Too far gone?

[Conor Wright]

Many moons ago I milled some heavily spalted beech, they were forgotten about for the last two years in storage, finally took them out yesterday to find some have a substantial bloom on them. The wood itself, while light is not spongey, but very light for beech. I guess it had lost some of its density before being felled anyway. Basically what I am wondering is;

1. If i plane up this wood and store it in drier conditions for a short while will the fungus (presuming it's a fungus) die off?

2. If used indoors (I have a shelving project in mind for it) could this regrow?

Some boards have quite a covering, some are virtually clean, the airflow in storage was poor but it has only affected the beech, and only from this particular tree.

[Macpherson]

Hi, some of it looks quite impressive, if it's not soggy try scrapping off the white fungus and soak it with an anti fungal, I use a solution of sodium borate ,borax [ before I stack ] but it should have the desired effect as borax is the basis of many wood rot treatments including dry rot.

 

1kg is less than £6 on ebay and easily dissolves into 5 gallons of hot water......worth a try, cheers.

[Squaredy]

57 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

 

Many moons ago I milled some heavily spalted beech, they were forgotten about for the last two years in storage, finally took them out yesterday to find some have a substantial bloom on them. The wood itself, while light is not spongey, but very light for beech. I guess it had lost some of its density before being felled anyway. Basically what I am wondering is;

1. If i plane up this wood and store it in drier conditions for a short while will the fungus (presuming it's a fungus) die off?

2. If used indoors (I have a shelving project in mind for it) could this regrow?

Some boards have quite a covering, some are virtually clean, the airflow in storage was poor but it has only affected the beech, and only from this particular tree.

 

All wood rotting funghi need moisture to survive.  If you now let it fully dry the funghi will disappear.  The light wood will be weak but may still have lots of uses.  Parts of it may be ideal for shelves etc, but parts may be too far gone.  Test it by digging your nail it - this will show you how soft and weak it is.

[Conor Wright]

6 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

All wood rotting funghi need moisture to survive.  If you now let it fully dry the funghi will disappear.  The light wood will be weak but may still have lots of uses.  Parts of it may be ideal for shelves etc, but parts may be too far gone.  Test it by digging your nail it - this will show you how soft and weak it is.

Thanks! At a guess maybe 20% of the boards would be soft to the point you could leave a visible indent with reasonable pressure, also these seem to have the most fungal growth. Looks like I should probably chuck the worst.. gonna be the nicest looking bag of kindling I've ever made! Luckily the rest still seem hard and have nice spalting throughout.

[Rough Hewn]

Get the resin out man!
You've spent years hoarding these.
Too good for firewood.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[gobbypunk]

I agree get some resin , or Colron lacquer too nice to burn

[Conor Wright]

2 hours ago, Macpherson said:

Hi, some of it looks quite impressive, if it's not soggy try scrapping off the white fungus and soak it with an anti fungal, I use a solution of sodium borate ,borax [ before I stack ] but it should have the desired effect as borax is the basis of many wood rot treatments including dry rot.

 

1kg is less than £6 on ebay and easily dissolves into 5 gallons of hot water......worth a try, cheers.

Thank you! Got it by chance, wind took it and i got some of the heavier bits that the man cutting it thought too awkward to process. originally destined for firewood, but after one look i just couldnt!

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.We have a bag of borax, use it to help keep blackheart out of the beetroot! A light sprinkle does no harm to our brassicas either, on our soil at least! These particular planks were not stacked in optimum conditions.. but at least it was dry. Only one piece shows any outward signs of wetness and that was from a small hole in the roof, probably the only source of air circulation!

 

[Conor Wright]

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

Get the resin out man!
You've spent years hoarding these.
Too good for firewood.

Never used resin, very much a newbie to woodwork.. this is the first lot of timber I have milled for my own use! Have yet to make anything worthy of taking photos!

[Rough Hewn]

Dry it out properly first. That will stop any rot.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[Macpherson]

4 hours ago, Conor Wright said:

Thank you! Got it by chance, wind took it and i got some of the heavier bits that the man cutting it thought too awkward to process. originally destined for firewood, but after one look i just couldnt!

Interesting. Thanks for the tip.We have a bag of borax, use it to help keep blackheart out of the beetroot! A light sprinkle does no harm to our brassicas either, on our soil at least! These particular planks were not stacked in optimum conditions.. but at least it was dry. Only one piece shows any outward signs of wetness and that was from a small hole in the roof, probably the only source of air circulation!

 

Yep,... not that I want to derail your thread but borax has had many uses over the years....it's interesting that you use it on the veggies,  I've read that many folk have a borax deficiency apparently due to the fact that since the introduction of artificial fertilisers many crops have been inhibited from taking it up from the soil, as it's one of the micro nutrients needed for all life the knock on effect of this may be large... but I'm no expert on the subject,  all the best .