Spalted Hackberry HF

Jeff Bower

Member
Messages
5,762
Location
DSM, IA
It's about 10" tall and 6" at it's widest. Finish is danish oil. This one resides on my mantle because I got a little to close to the inside when parting it off....yep there is a whole in the bottom. I might try and fix it someday, but my wife likes it on the mantle. I've got some new hackberry that I'm attempting to spalt in the back yard...hope it works as well as Mother Nature did on this stuff.

Comment and critiques please!
 

Attachments

  • 100_0704.JPG
    100_0704.JPG
    35.5 KB · Views: 37
  • 100_0707.JPG
    100_0707.JPG
    28.9 KB · Views: 26
  • 100_0708.JPG
    100_0708.JPG
    32.8 KB · Views: 31
Wow, that is beautiful wood. I've never heard of it before.
Beautiful work also.

I always thought that spalted wood was a fungus that occurred in the wood naturally while it was growing. I didn't know that you could cause it after the tree was cut. Up here in the North it would just rot.:huh:
 
Wow, that is beautiful wood. I've never heard of it before.
Beautiful work also.

I always thought that spalted wood was a fungus that occurred in the wood naturally while it was growing. I didn't know that you could cause it after the tree was cut. Up here in the North it would just rot.:huh:

Spalting is the early stages of rot. Different woods, different climates cause different rate of spalt/rot and the effect/appearance varies with the types of fungus and buggies and type of wood.
 
This is gorgeous wood. I like the top part of the vessel. Base is a bit too wide for my taste though.

I have the same feeling about the base Mohammad....:doh:

Bob, I usually just sit logs in a pile of wet leaves for a few weeks and then set them up on blocks to dry out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it rots or does nothing at all. There are also a few home brews to help spalting along....here is one of them.

thanks for all the kind comments! :thumb:
 
That's a great piece of wood Jeff. Bummer about the drain hole in the bottom. I agree with you and Mohammad on the foot being too big. The transition into the foot looks a bit abrupt, too. If you can round the corner off where the sides meet the bottom, it can help lighten up the look of the foot a bit.

Did you use handheld tools or a rig?
 
Vaughn, I used hand held tools on this one because I was to lazy to set up my rig that my dad made (see pic below). He gave it to me after he made his snake/elbow one. My arms and hands, after using hand held tools, told me not to make that mistake again. :eek:

If I decide to fix the bottom the base will be narrowed as well, if there is enough wood left in the area.
 

Attachments

  • hollow.jpg
    hollow.jpg
    87.7 KB · Views: 15
Last edited:
Spalting is the early stages of rot. Different woods, different climates cause different rate of spalt/rot and the effect/appearance varies with the types of fungus and buggies and type of wood.


I'm surrounded on 3 sides by 600 acres of woods, I think I'll take a walk around the back 40 and see if I can find a goldmine of wood. After the ice storm we had last December (no power for 8 days) the woods are full of fallen maples, pines, shag bark hickory, poplar and birch.
Thanks for the lesson on spalting:thumb:
 
Top