Grahamshed
Established Member
I have a few blanks of spalted beech and silver birch. I am wondering if I should keep them separate from my other blanks. Will the 'infection' spread to other wood ?
Storing spalted wood
- Thread starter Grahamshed
- Start date
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Spindle
Established Member
Hi
I'd keep it separate unless it has been kiln dried which will kill the fungus and arrest the spalting. If it's not kiln dried I'd be concerned about the spalting continuing, albeit at a reduce rate, and turning your stock to mush, so I'd use it sooner rather than later.
Edited to clarify: I think the spalting may continue in the spalted blanks and turn them to mush - not your whole stock. I wouldn't keep spalted wood in direct contact with other blanks.
Regards Mick
I'd keep it separate unless it has been kiln dried which will kill the fungus and arrest the spalting. If it's not kiln dried I'd be concerned about the spalting continuing, albeit at a reduce rate, and turning your stock to mush, so I'd use it sooner rather than later.
Edited to clarify: I think the spalting may continue in the spalted blanks and turn them to mush - not your whole stock. I wouldn't keep spalted wood in direct contact with other blanks.
Regards Mick
Vic Perrin
Established Member
I don't think so Graham, I have stored dry spalted timber with ordinary for years and not had any problems. As a matter of fact I wish it would cause the other timber to Spalt.
Vic
Vic
As above - you'd need dampness for it to cause a problem, I'd have thought.
It would depend on the moisture content as to whether the spalting stops or not within the spalted piece, but normal air dry is usually sufficient to halt that anyway, as for it spreading to other pieces, that is not possible unless the fungus causing the spalt develops fruit bodies (usually in the form of a bracket fungus but not always, some toadstool shaped fungi can also be a part of the process as well as various club shaped ones)
But with all of these it is the fruit body that carries the spores necessary for the fungus to move to a new piece of wood, on top of that the conditions have to be just right too, think of a woodland floor in mid to late autumn, wet, cool and shady, those are the required conditions for the fungus to take hold. What we see in the patterns of Spalting is the action of the main part of any fungus, the mycellium, which can be basically considered as the root, but in fact is the true form of the fungus, the white areas of spalted wood are caused by a family of bracket fungus, turkey tail being a prime one.
The black lines are demarcation lines between different mycelliums, they mark a border and somehow prevent other fungi from encroaching.
So, store your spalted wood alongside any other timber in the dry with confidence, there is no risk of it moving across.
But with all of these it is the fruit body that carries the spores necessary for the fungus to move to a new piece of wood, on top of that the conditions have to be just right too, think of a woodland floor in mid to late autumn, wet, cool and shady, those are the required conditions for the fungus to take hold. What we see in the patterns of Spalting is the action of the main part of any fungus, the mycellium, which can be basically considered as the root, but in fact is the true form of the fungus, the white areas of spalted wood are caused by a family of bracket fungus, turkey tail being a prime one.
The black lines are demarcation lines between different mycelliums, they mark a border and somehow prevent other fungi from encroaching.
So, store your spalted wood alongside any other timber in the dry with confidence, there is no risk of it moving across.
Spindle
Established Member
Hi
That's interesting - does the fungus need to fruit to move between two pieces of wood? I would have thought that under the right conditions with the woods in direct contact, the fungus could spread in the same manner as it does through a single piece. Agreed it needs to produce spores by fruiting to spread to other wood with which it is not in contact.
Regards Mick
That's interesting - does the fungus need to fruit to move between two pieces of wood? I would have thought that under the right conditions with the woods in direct contact, the fungus could spread in the same manner as it does through a single piece. Agreed it needs to produce spores by fruiting to spread to other wood with which it is not in contact.
Regards Mick
Grahamshed
Established Member
Hmmm. Yes it can - No it can't, and both sound convincing.
Any more ?
Any more ?
