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Anyone here attempt spalting your own wood?

Odie

Odie

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I read the article by Sara Robinson AW December 2010, Vol. 25 - No. 6 p54-59

Anyone here try this process of spalting your own wood?

What kind of success have you had?

Thanks for any input you may offer on this technique.

ooc
 
I've been having some trouble with uploading photos to the forums lately. This example of spalting is naturally occurring, and only a test of the system.

ooc
 

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spalting

I have spalted some logs. All I do is put as many oak leaves and the log in a garbage bag which is lightly closed. Another ingredient I use is the large konks(mushroom like things growing on trees) That is a good indicator if a standing tree is spalted also, if it has konks on it.
 
Sara's smart as a whip, and loves to talk wood.

Too cold out there now, but when it's warm enough and the wood's damp enough, it spalts. Learned a few things by observing nature's way, and now I roll the logs a couple times a summer so as to equalize the effect a bit. Otherwise, one side's spalted, other nearly perfect. Seems water goes low in the log. Similar thing happens if you put a short piece on end. The part on the dirt goes fast, the rest hardly, so reverse a few times for best luck.

Here's one that was rolled and one that was neglected and got really delignified.
 

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Yes, locally wood spalts, well, easily (the great Pacific North-Wet)

I have had good results with just burying the wood in it's own (wet) chips and leaving it outside.

Wood spalts year around here though, and as I learned when I first moved here..."Things either Grow, Mold or Corrode", here (sometimes more then one, I have cut Maple, Alder and Apple down, that was still growing, yet still spalting)
 
My first spalting exercise was unintended and happened when I completely covered a stacked pile of pecan log halves with a tarp over a very wet summer. Even though on my asphalt driveway, everything spalted thoroughly, even up to 30" diameter pieces. The tarp acted like a pressure cooker, keeping moisture in and heating as well.

I've also had very wet beech log halves in my garage, put on end on the concrete floor, and had them spalt. I sort of did the same as MM's idea of rolling by flipping these end for end to get more even color once I saw what was going on.

Overall, I've not found getting wood to spalt all that difficult, as long as its wet to begin with. Otherwise you've got to induce moisture as in my first example (the wood was from a tree that had been blown down over three years previous to cutting) and completely cover the logs. I've never tried anything other than this, as it works for me.
 

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I have taken fresh turned wet maple and put them in large zip locks like they sell for storing clothes. Given a warm but not temperature, molt easily grows and spalt occurs.

As long as the wood is still naturally wet, it is pretty easy to induce and promote spalting.

What we need is a mycologist that can tell us what mold species can be introduced to encourage exact colors, what that mold feeds off of, and then start collecting particular mold species to harvest and transplant onto different wood species. I would suspect that you could even seed dry wood (re-wet it) with certain sugars or yeasts and induce spalting.

If you go through back issues of the AW you will find several articles on spalting, using beer, miracle grow and other recipes.
 
Steve Worcester said:
What we need is a mycologist that can tell us what mold species can be introduced to encourage exact colors, what that mold feeds off of, and then start collecting particular mold species to harvest and transplant onto different wood species. I would suspect that you could even seed dry wood (re-wet it) with certain sugars or yeasts and induce spalting.
Click to expand...

Chase the reference to Sara and you'll find answers to almost all that. F'rinstance http://www.irg-wp.com/IRG39-presentations/IRG 08-10652.pdf

http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/2/1/62/pdf
 
I believe Sara Robinson is trying to explain spalting to us in the December issue of American Woodturner. She says there will be a follow up article if I remember correctly.
 
Steve Worcester said:
....

What we need is a mycologist that can tell us what mold species can be introduced to encourage exact colors, what that mold feeds off of, and then start collecting particular mold species to harvest and transplant onto different wood species. I would suspect that you could even seed dry wood (re-wet it) with certain sugars or yeasts and induce spalting.

If you go through back issues of the AW you will find several articles on spalting, using beer, miracle grow and other recipes.
Click to expand...


Steve, if you check out the December issue of AW, Sara Robinson writes about spalting your own wood in a sidebar titled "Controlled Spalting." Also, check out her website about spalting at www.northernspalting.com -- this reference is also in the article (in her bio).

Sara debunks a lot of myths about spalting, such as the beer thing. She is a research scientist, focusing on spalting and she turns wood. Can't get better than that!

And yes, Sara has agreed to write a follow-up article.


Betty Scarpino, editor, AW
 
Steve Worcester said:
..

What we need is a mycologist that can tell us what mold species can be introduced to encourage exact colors, what that mold feeds off of, and then start collecting particular mold species to harvest and transplant onto different wood species. I would suspect that you could even seed dry wood (re-wet it) with certain sugars or yeasts and induce spalting.
Click to expand...

Here we go with another Sara pointer, this time to her blog where she actually talks about this in more detail Blog

While I'm at it, one more

TTFN
Ralph
 
Sara's presentation would be great for a Symposium topic, but she needs a bit more time than the standard session. She is definitley the one to answer Steve's statement. She spoke at our guild in November and I had the opportunity to spend time with her while driving to the meeting.
 
Harder to not spalt wood in NJ

Depending on where you live, it may actually be more difficult to keep wood from spalting than to have it spalt. I know that if I don't turn it all right away, I'll have spalting by the time I get to it...

What's my secret?

Well, I think it has something to do with how I work in prep and what I cut. I have a specific area that I cut wood into shape in. The area is littered with decaying wood shavings, and it's not uncommon to have mushrooms sprouting. If I was to guess, it probably has had dozens of feet of shavings on it over time, each introducing some decaying matter. It is fertile ground.

To spalt wood, all I have to do is leave it on the ground in this area. Like others have mention, turning your logs is a good idea to even it out. When it gets spalted enough, I take it off the ground and cut off the cracked ends and then into blocks that I seal with Anchorseal. Everything is larger than I need, and finishes however it finishes. I don't sweat the size, since it is free wood (all that I turn...)

S
 
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