Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Red? Wood?

Last Sunday, when Hubby was cutting up the maple, I noticed red streaks in the wood. I knew he hadn't cut himself but it sure looked like blood. He explained to me that some hardwood will go red when it starts to rot. This wasn't in the trees a year ago when he cut them down but starts to develop over time as the wood sits. I've never seen such a thing before but thought I would snap some pics and ask you if you've ever heard of this? It almost looks like flames that have been painted on... very strange.


A closeup:



I did some searching on the net and came up with nothing, not a common occurrence I guess?

8 comments:

NEO said...

It has to be either Jesus or the Virgin Mary. My suggestion sell slices of the tree on ebay and retire.

NEO said...

Looks kinda like red ring rot.

Jackie said...

neo has a good idea. ;-) you never know what people are going to pay for.

It does look kind of strange.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Neo too. Funny we were just talking about that very thing with some piece of food last week. I haven't seen that either, but it does look like it is starting to rot.

Unknown said...

Never heard of anything like that!
But it sure is interesting looking.

Lizzardmoon said...

My brother informed me this is called Spalting. It's basically a fungus. The trick is to catch it before it rots the wood too much. Spalted maple is often used for turnings.

KansasA said...

Thanks lizzardmoon, it's nice to finally know what it is!

Anonymous said...

I am NOT an expert on spalting, but I don't think this is it. I do show some spalting on my website someplace. I have frequently noted that when I skin a lot of Diamond Willow sticks, SOME of them turn bright red (on the OUTside) but the red disappears in a day or two. I wonder what causes it.
But "they" tell me spalting can be dangerous, so I would not risk messing with it. Personally, I've never had a problem and I have *not* been careful.
http://www.sticksite.com/