# Spalting logs, it's just a matter of time.



## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

I think I timed these about right, spalted maple, fresh sawn this morning. In the "group shot" of the 4 bookmatched live edge sets you cannot see the detail, so I took a couple close ups. 16"-18" wide sawn 5/4". 2 years of baby sitting, 20 minutes of milling.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Oh yah. Them is right purdy. :thumbsup:

By coincidence, the wife and I moved a whack of maple cants this morning to make her a nice outdoor photo studio. 

The cants were stored under a tarp. I wasn't intending to spalt these but thats what happened. They didnt spalt as much as what you have shown but they are okay. 

Nice wood there pard. You gonna use it, sell it, or a mix thereof?


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I've got a big'n spalting now. It looks very promising. It seems to be fully spalted in the heart but the sapwood has no spalting. Apparently it spalted while standing. I checked both ends and it's solid...showing the same pattern at both ends. It's at least 14' long. I hope Its not punky somewhere in between. I will be at least two weeks before I can mill it and it may be put off until this Fall. 


I'm wondering if you can air dry that in this heat and keep the white white so the contrast is maintained?


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

TexasTimbers said:


> You gonna use it, sell it, or a mix thereof?


Yea a mix thereof, I will at least keep 2-3 pieces. I opened one from the same batch a couple months ago (prematurely, not so good looking). I have a couple more I will mill and see what is up/how much I really end up with and go from there. I have some guys coming over tomorrow for some other stuff, those pieces may be gone then if the price is right ?


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

dirtclod said:


> I'm wondering if you can air dry that in this heat and keep the white white so the contrast is maintained?


They are about dry already. They seemed awful light so I hit them with the moisture meter, 15% right off the saw :huh:. They basically got too dry inside to even spalt anymore, not enough moisture to maintain the action. That is what is hard about spalting up here in Illinois compared to down south, they have to lay longer. We have almost 6 months a year it is too cool to really do much, 3 of those months logs are just frozen solid.


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## Burlkraft (Oct 15, 2006)

Hey Daren,

Them are some purdy boards there :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I been talkin' with a scientist from The Forest Products Lab in Madison. He was tellin' me about a project they got comin' up.
They have separated the spalt fungus from all the others, meaning
they leave behind the browns and blacks and just get the white, and are planning on bottling it.    It should be ready to test in the field by fall. This should enable the common user to spalt logs or boards in a short amount of time. Right now they are working on a vehicle to get it completely through the log without totally rotting out the outside ends. I have made the sacrifice and volunteered to be a test subject :laughing: :laughing:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Burlkraft said:


> I have made the sacrifice and volunteered to be a test subject :laughing: :laughing:


Way to take one for the team Steve . Get plenty, maybe extra...I am a man with little patience, this hit and miss/babysit for 2 years is hard on my nerves :laughing:


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

:laughing:


Burlkraft said:


> They have separated the spalt fungus from all the others, meaning
> they leave behind the browns and blacks and just get the white, and are planning on bottling it.


I thought the various color contrasts were what the buyers were looking for? :icon_confused: Bleach might do what they are describing?



Burlkraft said:


> I have made the sacrifice and volunteered to be a test subject :laughing:


:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Careful, remember the 50's sci-fi called The Blob? :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: [In this case - The White Blob ]:smartass:


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## Burlkraft (Oct 15, 2006)

dirtclod said:


> :laughing:
> 
> I thought the various color contrasts were what the buyers were looking for? :icon_confused: Bleach might do what they are describing?


It's the white fungus that makes the black markings...go figure :blink::blink: The brown and black fungus are what eats up the wood faster than the others. You want to get the black without the rotting and brown color.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I see. White = black. One of those counter-intuitive things.


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