Birds Eye Maple? - What does spalting mean to the wood potential?

[jacksonp]

Originally Posted by qbilder
Was a big tree in a big forest, and was left alone while everything else was cut around it. The new full exposure to sun caused it to begin branching out all over. It was already a mature tree before this happened, and probably why it wasn't cut with everything else. The loggers knew it would have a lot of heartwood & very little white sap. Nothing wrong with the tree. It's just very old, past its prime, and now down. If I were to guess, i'd think you have a lot of trees under 12" diameter, a few big ones like that maple, and not a whole lot in between. That's just a guess, going on what I have seen in your pictures. Looks like the property was cut 10-20 yrs. ago.

edit: the last pic shows some sunburst rays. I can't tell if it's natural or if i'm seeing saw marks. If it's natural then you, sir, have a treasure on your hands. If those are rays & not saw marks, then you have a great big, mostly solid, very colorful birdseye maple log. Is there any possible way you could cut a 4-6" cookie from the butt or stump and break it in half, then show a close up picture of the grain?


So I took some more pictures. Made a few a cuts. Does any one have any experience with spalted wood. Any precautions to avoid bringing the fungus into your home or body? Is the wood still good? Is there a way of knowing whether the decay has gone to far to make something useful out of the wood? Very new to this, any info would help.
The first few are to show the grain or rays - and the last pic is the most rotten branch I could find, it was still pretty hard to cut - can something like this be used - the bottom trunk looks about 60% infected.
Also - what do you guys think? Birdseye? Take a look and lemme know what you think - Thanks again

 

[jacksonp]

Original Pics

To avoid duplication I thought I would just refer you to the Tree Identification Help Post just below this one. Thanks Again

 

[qbilder]

Not birdseye. There are a few eyes in there but not enough to label the the wood. Those pictures are great. The log is worth milling for sure. It has several trunks in one so there's going to be some serious crotch feathering and wrinkles/curls going on in there. Added to that is the color of the spalt and mineral absorption. You'll have some very colorful, crazy grained lumber if you mill it. You'll see blues & grays & maybe even some orange in there, plus all shades of brown. I cut a lot of that kind of stuff, and your log is as nice as it gets. Here's a pic of one I milled last year, similar to what you have. Keep in mind the slabs are not wet, so they look dull & faded. When wetted down they come to life with brilliant colors and crazy grain patterns.

So don't be disappointed that it's not birdseye. It's still very, very cool. And it'll give you some awesome lumber.

 

[jacksonp]

Hey - thanks for all the info and encouragement - might have let it rot without the direction - thanks again and I will be milling it today likely and I will try and get some pics up.

 

[qbilder]

Post pics!!! I love seeing ugly logs come to life.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Chunks of spalted silver maple. (my pics) I ripped some rough boards for my neighbor, a wood worker. They were only 19 - 20 in. long, but he could use them for small things (boxes, picture frames) or inlays. I'd say your piece is worth milling - the punky parts will need to be trimmed out, but there should be some nice boards in there! Make sure you use an Alaskan mill or small hobby mill instead of free handing like I did. Rick the boards (off the ground, on level pallets or the like), put a little weigh on them, and cover with a piece of stiff roofing -- NOT plastic, or it will decay.

Nice stuff there -- but only if you process it right.

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If you look carefully at the last pick, you can see that the butt had sound wood on the outside -- I wish i knew what I was getting into, I would have cut it flush with the ground and 8 ft. long. I could have gotten a few boards spalted on the inside and edged with sound wood, for a unique slab table. Firewooded it instead before I knew what I had --- too bad!! A funky log is always worth a second look. Then again, I was working under tight time constraints around a school, clearing ice storm damage in crap weather.