Perserving a Chunk O' Wood

spalting happens

Tom Sontag - St. Louis

>If you WANT spalting to occur, you may not have to do anything (assuming we are talking about maple or sycamore or some other easily spalted timber). If you want to encourage spalting, then the recipe in "Russ's Corner" to your left might help. But if you put endgrain on the ground, stuff can go very quickly, so I would keep valuable stuff off earth. Just leave it off the ground and spalting of green wood of the right species will probably happen anyway.

Re: spalting happens

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Acording to St Roy...get the bark off of the piece. I would suggest also setting it on some consumables like short cutoffs to add a physical barrier to the bugs. Then check often for intruders. Mayhap add some termite treatment to the bottom too. That way you would have drainage to stave off rot as well as a system of barriers for critters. JR

brute force solution

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>If one pours some used motor oil into a post hole the posts last longer and i have never had one get bugs in it, and here in TN we have plenty of bugs. Oil from a diesel engine seems to work best. I will leave it to your imagination to extrapolate this technique to your situation using the principle that bugs and oil don't mix.. In my experience bugs love hickory sap wood. (PS, This technique might not be EPA approved.)

Re: Preserving a Chunk O' Wood

Dale Stansbery

>Hickory is probably the worst, shortest lasting wood to stick in the ground. I'll make an assumption here that pecan has similar characteristics, though someone with more knowledge may chime in. Even above ground, a dead standing hickory will turn to mush in less than two years. I doubt if you could get enough preservative in to to help a lot. I left a log on the ground in the woods about a year, and it was full of termites. They love the stuff. You'd be better served looking for a chunk of white oak or locust to use. Even Sycamore would probably considerably outlast hickory/pecan

Re: Preserving a Chunk O' Wood

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Thanks for all the replies and ideas so far fellas.

I went to the site where the log piece I wanted for my anvil stump was at, and darn the bad luck it was still there. Did some measuring and had to cut some off the top as well as cut it off from the rest of the trunk. While cutting it I thought that I caught a whiff of ecucalyptus, and knew that couldn't be right. Still I knew I had smelled that smell before and suddenly I remembered, it was Camphor! Seems to me that should be pretty rot and bug resistant eh? What a hunk o' wood, it is now 38" tall and a good 2+ feet in diameter at the bottom, the primary top where the anvil will go is kinda' oval shaped and measures 16"x12", below that is the stub of a cut off branch that measures 8"x11". I figure it make a nifty little shelf to place a hammer or two at least.

What a heavy piece it is too. Made my S-10 sag all by itself. I manhandled this buggar into my truck by myself, but first I had to get it up on top of a shorter cuttoff so as it would be high enough to just tip over into ther truck bed. Still had to pick up the other end from the ground and shove it forward. It is amazing what you can move using brute strength, and a little bit of leverage in the right places eh?

Todd O.

Camphor eh?

Bob Hackett

>Don`t know how rot resistant camphor is but I can vouch for locust and maybe you might want to keep an eye out for some catalpa.I`ve had good luck making large planters out of some pieces I got from my brother in PA.We turned the large planting bowls on his new lathe and so far they`ve withstood 2 Maine winters and everything in between.They`re grey,but there`s no sign of rot.And that`s filled with potting soil year-round.The carpenter ants have ignored them too.

Mainely,Bob