Spalting wood?

[Eriksen]

Are there anybody here who can give some tips for wood spalting? Will it be possible to spalt dried wood by adding water to it, or does it need to be fresh wood? And will it be beneficial to add something to the water like fertilizer or mold from another wood?

 

[TRfromMT]

It is an extremely random natural process, before the wood actually rots. I mess with a LOT of wood and have never known anyone to actually try to recreate it with the right conditions. Given it is a bit of decay, most folks don't want it in their lumber, so I can't imagine someone actually trying to force it.

With a lot of patience you might run some experiments.

Best bet is to buy pieces that are already spalted.

Having said all that, if you do figure it out, i'd love to hear about it.

 

[Arathol]

Given it is a bit of decay, most folks don't want it in their lumber, so I can't imagine someone actually trying to force it.

There's nothing wrong with a little spalting, as long as the right wood gets spalted....
Actually, there are some who would want to. Spalted wood makes for some interesting pieces, and with the right piece of wood it could make for a spectacular knife handle....of course it being completely random there are no guarantees, but when its right is very right.....

Do some internet searching, there are recipes out there to do it. Here is one-
https://suncatcherstudio.com/woodworking/diy-spalted-wood/

 

[TRfromMT]

There's nothing wrong with a little spalting, as long as the right wood gets spalted....
Actually, there are some who would want to. Spalted wood makes for some interesting pieces, and with the right piece of wood it could make for a spectacular knife handle....of course it being completely random there are no guarantees, but when its right is very right.....

Do some internet searching, there are recipes out there to do it. Here is one-
https://suncatcherstudio.com/woodworking/diy-spalted-wood/

You can see some spalted Oak in the photo in my avatar. This particular piece is from the Oak tree that was in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption." I'm more than a little familiar with the very pretty effect for small pieces such as knife handles. I sure wasn't aware of any recipe to make it happen. Good information!

 

[Eriksen]

It is an extremely random natural process, before the wood actually rots. I mess with a LOT of wood and have never known anyone to actually try to recreate it with the right conditions. Given it is a bit of decay, most folks don't want it in their lumber, so I can't imagine someone actually trying to force it.

With a lot of patience you might run some experiments.

Best bet is to buy pieces that are already spalted.

Having said all that, if you do figure it out, i'd love to hear about it.

There is no way to make the core3 white that I know of ... without ruining the antler. I can't imagine why you would want to.

Stabilizing the core is OK. Cactus juice, CA, wood hardner, etc. should all work. Most folks just drill it all out and fill the void with epoxy to make it hard and stable.

I´ve heard that it should be possible to wrap wet wood in plastic and let it rot that way, but I needed to know if it has to be fresh wood or if it possible to moisten dried wood and if it could be beneficial to add something to the water in order to have a better result.

This video shows a guy who try with different pieces of wood.

Edit
Something wrong happened when I replied to this. Another unrelevant quote was added in this post.

 

[Horsewright]

Similar, but I've read of folks putting yogurt with buckeye burl in contractor bags for a few months in the sun. They said it really brought out the color. I would think a guy would want very long arms when opening the bags though.