Spalting Wood

[Jim]

If you want to spalt wood do you still need to seal both ends of the wood ..

 

[Terry Q]

I always put mine in a large plastic trash bag to cook. No sealed ends.

 

[Neil]

If you want to spalt wood do you still need to seal both ends of the wood ..

No you dont Jim, when you want the wood to spalt you should smear the whole log in muck from the woodland floor. Some swear by covering the thing in live yoghurt as this encourages the growth of the bacteria. I have found that scoring the outer layer of the log with a chain saw helps allow the bacteria in quickly. If you just chuck it on the ground then you get the spalting on one side of the tree only. You want to keep the thing covered in muck and damp, that way it will control the water loss and the splitting a bit. The other reliable way is to say bugger it and go to Snainton, they've got some nice stuff in there at reasonable prices, and you dont get covered in muck.

 

[Penpal]

I am with Neil in our climate it is another process but lengthy and risky those same spores can do no end of damage to us if you get the wrong one.

Peter.

 

[wm460]

I tried burying the wood under leaves etc, the wood rotted.

 

[Dalboy]

I have seen somewhere that rubbing fungus of different types also helps with the spalting and in some cases can produce some spectacular colours. Again you will need to keep it in the correct environment to speed up the job

 

[Neil]

I have seen somewhere that rubbing fungus of different types also helps with the spalting and in some cases can produce some spectacular colours. Again you will need to keep it in the correct environment to speed up the job

The right conditions, warm and damp. Stop it, thats enough. above 21 degrees I think and the bacteria will multiply.

 

[Terry Q]

Try this recipe.
Russ's Corner: A WoodCentral Archive

 

[bassethound]

I tried burying the wood under leaves etc, the wood rotted.

Sorry Mark that cracked me up!

 

[chas_41_uk]

I tried burying the wood under leaves etc, the wood rotted.

I thought you were going to say you couldn't find it again Mark

 

[paulm]

I just leave it outside and it does its own thing.

 

[Grump]

Sling it up the side of my shed, it'll rot.
I am led to believe bacteria comes to life at 4 degrees and loves anything above that to boiling.

 

[Bill Mooney]

I leave outside until spalling starts then put it in a plastic bag & tie the top & let it sweat in the bag, this speeds up the process. Keep a good eye on it or it will go punks. Don't seal the ends.

 

[Phil Dart]

In Robert Chapman's book, "Woodturning - A Fresh Approach" he advocates immersing the wood on liquid garden fertiliser for 24hrs, then seasoning, which is very similar to Terry's recipe link, but without the shite.

 

[Neil]

In Robert Chapman's book, "Woodturning - A Fresh Approach" he advocates immersing the wood on liquid garden fertiliser for 24hrs, then seasoning, which is very similar to Terry's recipe link, but without the shite.

Phil,

The fertiliser produces the nitrogen which encourages the bacteria which causes the spalting pattern, but fertiliser alone wont do anything. The black spalting lines on the beech or birch spalting patterns are caused not by the infection itself but by different bacteria establishing themelves in the wood and then confronting another bacteria, the lines are zonal lines and are the demarcation between the two different bacteria.

Now I'm not an expert on Horse digestion systems but would think that what goes through a horses gut is probably not the best source of bacteria that would produce spalting, but I could well be wrong. I have been wrong before, I may well be wrong now and I will be wrong in the future! Feeding Horses actimel before they shit on your newly felled tree could be expensive!

I feel a lot better, and my wife says smell a lot more acceptable, having smeared decomposing leaf and woodland vegetation on the tree than horse shit. It certainly makes picking your nose less gruesome! The beer issue needs some clarification as the fizzy stuff is sterile as far as yeast and bacteria are concerned. Real Ale is alledgedly beneficial as it is a live beer. I can recommend a beer that will destroy anything, McMullens, a local brew to Hertford. It must be good for helping to spalt wood as its got no other known use to man.

Back to the fertiliser, Ammonia chemical formula, NH4 contains the nitrogen in the miracle grow and is cheap, first you drink the beer, wait an hour and then point in the direction of the log masquerading as a garden ornament behind the wifes geranium bed. Just make sure the mother in law has gone home.

 

[Phil Dart]

Ha Ha. Too late today, but I'll have a skin full tonight and give it a try in the morning.

 

[Grump]

McMullens beers have to be the most diarrhoea mixtures I have ever encountered.
If I had to wait a whole hour before releasing it on a log I would explode init?
Who needs senna when we have McMullens pubs.

Strange brewery altogether I managed a couple of their pubs for a while many years ago, they were going through a phase of having high bars and raised floors behind the bar so the public couldn't reach the staff and it made them look taller.
Didn't help when they went to floor level to collect the empties or when they were throwing glasses at em.
Their Hertsman lager was brewed to a silly ABV of 8.9% on introduction, the customers loved a few pints of wife beater, they soon took it off and changed the recipe then wondered why it flopped.