Spindle
Established Member
Hi
I think if it's out of direct contact with other wood it will be OK - I don't know how dry the blanks would have to be to halt spalting, the core of the blank is always going to be the last to dry.
I always assumed it was the heat in kiln drying that killed the fungus.
Regards Mick
I think if it's out of direct contact with other wood it will be OK - I don't know how dry the blanks would have to be to halt spalting, the core of the blank is always going to be the last to dry.
I always assumed it was the heat in kiln drying that killed the fungus.
Regards Mick
Random Orbital Bob
Established Member
If the wood is in direct and good contact AND they're both suitably damp then in theory the hyphae at the ends of the mycelia COULD cross the boundary of the two pieces but the variables would have to be very in alignment for that coincidence to actually take place.
What Bob said, in theory I guess it's possible (but I don't know for certain), in practice you would have a tough time getting it to happen even if you really wanted to. Fungi are extremely particular about the environment they grow in, everything has to be just so or it doesn't happen, once the wood loses sufficient moisture then the mycelium ceases to function, much in the manner of any plant, so a dry store will be no problem.
Seri Robinson is a true expert on the subject, this video explains a great deal about the process and is well worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch it.
Seri Robinson is a true expert on the subject, this video explains a great deal about the process and is well worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch it.
Dalboy
Established Member
My spalted wood is with all my other and there has not been any problems, mine is all dry wood, any damp or drying wood is stored separate more for knowing what to use
This video by Seri (more recent) is even more interesting, especially if you want to spalt wood.
ghettoblaster
Established Member
I can assure you that a living growing fungus can indeed grow from one bit of wood into a completely separate one without needing to form a fruiting body. This is a common practice to inoculate logs or bags of wood chips of sawdust for mushroom cultivation. (And is quite easy and can be done successfully at home.)
If the wood has sufficient moisture content for fungal growth and the logs are in contact it is very possible that the new log will begin to spalt. This will not happen to timber that is too dry to support mushroom growth.
I often use bits of wet spalted wood to inoculate newly cut logs. There is a website that documents about a dozen different colours and patterns with different fungi.
If the wood has sufficient moisture content for fungal growth and the logs are in contact it is very possible that the new log will begin to spalt. This will not happen to timber that is too dry to support mushroom growth.
I often use bits of wet spalted wood to inoculate newly cut logs. There is a website that documents about a dozen different colours and patterns with different fungi.
Indeed, but bear in mind Graham is talking about a dry piece of spalted timber, from Seri's video's she makes it clear that the drying process actually kills the fungus. Nevertheless, that is very interesting about inoculating wood from a living spalt, I certainly was unaware of that, but it does tie in very well with the information in the videos and I shall store that little nugget away for future use and reference, Cheers ghettoblaster 
Random Orbital Bob
Established Member
I certainly didn't realise the fungi would colonise a piece of wood in the right conditions in just 12 weeks!! She also said that the hard part is getting the particular spalting you want and not have different species compete with each other for resources. So it looks like you can actually make little cultures of live fungi grown in agar gel in order to deliberately create your own spalted timber for turning. Apparently no one has yet done it commercially. But I can't see that staying the same for long.
"Where are you going Honey"? "Oh I'm just off to take the mushrooms for a walk"!
"Where are you going Honey"? "Oh I'm just off to take the mushrooms for a walk"!
Grahamshed
Established Member
Thanks everyone, so I have nothing to worry about until I WANT to spalt, then the fun starts
ghettoblaster
Established Member
The same lady has a video where she talks about extracting natural pigments from the fungi that are light fast and can be used as stains, there still in the very early days though I think. Here are her details she is very helpful!
Sara C. Robinson
Assistant Professor, Anatomy of Renewable Materials
Department of Wood Science and Engineering
Oregon State University
119 Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
541-737-4233
[email protected]
Sara C. Robinson
Assistant Professor, Anatomy of Renewable Materials
Department of Wood Science and Engineering
Oregon State University
119 Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
541-737-4233
[email protected]
