Spalted Silver Maple

[John Scifres]

So I spent Saturday evening and yesterday morning cutting the dead top out of my 50' silver maple.  The good news is I survived and only dropped one largish branch on my house with minimal damage  

I also have a supply of what I think is usable spalted wood.  I was very surprised by how hard this stuff was.  I was expecting pretty punky wood but it was dense.  Let's just say I smoked up the area a bit cutting it all in bite size chunks.  I left the 2 largest logs intact becaase I noticed the spalting.  My question is, what next?  If I want to cut this into something that someone might use for laminations, what should I be looking for?  And should I cut it in any particular way?

[scars]

Grab a 12" to 16" round that is a cut off near to where your logs came from. Split it then use the band saw to rip some bias, flat and quarter sawn  slabs. that will show you where the purty is. If you have some crouch wood I would check that also, spalted crouch is awesome.

[John Scifres]

You nailed it on the crotch wood.  Here's a smallish piece.  It's only 5"x7" but super pretty.  I hope the bigger pieces are this nice.  I sanded and rubbed some teak oil on it.
 

Here's a bigger log left uncut with a few large branches cut off.  Will they be as cool ya think"
   

And a trailer full of cut up pieces.

 

And a really big crotch still up there  
 

[scars]

Good Gawd,
That is a jewel in the ruff, If the split is any indication of the logs then quarter sawn and bias wood be the way to have it cut. Nice score.

[scars]

I would try to use as much of the crotch wood as possible cut it into 1/2 or 5/8 x 36 slats season and rip book ends after 6 months.

[John Scifres]

I need a bigger saw  

[John Scifres]

Thanks for the help.

[scars]

 I see a lot of silver maple going and coming to work but it is on state park land. During winter storms I see blow downs and can't harvest, knowing there are some nice pieces out there. So it is nice to see someone get some joy.

Now go get that bigger saw  

[Dan Landis]

John, looks like you hit the jackpot with that one.  Just curious, what causes the spalting and is it found in other species other than maple?

[scars]

For your enjoyment Dan
http://www.spaltedmaplelumber.com/spaltedwood1.html

[snakewood3]

This is wormy, spalted, silver maple.

[2treks]

Ambrosia Charles. That little worm hole in from the Ambrosia beetle.
that is the plaque that got me liking your creations in the first place. That thing is cool.

This is a bow that I made with some Ambrosia.
The bow is named "Mermaid"

[Sam Harper]

It sure is beautiful.

[2treks]

John, I have a friend that makes his own spalted wood.
Just keep that log on the ground and roll it over to a new side about every couple weeks and keep an eye on the ends. It will keep spalting as it ages. Not sure how long it will take to get real good though. What you are showing is looking pretty nice at this point.

[Dan Landis]

Thanks Scars, was always curious about that, now I know.