Spalting and stuff (and curly maple) - Woodworking Talk

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 01:54 PM

I have a couple little spalt piles in the yard of logs I am letting cook in the shade. This pile is a few 40"-50" sycamore, some birch (painted the ends then decided to let them spalt, may buck the sealed ends off) A couple 30+" sweetgum...I get a call from a tree service working here in town (that is his stump grinder parked in my yard) saying they were leaving for the weekend, rain has set in today and doesn't look like it will stop. He said he just felled a hard maple, but I probably didn't want it because it was standing dead and "starting to rot" and the heart was really dark. I said sure drop it on the pile with the sycamores he had dumped awhile back.

Hey, 1/2 my wait is over

, it's already starting to spalt.

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 02:00 PM

Upon closer inspection of the maple I see something

It is really obvious on the butt end...but that is not unusual, most maples (most trees actually) have a bit of compression curl in the butt swell. But this was not cut right at the ground, it's above the butt swell. So I took a hatchet to the other end of the log in a couple places...not so straight grained there either

. Kinda all wiggly and what not, hmm this could be interesting.

mdlbldrmatt135 · 05-08-2009, 02:05 PM

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH
that should be some cool stuff when you get it sawn!!!

JP Sinclair · 05-08-2009, 05:37 PM

Oh buddy - That's tiger ripple, I could see that a county away

**TexasTimbers** · 05-08-2009, 05:45 PM

Daren, I've got some qtr sawn oak I'll trade.

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP Sinclair

Oh buddy - That's tiger ripple, I could see that a county away

Yeppers, you know this look too...once I stripped some bark off the middle of the log and saw the blister I knew it was probably a good one

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasTimbers

Daren, I've got some qtr sawn oak I'll trade.

Are you sure

...this one has a nail in it

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 06:40 PM

So it kinda stopped raining for a minute and I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to make a cut to see for sure, not going to let it spalt anymore, the figure is cool enough. I don't have time to mill it tonight, other stuff going on. I will mill it tomorrow.

I just took a little slice off (found a nail

) and ran that piece through the planer to make sure the curl was good the whole length...

. Even sopping wet you can see the tight curl on the planed piece. A better camera wouldn't hurt a thing either. I will more post pictures when I do mill it out.

**TexasTimbers** · 05-08-2009, 09:20 PM

Glad to see you get one like that Daren. I wish you could get 100 (I would only beg for one).

Seriously, I hope it gets better even as it comes apart. Metal be damd - blades are cheap when you're getting lumber like what we hope that has in it.

don716 · 05-08-2009, 10:44 PM

Daren,

Did the nail ruin your blade? The reason I'm asking is that the walnut log I'm getting cut on Monday has a few in it I think.I pulled 2 out of it yesterday and my detector picked up more but I wasn't able to see them.I may try to look for them over the weekend and pull them out.

Donny

**Daren** · 05-08-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by don716

Daren,Did the nail ruin your blade?

Donny, it threw it out of set pretty bad. It is still sharp...but the teeth that hit/cut the nail are out of whack and dig in deeper making a rough cut. I like to mill smooth lumber for "rough sawn", one pass each side on the planer and you're good to go.

Ruined, no. They can be resharpened/reset a few times...pain in the hiney for a sawyer to hit a nail, yes.

So yea, find all the nails you can and tell your sawyer to expect some you missed.

**Daren** · 05-09-2009, 07:31 PM

Not the wildest spalt ever, but bookmatched they should look cool. A small pile of 17" wide x 10' boards. I have another small pile of the flitches from the cut down. I know some with sawmill experience would wonder why I did not just through and through the whole thing in flitches and leave it in a boule...it was an "odd" shaped tree and it just did not suit me.

The pile is 9 sawn 4/4, 1 sawn 3/4 and the piece on top is 10/4 (I think this would make a neat gun stock, so I knocked off a thick one)

I tried to get a shot of the curl, the picture with the small plane I used to take off the saw marks, but the light was wrong and my camera is from a gumball machine. It has good tight curl though.

JP Sinclair · 05-11-2009, 11:21 AM

Wow, that's a nice sampling!. Spalted makes dynamite bookmatch pieces. They sometimes make interesting figures. I had one recently that the inside of the spalt lines looked like a cowboy with a 10 gallon hat.

JoshuaHoffman · 05-11-2009, 03:34 PM

Hey Daren, I have accumulated about 20 huge root bases and attached Maple and Cherry root stumps from a road project in front of my house/shop up here in Stephentown. Do you have some ideas how I might approach milling these? Obviously, I am going to encouter metal, dirt(even if I do some pressure washing), and rocks. Some of the figure and spalting if I leave them for awhile might match what you have on this interesting thread presentation about figure and spalting. Probably not as good as your buddy's mesquito wood down in Texas but what the heh, what do ya think? These are some of the Cherry's. Would you like to see the Maple for imput?Joshua Joshuastrees@gmail.com

**TexasTimbers** · 05-11-2009, 03:59 PM

I know you didn't ask me but I can't help it. Yes, I would love to see inside those logs and roots. In fact I would like to open them up for you.

**TexasTimbers** · 05-11-2009, 04:00 PM

JP those boards look R - E - A - L nice.

**Daren** · 05-11-2009, 07:51 PM

Joshua, the cherry is not really going to spalt so those can be milled any time. It's not really going to rot either, it's more decay resistant than most give it credit for. The maple should look killer spalted

Yea, milling root balls can be a blade ruinin' venture, so many ingrown rocks. We can cut a nail...rocks don't cut with a bandblade. It's going to take alot of pressure washing, then some more. As far as "how" to mill them, for the best figure just position them on the mill like it was a log and saw from top-bottom flat sawn.

Good luck, and pictures are a must.

JoshuaHoffman · 05-12-2009, 11:19 AM

Here are the images. If one of you guys wants to split the cost after pressure washing....i.e. shipping....maybe you can do the millwork. My equipment will probably die in the process and my body doesn't look anything like the "paul bunyan" figure on your icon. joshua

**TexasTimbers** · 05-12-2009, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoshuaHoffman

. . . my body doesn't look anything like the "paul bunyan" figure on your icon . . .

Josh, that ain't really Daren. He just uses a picture of me for his avatar to make people think he is really chiseled.

**Daren** · 05-13-2009, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasTimbers

Josh, that ain't really Daren. He just uses a picture of me for his avatar to make people think he is really chiseled.

...you thought I was on vacation/fishing trip didn't you and could slip one in there...

, I got rained out today. ..no way I would use a picture of you as my avatar, strange females would be stalking me

. My ugly mug shot keeps that under control, kinda of a natural repellant if you will.