# Lucky wood find



## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

The top of a tree fell and hit my shed recently. Upon further inspection, I found the wood to be quite interesting. I cut up a sample piece to reveal some nice spalting! I cut some up into 1" thick planks, logs, and some crotch pieces. I sealed the end grain, but I don't know what else I need to do to it. I read somewhere that suggested wrapping the pieces in paper bag to let them dry. Is this the proper course of action? I believe the wood to be oak.

Thanks!


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## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

For some reason, I can't upload multiple pics


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## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

Plank 1" thick


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## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

Small crotch. It has a large cavity. I'll probably make a platter out of it.


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## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

1" thick planks


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## MR2MAN (Mar 9, 2014)

Biggest pieces.


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## Mike Powell (Mar 9, 2014)

Yup you can cut the center out of the first plank and send it to me Ha ha ha, Beautiful wood, good find.


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## Wood Butcher (Mar 9, 2014)

Somebody here will surly jump in with better answers but I remember someone saying the microwaved wood to speed the drying.  I would cut off a few pieces and give it a try.  Nice material can't wait to see what you do with it.
WB


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## Russknan (Mar 9, 2014)

Looks to me like you have some spalted beech. Beech trees around here (NY) are dying at a furious rate. Bug gets in there, then disease. If you can get the wood before it's punky, it's some beautiful stuff. Russ


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## ironman123 (Mar 9, 2014)

I dry my wood in the toaster oven.  Sometimes 3-4 times til weight stabilizes at lowest.

Ray


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## Kenny Durrant (Mar 10, 2014)

I like the second pic showing the ends of the logs. I had some Spalted Hackberry that looked simular and cut it both with and across the grain. The cross cut looked like a compleatly different wood. The logs look about the same as what I had only a lot more color. Just a suggestion. Nice find.


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## Haynie (Mar 10, 2014)

That is some good looking mold you got going there.  My experience with turning spalted wood was bad.  It was really soft.  I should have had it stabilized.  Are you planning to stabilize you blanks?


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## gimpy (Mar 10, 2014)

Mike Powell said:


> Yup you can cut the center out of the first plank and send it to me Ha ha ha, Beautiful wood, good find.



DARN !!!! you beat me to it, oh well:frown:


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## Pitoon (Mar 10, 2014)

looks like ambrosia maple....at least to me.

i would let it dry naturally....on average it takes 1yr per inch to dry.  so basically 4in thick will take 4yrs.

if it's green you don't want to rush the drying part.  that's when you get checks and warping....and could possibly waste a really nice piece of wood.

Pitoon


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## mikespenturningz (Mar 10, 2014)

I would cut it up and put some in a toaster oven at say 150 degrees for a few days and then stabilize it. That is some beautiful spalted wood. Usually it is pretty well dry when it gets like that. So the toaster oven should take care of getting any soaked up water out of it. That is just beautiful wood. Use it well..


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## Russknan (Mar 10, 2014)

Not trying to be obsessional - or a jerk - but I still think it's beech. He may want to know. Any experts want to put this part to rest? Russ


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## eranox (Mar 10, 2014)

Wood of course dries faster in smaller pieces.  I would advise roughing out any slabs or bowl blanks that you want sooner rather than later.  It may seem wasteful, but cut the heart of the wood out now.  This will split the most and split soonest, and the cracks will spread to good wood that may not have split otherwise.  Or, leave it and enjoy some fun and beautiful inlay work later!

The wood will shrink and warp a bit as it dries, so cut your slabs slightly thicker than you need them.  A good way to go is to take a log and cut a slab right down the middle that is about 20% of the log's overall thickness.  The ratio doesn't need to be exact.  This leaves one slab with the heart in the middle, and two pieces with a taco shaped cross section.  Cut the heart out of the slab, which leaves you with two smaller slabs each with bark on one side.  These are great for spindles or pen blanks.  The other two pieces can be sawn into bowl blanks, more pen blanks, or anything else you might think of.

Seal the end grain and the surrounding 1" or so to prevent splitting.  Anchorseal works great, as does dipping them in paraffin or painting them with a few coats of latex paint.  You can pack your slabs/blanks in the green wood shavings that you just made and roll them up in a paper grocery bag to help smooth out the drying process, but it probably isn't necessary at this point.

Obviously, wood-eating critters are likely to be living in this wood.  Keep that in mind when storing it!


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## mikespenturningz (Mar 11, 2014)

I think this wood is far enough gone that splitting won't be much of an issue. There isn't much tension left in this type of wood for that. I do like the idea of cutting it up.. This wood will have to be stabilized in order to make pens from it though. I looks pretty punky, which is the best kind once stabilized it will make awesome pens.


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## MR2MAN (Mar 12, 2014)

Thanks for all the comments! I do want to stabilize it, but I don't know how. Can someone fill me in on that process?


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## bruce119 (Mar 12, 2014)

I think it's White Oak...and it looks dead to me probably soft and punky...If your in a hurry for a piece or two the toaster at a low temp 120 for a few hrs...
Weigh it with a postal mail scale before, during and after when it stops losing weight it's ready....
Otherwise I would cut it up and throw it in a nice dry place for a few months...
You can stabilize as you turn depending how soft it is. Just keep adding thin CA let it soak in...
Good Luck


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## Gary Beasley (Mar 12, 2014)

See if there's anyone in the area doing stabilizing and have it done. You might be able to trade some of the wood for the service if it's a hobbyist doing it. It's not exactly cheap getting in to stabilizing so for a one off it's not worth doing yourself. I'd make the offer but I'm not that close.


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