A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier. Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

In article et,
"Ken Moon" wrote:

I find that things spalt nicely if left lying on a forest floor - figure
all the right fungi (and it is fungi, not bacteria - the spalt lines are
the chemical warfare defining the boundary of one fugal colony and the
next) are living right there. If not having a forest, leaves would
presumably help. If you had the time and energy, turning things once in
a while might even the process up a bit.

Sometimes you can see marks on the end of the log, and often there are
fruiting parts (ie, a visible tree fungus growth). But it is somewhat of
a crap shoot - keep checking with an icepick, and pull stuff in to turn
if there's much sign of softening on any piece in a batch. Before it
softens, you pretty much need to cut or turn a piece to see how its
coming along. If not so much, I guess you could put the piece back for
more fungus time.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Hi Ken

Sorry it was not me that had the spalting recipe, but I do know that
hackberry and sycamore can have nice spalting,don't know about spalting
in pecan and spalted ash never looked very good to me.
I do have a link to Andrew Hiton's site and he has a big write up on
spalting the how and why, If I recall it right, he did commercial
spalting, anyway a lot of info there.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Ken Moon wrote:
A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier. Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

SORRY
And here's the link, GG

http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Artic...us_Amongus.asp

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Ken Moon wrote:
A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier. Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

I am trying to induce spalting on some silver maple that I have. I put
a layer of shavings on the ground, got them wet, then put an end cut
piece of dogwood that was very spalted on the shavings. I then put the
silver maple on the dogwood, added more water, more spalted dogwood,
water, more shavings to cover the log sections, and more water, then a
tarp. I will let it stew for a while, and keep checking on it to make
sure it stays damp. and see how it progresses.

robo hippy



wrote:
SORRY
And here's the link, GG

http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Artic...us_Amongus.asp

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Ken Moon wrote:
A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier. Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

I've had great success spalting silver maple. I just put it in a plastic
bag when fresh cut. Let it sit in my garage for about 3 to 4 months during
the warm time of the year, turn it once in a month, and voila, beautifully
spalted silver maple. This doesn't work well with other woods, silver maple
though, is fool proof.
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

"robo hippy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am trying to induce spalting on some silver maple that I have. I put
a layer of shavings on the ground, got them wet, then put an end cut
piece of dogwood that was very spalted on the shavings. I then put the
silver maple on the dogwood, added more water, more spalted dogwood,
water, more shavings to cover the log sections, and more water, then a
tarp. I will let it stew for a while, and keep checking on it to make
sure it stays damp. and see how it progresses.

robo hippy



wrote:
SORRY
And here's the link, GG

http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Artic...us_Amongus.asp

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Ken Moon wrote:
A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe
Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some
limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or
more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my
"spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one
remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that
the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about
stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it
so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier.
Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

Ken
I am in know way connected to the business but did come across this
information on there site.
If you scroll to the bottom of the page at this link
http://westwindhardwood.com/newsletter/volume2.htm it may give you the
information that you are looking for.
Cheers
On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:21:16 GMT, "Ken Moon"
wrote:

A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

Another question: Are there external signs that will indicate that the
spalting has reached an adequate coloration? I'm concerned about stopping it
too soon, and having a bland piece or leaving it too lang and have it so
mushy it can't be turned without adding CA glue or other fortifier. Any
guidelines? TIA

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

Russ Fairfield has a great spalting recipe.

http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/russ4.shtml

I've used Russ's formula before and have had sucess with it. Just a
few things that I've observed with spalting, no matter what method you
choose - 1) it works better in warm or slighty hotter weather (Living
in Las Vegas is great for this!), 2) If using a container (like a trash
barrel), make sure to cover it up and keep it 'out of sight', so that
animals or small children aren't tempted to play around with it. 3)
Moisture is probably the biggest part in the process (If you add too
much water to the mix, don't worry about it!)

As far as determining what external signes to spot, mushrooms are
really good, white moss/slime is good too. How long you want to spalt
is up to you, but I check it every three months or so by pulling out a
log (with gloves on), and cutting a portion of it off.

As stated before, some species of wood just don't spalt very well/at
all, and some only get moderate results.

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 08:33:44 -0400, "TonyM" tonym.le(atsymbol)comcast.net
wrote:

I've had great success spalting silver maple. I just put it in a plastic
bag when fresh cut. Let it sit in my garage for about 3 to 4 months during
the warm time of the year, turn it once in a month, and voila, beautifully
spalted silver maple. This doesn't work well with other woods, silver maple
though, is fool proof.
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

But there's always someone out there developing a bigger, better fool, Tony..
*g*
Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

my formula for Nova Scotia is to let the wood sit for a couple or three
months, sometimes a year or two before I get to it. Looks spalted to me.

--
God bless
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:21:16 GMT, "Ken Moon"
wrote:

A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?) had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my "spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

I've heard (but *not* tried,) that urea will help promote spalting-
this was in the context of a surf-board maker, not a turner. Perhaps
the easiest thing to try, but I don't think I'd want to spin it on the
lathe afterwards!

"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:21:16 GMT, "Ken Moon"
wrote:

A while back, there was a thread on spalting, and some one (maybe Leo?)
had
a mixture that they used to induce spalting. I'm going to cut some limbs
this week (Ash, Sycamore, hackberry and pecan), some 6 inches or more. I
want to try spalting on these, but I'm not sure what to put in my
"spalting
soup" to get the right bacteria to start the process. Any one remember the
ingredients for this??

I've heard (but *not* tried,) that urea will help promote spalting-
this was in the context of a surf-board maker, not a turner. Perhaps
the easiest thing to try, but I don't think I'd want to spin it on the
lathe afterwards!


Not sure urea will help bacteria that feed on lignin and cellulose. They're
everywhere in the woods, so no inoculation required. Warm and damp are the
recipe. Above 18% is the mark, but keeping them at the FSP ~30% would
preserve the shape as well. Some say set them on end, but that has produced
rot on the ground and split on the top for me, with little to be proud of in
the middle. I lay them right on the ground, cover with damp shavings and
turn 'em after a few weeks to even the progression. Leave the bark, cover
the ends.