How to spalt Holly?

[Matt Meadows]

Was just invited to cut down and tote away an 8" Holly, so I'll be gassing up the chainsaw Saturday. I've heard that Holly is a fantastic wood to spalt, with colored spalting showing up instead of just dark.

Anyhow, I know the theory is damp, but not touching the ground. There's a spot behind our cabinet shop that stays fairly damp and shaded, would this be a decent place? I'm guessing chock it a few inches off the ground in foot-long logs (sealed ends) and cover it with some sort of tarp. Right? How long? Months?

 

[MichaelMouse]

Though neglect will do most all of what you want, you can make it a bit more benign by checking out http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/techline/producing_spalted_wood.pdf
for information. Among other things, it'll immunize you against some folklore that has you pouring beer either unprocessed or processed through the kidneys on the wood to get spalting started, or "seeding" it in other ways.

I will say that standing a piece on its end, while it will encourage moisture wicking and development of spalting, won't necesarily do it best for a turner. Low to the ground will get punky often before the upper even begins. I like to roll mine on the ground, to get a bit more even effect around and along the log.

 

[TEK]

Arrrg!!

I haven't heard Holly looks good spalted. Maybe it does. Maple, Beech, and Hackberry are woods that come to mind that look nice spalted.. It gets blue stain pretty easily, which ruins the nice white color. I bought some dried Holly and wish it didn't have any blue stain in it. It turns nicely. I even bleached mine after turning. I was attempting to get as white of piece as I could without it looking painted. I would try to keep it white, but that is just my $.02 worth of preference. Let us know how you make out.
Tom

 

[TEK]

MichaelMouse

What kind of wood is that? That is a very nice spalted turning. Have you ever worked with Spalted Holly? Now RedFish has me wondering what it looks like! Mostly I've heard complaints from people trying to keep the Holly White. I only have one piece and that was dry when I bought it.

 

[dkulze]

On it's side and buried in leaves works well. You can even prop it up a bit to prevent the spalt from setting in to quick on one side. You can also punch little holes through the bark to help it get started. Just don't punch into the wood as the iron will cause a black stain.


Dietrich.

 

[Russ Fairfield]

For those who have not seen spalted Holley, this is what it looks like.

I stand it on end in the grass under a tree, and cover the top with a board and a brick. The only problem with Holly is that it spalts fast and the time between spalt and rot is short. This one took about 4 months.

 

[MichaelMouse]

What kind of wood is that? That is a very nice spalted turning. Have you ever worked with Spalted Holly? Now RedFish has me wondering what it looks like! Mostly I've heard complaints from people trying to keep the Holly White. I only have one piece and that was dry when I bought it.

Yellow birch. Holly doesn't grow hereabouts, so I don't turn it. Note Russ' comment on the progression of spalt in holly. A good reason to play the up side dry, down side wet game if you're trying to influence the process. The piece you see was about 3" larger in the log, but the sapwood was too punky to hold together before the interior colored up.

Of course, as the source I cited mentions, temperature is as big a factor as moisture content.

Here's a look similar to Russ' on a bowl waiting for final rubout.

 

[Matt Meadows]

Beautiful, beautiful stuff guys!! I can't wait to try it. If it rots, or if it blues, oh well it only cost me the gasoline in the chainsaw. And as someone' sig here says, experience is something you get just after you need it.

I'm glad you dispelled the myth about the beer. I do not drink b/c of family history with alkeehol, but I may have been a lil tempted to try it....

 

[Russ Fairfield]

Most of the time, decay and spalting will start on its own. There are some climates where we have to provide an artificial environment and encourage the process. And, there are other times when the natural decay will not give us the desired results. These are the reasons why we might want to be using a "spalting elixer" made from such things as beer, dry oak leaves, horse manure, and MiracleGrow. Some of these ingredients encourage the decay process that produces spalting, and some of them encourage certain types of spalting, and discourage others. Notice that the USDA article mentioned several types of spalt and rot, not all of them being desireable.

Beer provides the sugars to feed the process in a useable form. The dry Oak leaves encourage the type of spalt that makes black lines, and along with the organics in horse manure provides the organics for the decay process that causes the spalting. The ammonia in the horse manure retards white rot. The Miracle Grow provids nitrogen to promote the organic type growths that make the black line spalting.

 

[Rick-U]

Spalted Holly... Wow! Whodathunkit?

Russ and Michael,

That stuff looks fantastic! The only thing I've been able to get my holly (quite small trunk) to do is explode (v. t. crack dramatically)! Your example will encourage me not to avoid it in the future.

Regards,

 

[Matt Meadows]

Rick, try soaking your turnings in denatured alcohol for a couple hours as was mentioned in a few earlier posts, it does work. I've turned half a dozen things so far and nothing has checked.