Another wood ID

[Applesister]

Really? It splits hard, how can you tell if its soft or hard maple? I thought the flat bark trees were soft.....

Red maples are starting to bud out in my woods. They have bright red buds that I can see from the house. The bark on these trees vary widely from very smooth to fissured like sugar maples. Maybe the smooth barked trees are juveniles but some of the smooth barked trees are considerably larger than some of the fissured plated trees. The bark seems to vary.
I have no experience processing wood from silver maples. Only what Ive observed from this site.

 

[Applesister]

I looked up powder post beetles because Ive been finding alot of wood infested with the 1/32" holes. Ambrosia beetles popped up in my search. I also have a downed beech tree loaded with tiny holes that have a black ink stain in the vicinity of the holes. Also what appears to be small galleries off of the black lines that look like telephone pole tops. Or TV antennas.
Im thinking what I have thruout my beech tree is ambrosia beetle attacks. The wood also has multiple fungal stains of various sorts. But the wood is still relatively hard and heavy. It was a massive limb that broke off of a trunk and was hung up in the main part of the tree. Perhaps for 2-3 years.
Spalting can easily be found on the internet. look up: pics of spalted wood
What I have doesnt look anything like the butt end staining in Reckless's wood. Dont know what that is but Ive seen it alot from pictures of wood here.

 

[Jags]

Spalting can easily be found on the internet. look up: pics of spalted wood
What I have doesnt look anything like the butt end staining in Reckless's wood. Dont know what that is but Ive seen it alot from pictures of wood here.

Yeah, hence the question. I am somewhat familiar with spalting and for it to be called something else, I was wondering what I was missing for clues. It looks like spalting to me. Asking how to tell the difference.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Box Elder

 

[Reckless]

Heres that pink I was talking about XD

 

[nrford]

What is the defining characteristic that differentiates mineral stain from spalting?

There will not be rot associated with the dark splotches. Believe me I have sawn and inspected millions of board of Soft Maple this is normal occurance with soft maple. Spalting is considered rot and is a defect, this staining is not a defect, unless your customer is calling for color specifications.

 

[nrford]

If by mineral stain, you are talking about a foreign object (metal) getting in the wood and causing a stain, those usually have more of a blue or black "spot" look to them that is more isolated (although it goes a good distance up and down the tree) in my experience. I'm not saying it isn't one, just never seen on that big before.

The foriegn object is the beetle larvae.

 

[nrford]

Dunno- reaching out to nrford on this one myself. (a former saw mill owner and lumber inspector).

If you happen to split it correctly you would. When sawn they are very evident. The extent varies widely, sometimes boards will be peppered with "worm tracks" the holes left by the Ambrosia beetle larvae are only about 1/16"-3/32" in diameter. It is because of these worm tracks that soft maple lumber is sold two ways, WHAD "Worm Holes Are Defect" and WHND "Worm Holes No Defect" WHAD is selected for appearance uses, ie Butcher block, Cabinets, etc. WHND is usually reserved for "framing" purposes If you have a LazyBoy flip it over and look at the framing lumber LazyBoy was at one time a very large user of WHND lumber. The differance in price paid for the two types of lumber is SIGNIFIGANT there a sawmill owner best know his $hit when it comes to soft maple.

 

[Jags]

So is it safe to say that the pattern to this pic is caused from the beetle going from bark to center of the tree?

 

[nrford]

So is it safe to say that the pattern to this pic is caused from the beetle going from bark to center of the tree?
View attachment 100421

Safe to say that there will be quite a bit of track in there. Never did follow a track to figure out where they went! Just know that after a day of grading wormy soft maple you saw wormholes when you closed your eyes!!

 

[Jags]

Safe to say that there will be quite a bit of track in there. Never did follow a track to figure out where they went! Just know that after a day of grading wormy soft maple you saw wormholes when you closed your eyes!!

Just trying to figure out how the "shape" of the mineralization comes into play. As in worms hit bark, bore in causing the "fingers", type thing. Just learning (on your dime.)

 

[nrford]

Just trying to figure out how the "shape" of the mineralization comes into play. As in worms hit bark, bore in causing the "fingers", type thing. Just learning (on your dime.)

I have nothing difinative on that for you sorry. There seems to be no consistancy, as available minerals in the soil change from site to site. At least I always attributed it that reason.

 

[Reckless]

View attachment 100403 View attachment 100402
Heres that pink I was talking about XD

 

[Jags]

I have nothing difinative on that for you sorry. There seems to be no consistancy, as available minerals in the soil change from site to site. At least I always attributed it that reason.

So..without the ability to physically grab up a piece to verify rot (spalting), or no rot (possibly bugs) what is the tell tale method to differentiate spalting from the coloration caused by the beatles. I guess what I am asking is how do you "know" it is one or the other.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

BOX ELDER

 

[nrford]

So..without the ability to physically grab up a piece to verify rot (spalting), or no rot (possibly bugs) what is the tell tale method to differentiate spalting from the coloration caused by the beatles. I guess what I am asking is how do you "know" it is one or the other.

There is no mistaking "spalting" once you have seen it.