spalting depth

[Neb Skram]

hi all
i got this fairly fresh cut cherry blank i got it about 3mo after after it was cut down it had a few spots of fungi so i wrapped it up in a trash bag for about 2 months and now it is covered with fungi so my question is in the 5 or so months its been down and wrapped how far will the spalting have gotten inside i dont want to turen all the spalting off, and i can always do first turn and wrap it back up if its need more time just want a general time window for thr spalting to have penatrated fully
thanks for ur time blank it 18.5"x6"...ben

 

[hughie]

spalting goes right through, I have never seen half a spalt

 

[Jon Rista]

Boy, if that is spalted all throughout, its gonna be amazing!

I am also curious how long it takes. I've heard people sometimes leave logs for a lot longer than a couple months for them to spalt really well...but I have never tried it (Colorado generally tends to be too dry, so I don't know if I can here...)

 

[Dwayne Watt]

Be careful, wood can go from highly spalted to highly rotten in very short order. Look at the end grain of tha blank. There is a very good chance you will see continutiy of spalt lines.

 

[Richard Coers]

I've never seen spalted cherry heartwood.
Hughie, could you please share a picture of cherry spalted all the way through.

 

[John K Jordan]

i wrapped it up in a trash bag for about 2 months and now it is covered with fungi

I had close to the identical experience, but with maple - put a bowl blank in a plastic bag for overnight and forgot about it until much later. The blank was 100% covered with thick fungi, looked like several different types to my uneducated eye. The wood had the most beautiful colors I'd ever seen and wonderfully thick black zone lines all the way through the wood. (I have another batch in a bag now trying for more.)

I've also seen log sections with surface fungi with just shallow or practically no spalting inside. I'm hoping what you have will be incredible.

I'm not convinced the spalting can be predicted from the outside, only by cutting into it. I suspect the spalting depends on variables: the wood, the particular fungus spores, the internal moisture, the temperature, all a fine line between developing beauty and rot.

BTW, Dr. Seri Robinson's books on spalting are a fascinating read.

JKJ

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Wear a respirator while turning to avoid fungus in your lungs.

 

[Kevin Jenness]

It's a crapshoot. Look at the endgrain, usually that is the best indicator of the extent of spalting. What shows on the ends probably runs the length of the blank. I had a lot of sugar maple with some spalting, put a piece in plastic for months at average 70* temps and it got funky and gray but the spalting did not advance appreciably. Sometimes it will be rotten before it's ripe, like a pear. Put it on the lathe or skin it with a saw and check it out.

 

[Neb Skram]

thank you all for your replys, waiting on a larger face plate, and them i will turn it and keep updating with pics

 

[robo hippy]

It will be interesting to see how it turns out. My first thought was that it was more mold than spalting. Have to cut into it to see. Rather than a face plate, if you have a big enough forstner bit, you can drill a recess and expand into that to get it mounted, Depending on size, tailstock can be added for support. You can even use a spur drive in a drilled hole.

The fungi that cause spalting are for breaking down celluose and don't bother people. If you get a piece from a barn yard, then extra care is needed. One point that Seri made.

robo hippy

 

[hughie]

I've never seen spalted cherry heartwood.
Hughie, could you please share a picture of cherry spalted all the way through.

i see very little cherry if ever. But what I do see is Norfolk pine with spalt lines all the way through. All soft wood down here spalts well due to the heat and humidity as Im 5 min walk to the beach.Already its 56% humidity at 6 am and it will rise. Now that chunk of cherry I would expect to be all the way through if it were in my shop. The down side of all this is rusty everything