Spalted wood is much sought after for its interesting and beautiful grain patterning. Spalting is a natural process caused by fungal attack on the wood, if left to progress too far it ultimately destroys the wood as rot. If caught at the right time though and the wood then dried it is completely stable as the actual patterning is caused by salts left behind by the fungi.
Why a bit of care and a lot of luck it is possible to intentionally induce spalting. The target wood needs to be stored in an environment that will encourage fungal attack. The are many article online about how best to do it from dousing in beer to burying in the ground.
I thought I’d have a bash. So… I routinely dump my wood shavings on top of my grass clippings (compost) heap in the garden. I figured that if the batch of shavings being dumped were from Spalted wood this may be a good substrate. A few weeks ago I buried some beech blanks in the shavings
I fished them out today to see what they look like.
They are very wet having been outside, and at this time of year probably too cold to give me the results I’d like.
I’ll let them dry for a while in the workshop then see what they look like then.
Fingers crossed!
