From: bruce@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (Bruce Krueger)
Subject: fresh spalded sugar maple -- turn green, or dry first??
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 02:40:48 GMT

ok, the postings on lathes and the extensive speculation re the unknown
shoulda-been-maple got me to wondrin'...

I've got a pile (rough guess, 5-800 lbs.) of five green sections of a
sugar maple (<- pretty certain about this, as I knew the tree, so to
speak) that the city tree crew took down just west of my shop about
two weeks ago, and since I've been doing some turning on my lathe
over the (relatively) slow winter months, I asked the gents with 
the chain saws if they'd mind cutting a few sections out of the 
parts of the tree that had been discolored by the fungus disease (?)
that was the cause of the tree's demise.  they were more than happy 
to oblige, and mentioned that the 'figuring' (?'spalding'??) made
that kind of wood desireable to woodworkers, and I told them that I'd
like to do something along those lines with it myself (as opposed to
using it for firewood/chips/&c.), and as they made successive cuts
through the trunk (about 20-24"diameter), the coloration revealed was
just amazing -- I've nevr seen anything quite like it.  ..there are 
three distinct colors besides the 'usual' white-pineish color of the
uncolored maple, which is under the bark and towarsds the outside.
the colored/stained/spalded section is as much as 50% of some of the
cross-sections, and is comprised of a buckskin tan, a darker, light-
chocolate brown, and a thin, brownish-black line that defines the edges
of the four (3 + base) shades, which I presume is the locus of the active
part of the fungus infection.  the 'marbling' effect is just drop-dead gorgeous.

I'm really looking forward to opening some of this color up on my lathe
(unkown manufacturer, may be craftsman, but it works -- and I've got a 
set of freud turning chisels), but I'm wondering whether to let the wood
dry first (for how many years/decades), and if so, should I paint/wax/
varnish the ends to prevent, or at least retard, checking, or isn't this
as much of a problem with sugar maple sections as it would be with some
of the other hardwoods I have experience with (oak, hickory,...)??

is it better to keep this wood in a cold location, or let it warm up?
I'm currently doing to latter, since I noticed that one of the original
six chunks had disappeared, and part of another was missing, with axe or
hatchet marks in the end -- I guess someone decided that it would make 
serviceable firewood after all...   *sigh*  anyhow, I brought the remainder
into the shop (it's not *that* warm, but enough to thaw out/warm it enough
that sap is starting to moisten parts of all cut surfaces. 

should I let these sections dry, or take the suggestion of a friend and 
actually prevent them from drying (by sealing, bagging, moistening, or
other means) until I'm ready to work on them?  I'm thinking about turning
at least some of them down to bowls, which the friend thought would be less
apt to check, since the thin cross-section would be "more relaxed," but I'm
somewhat skeptical and a bit leery -- I'd hate like hell to have a really
pretty bowl almost two feet in diameter start to split/crack/check.  would
turning it 'green' and immediately coating it (?tung oil, varnish, wax, other?)
to slow/stop the drying process be successful?

also, how likely are the discolored sections to be soft to the point of 
rendering the wood difficult/impossible to work?


any tips on turning 2' diameter bowls?

feel free to email me, or follow-up, as you wish..


bruce