalted wood are an indication that there are different colonies of fungi working on the wood and these are known as zone lines indicating demarcation lines between these colonies.

 

[loz]

Thanks Mark, Pete, Wizer,

Loads of info there. Ill re-read Georges spalting thread anyway for half of my birch haul, and may just experiment with other woods i have, ( have some fresh new cherry also )


Thanks Again.

Loz

 

[wizer]

I must admit I'm not a massive fan of spalted wood. I think it depends on the level of spalting. To much and it looks wrong to me.

 

[PowerTool]

Silver birch is very prone to spalting - some of it is due to the type of bark;birch bark is generally pretty impervious to water (hence American Indians building birch bark canoes) - this helps the tree retain the high moisture levels needed for the fungal growth.

Andrew

 

[Jonzjob]

My favorite hunting place for spalted wood is on log piles. This came off of a neighbours when we lived in Stroud.

Don't forget to wear a GOOD mask when turning spalted wood. The spoors can be very unfriendly.

I bought 3 large boxes over with us, about 3 foot cube each, and the removals guys asked what was so heavy in them. They were not too amused when they found out it was lumps of wood and that a lot of it was off of a log pile. no sense of humour I suppose? :roll:

 

[loz]

My favorite hunting place for spalted wood is on log piles. This came off of a neighbours when we lived in Stroud.

Don't forget to wear a GOOD mask when turning spalted wood. The spoors can be very unfriendly.

I bought 3 large boxes over with us, about 3 foot cube each, and the removals guys asked what was so heavy in them. They were not too amused when they found out it was lumps of wood and that a lot of it was off of a log pile. no sense of humour I suppose? :roll:

beautiful goblet :!:

 

[cornucopia]

Came across our council Tree Surgeons yesterday and they were cutting down a fairly large beech tree which was dying. They were quite happy for me to take it away and even cut it into manageable sized logs for me. The tree was dead on one side and half the log is spalted and the other half is not. I don't know if I made a mistake or not, but when I got the logs home I immediately sealed the ends with pva. I would like to get the other half to spalt without the spalted part rotting. Any ideas anyone?

hello- the pva is a mistake- you need to get that of if you want the wood to spalt more- the enviroment needed to spalt is the same enviroment for fungi,mould, mushroms etc - warm,wet,no direct sunlight,not excessively windy/drafty!!

I have mine under old dust sheets, i water them with liquid polant food and add some spalted shavings if i have any then cover them up and forget them for at least 12 months (if the wood was fresh beech) normally by 18 months old i will have good spalting by 24 months it will be starting to go too far.