? Spalted maple

Is this the lines that hickory and maple get in the wood when their starting to get old? Or is this different.

 

i dunno how it happens but ive done seen it quite a fewtimes in red maple

 

I was burning some this morning that looked just like that! I probably incinerated $125 worth of sugar maple in less than an hour Yep, leave maple on the ground exposed to the elements for a couple years and this is what you get. The trick is letting it go long enough, but not so long it gets punky. The stuff I have was scrounged already like that.

 

Have not seen this type of look in maple. Dont no about hickory.

 

When I think spalted I think soft, punky and often wet.

 

That’s what I was thinking. Looks like mostly decayed wood.

 

Spalting is just fungus decay process and can be in any kind of wood but I see it quite a bit in swamp/red maple along with shelf mushrooms on the bark, dunno if the two fungi are related.
There's also a spalting caused by the ambrosia beetle.
If you get the wood processed before the decay has proceeded too far it can be somewhat valuable wood.

 

That is spalted maple. Really nice figuring, but if left too long before cut, it develops soft spots and has no integrity left.

 

Yeah, I don't think it takes very long to go from an interesting piece of wood to a worthless POS, even for firewood. I see shelf mushrooms and the odds of having firewood gets real slim.

 

Add to that the belief of putting any food related items into a vessel contaminated with fungus.

 

what about putting mushrooms in one???

 

Ive seen that in maple myself.

 

Maybe it cancels each other out? Like a double negative? Or is it an oxymoron?

The only reason I mentioned it is because I new a woodworker that found some spalted maple on his land and used it for bowls, bread boards, shelf ornaments, etc. His wife wouldn't let them into the house once she learned that the pattern was due to fungus. I told him he was a patient man. Different strokes, I guess.

 

Yep, the wood carpenter's would throw away, us wood turners pay extra for!! I try to keep a few rounds standing up on the ground under eaves to spalt on purpose, cheaper that way. But that is beautiful spalting and will be great colors throughout. If it gets a little punky , soak with thin CA glue. On bowls, once the finish is dry, it is food safe.

 

I’ve spun a few pieces I found in the woodpile years ago. Beautiful stuff for turning. Nice in board form too. Expensive to buy, I’ve seen it at the woodworkers stores $$$
As others have said. It’s not easy to find it in useable form. Very little time between spalted and rotted. Thought I had read a long time ago it was partly a function of the decaying wood soaking minerals out of the ground.

 

YES

 

I cut open a big maple burl for Joe and it was gorgeous. Caught it just the right time