What is this feature in timber?

[DrPhill]

I am asking about the thin wiggly dark line that ignores the grain. It is not a crack. I have seen several while working with the latest batch of timber.
Any information gratefully received.....

(Edit: photographing it on a pine table was not the best idea )

 

[Inspector]

It could be from a fungus starting to break the wood down. Spalting in other words.

Pete

 

[DrPhill]

Thanks Pete, that matches the descriptions, but how did the fungus get all the way into the otherwise undamaged timber? This is from a newly cut plank, must have been a good half inch from the outside of the log and a lot further from the cut ends.....

It adds interest but poked my curiosity too......

 

[Inspector]

The spalting radiated from where the spores get in so those lines could have been from a point several boards away from that one when it was sawn.

Pete

 

[Alpha-Dave]

From my understanding, spalting lines occur where 2 colonies of competing fungi meet and battle for supremacy (literally battle lines). The slight colour differences either side are where they have slightly consumed some of the nutrients (for them) in the wood.

 

[DrPhill]

Interesting - any links to more info? I never looked as closely before - or maybe this is the first timber with the feature.

 

[Jacob]

I've seen similar on sycamore boards and was told that it was air pollution from smoke which had gathered on the surface years before and subsequently grown over

 

[Alpha-Dave]

At the vegetable party, why did everyone want to hang out with the mushroom?



... because he was a fungi to be with.



Apparently there is a magazine for this. FUNGI Magazine - The Magazine for Amateur and Professional Mushroom Enthusiasts, Mycophiles and Mycologists


Relevant article on spalting for aesthetic purposes: http://fungimag.com/summer-2015-articles/V8I2SpaltingLR.pdf

 

[RobinBHM]

I am asking about the thin wiggly dark line that ignores the grain. It is not a crack. I have seen several while working with the latest batch of timber.
Any information gratefully received.....
View attachment 112437
(Edit: photographing it on a pine table was not the best idea )

That is blue stain, it's a common defect in softwood.

Microscopic fungi attack the sapwood for food.

It happens when felled trees aren't converted and kilned immediately.

The fungi can't attack if the wood is either totally saturated or below 20% mc. So sometimes storing logs in water (log ponding) or keeping them sprayed with water is done.

How do I know? - I worked at Ducal for a year as part of my degree, they were a huge pine furniture manufacturer and were paranoid about blue stain as that good old "Victorian pine" stain looked hideous on bits that had blue stain so it had to be selected out

 

[Sgian Dubh]

It's a fungal infection. Entry was via the outer extremity of the knot which was a branch that was probably either broken off or cut off thus giving entry to the fungal spores. The blackened area left adjacent to the wiggly fine grey line is also decay, almost certainly fungal. Slainte.

 

[DrPhill]

You have got me wondering now. I had assumed the dark colouration on the border between the heart and sap was a normal feature of the timber. But maybe it is fungus? That would imply that for some reason the boundary is easier to penetrate....

 

[Sgian Dubh]

You have got me wondering now. I had assumed the dark colouration on the border between the heart and sap was a normal feature of the timber. But maybe it is fungus? That would imply that for some reason the boundary is easier to penetrate....

It's fungus. Fungi are pretty good at invading when given the chance. Slainte.

 

[Jacob]

I've seen similar on sycamore boards and was told that it was air pollution from smoke which had gathered on the surface years before and subsequently grown over

PS I've just remembered who told me this - old chap in wood yard said that they always expected it in trees from air polluted areas near smoke/dust sources - mining areas etc

 

[baldkev]

At some point im going to have a bash at making an electric guitar... this board is 14" wide. Spalted beech

 

[Wood&StuffLtd]

Interesting - any links to more info? I never looked as closely before - or maybe this is the first timber with the feature.

Loads of spalting info on Google but the American Association of Woodturners published a summary of an academic paper of the subject carried by a research scientist who has an interest in woodturning.

 

[DrPhill]

At some point im going to have a bash at making an electric guitar... this board is 14" wide. Spalted beech

Nice bit of timber.... it would be good to see the project progress.

 

[baldkev]

Nice bit of timber.... it would be good to see the project progress.

I will post it when i do it, but it'll be a while!! I need to make a couple from pine first to find and address the problems... i should think after a couple of attempts I'll get better at it.
On Monday, I'll get a couple of pics ip of some driftwood we just 'slabbed' its only 8 - 10" wide, but very gnarley.... some excellent features but i didnt remember to take photos today.... i just wish i had more time! Im going to do these in a resin top

 

[baldkev]

Some cool patterns