# How bout some Spalted Sweet Gum!



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

I had a small log of Sweet Gum drying out in my shed since last September. I was marking out some frames on some Curly Maple and Osage when I saw it in the corner. Took the Sawzall out and roughed the log out and then cut boards( 8) on the table saw. Lot of figure on this Sweet Gum. In case you wnder what Sweet Gum is, these are the trees that drop thise God forsaken "Itchy" balls-the ones with the little spikes and the kind that are Ankle sprainers! This piece of log was starting to spalt when I put her in the corner a year ago. These boards will make some stunning slingshots with these wavy Spalt patterns. Very Cool! Flatband


----------



## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Very cool. Looks like lovely wood.


----------



## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

Thar board right in the middle looks great.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

We had a Sweetgum tree beside the house when I was a boy. I used to climb it, gather a handful of green gumballs and wait for my brother to come outside.


----------



## Blue Danube (Sep 24, 2011)

Get back to work cutting it up!!!! 
Lol.

There are some real beauties in that lumber.


----------



## shawnr5 (Feb 16, 2011)

Those pieces have some beautiful grain. They should make incredible forks.


----------



## mckee (Oct 28, 2010)

Beautiful pieces!


----------



## melvin (Jan 11, 2011)

Gary,
Those sweet gum pods can be dangerous, while living in North carolina I saw my neighbor stick one in the siding of his house using his rotary lawn mower without the catcher on it.
Melvin


----------



## pop shot (Sep 29, 2011)

nice wood


----------



## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

Me likey!!


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Hey Sherm you are dead right about mowing the lawn with these things around. Everyone around me does their lawn at a different time because otherwise it would be like a medieval battle scene with projectiles from thousands of slingers flying in from all directions! You mow and it sounds like you are mowing a gravel lot! Things shooting all over. I tried to put them in my compost pile and 4 years later they were still looking at me as if to say " we ain't going away that fast Bud!" They just don't decay. The wood however is stunning. I think they use it for high end furniture.Fun! Flatband


----------



## Beanflip (Sep 11, 2010)

Flatband said:


> I had a small log of Sweet Gum drying out in my shed since last September. I was marking out some frames on some Curly Maple and Osage when I saw it in the corner. Took the Sawzall out and roughed the log out and then cut boards( 8) on the table saw. Lot of figure on this Sweet Gum. In case you wnder what Sweet Gum is, these are the trees that drop thise God forsaken "Itchy" balls-the ones with the little spikes and the kind that are Ankle sprainers! This piece of log was starting to spalt when I put her in the corner a year ago. These boards will make some stunning slingshots with these wavy Spalt patterns. Very Cool! Flatband


 How can I find spalted woods?


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Hey Bean, some guys store wood where it's a little wet and the wetness seeps into the grain and forms these streaks-basements,storage sheds. Sometimes you'll find it walking through the woods laying on the ground. Got to be carfeul though-could be rotted out. The other alternative is E-Bay and your local wood flooring or exotic wood store. They sometimes carry it. Think that's nice try some Burl! Really Wild! Flatband


----------



## Beanflip (Sep 11, 2010)

Thanks Flat!


----------



## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

That wood is really awesome.


----------



## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

Beanflip said:


> Hey Bean, some guys store wood where it's a little wet and the wetness seeps into the grain and forms these streaks-basements,storage sheds. Sometimes you'll find it walking through the woods laying on the ground. Got to be carfeul though-could be rotted out. The other alternative is E-Bay and your local wood flooring or exotic wood store. They sometimes carry it. Think that's nice try some Burl! Really Wild! Flatband


I was hoping someone would ask befor I had to. I didn't want to have to be the one to look naieve! Ta bean you saved me...
Just kiddin fella but I'm glad this was explained. Course I figured that it was something like that... Huhem... thanks Flatband


----------



## M.J (Nov 1, 2010)

Flatband said:


> Hey Bean, some guys store wood where it's a little wet and the wetness seeps into the grain and forms these streaks-basements,storage sheds. Sometimes you'll find it walking through the woods laying on the ground. Got to be carfeul though-could be rotted out. The other alternative is E-Bay and your local wood flooring or exotic wood store. They sometimes carry it. Think that's nice try some Burl! Really Wild! Flatband


Yep, doesn't take much either.
Last spring I found a nice looking but very large mulberry branch in a ditch while I was out for a walk. It was too big to drag home so I went back for my saw and harvested a couple of forks from it and left the rest. Well, I kept passing it everyday and a month or so later I went back and got another fork. Even in that short time outside it had devoloped much more "carachter" than the other ones I got right after they were cut and dried indoors.
That wood looks great, Gary! Can't wait to see the finished product.


----------



## Faust (Apr 5, 2011)

Beautiful pieces of wood there. I remember having wars with my friends as a kid throwing those prickly sweetgum balls but I don't think I've ever seen anything made out of the wood before. Is the wood normally that figured or is it just due to the spalting?


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Here's 2 frames I carved up out of that Sweet Gum Spalt I had. One has a built in Palm Swell. Wild looking patterns on this stuff. I have 3 blanks left-rather thick too. 2 will be Ergo's with Palm Swells,the other I'm not sure. Pretty wild looking stuff huh?







Flatband


----------



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Sorry I missed your question Faust. No the sweet Gum doesn't normally have these patterns. That's the Spalting. The regular Sweet Gum grain is nice though. Kind of light swirls inter mixed with darker swirls-good tight grain too. Flatband


----------



## Performance Catapults (Feb 3, 2010)

Sharp looking Gary...I really like the profile of the one on the left, but both look great.


----------



## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Nice find Bud, awesome looking patterns in those.
Philly


----------



## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

Actually spaulting in wood is caused by bacteria growing in the wood as it begins to decay. You can alter or change the type of bacteria that is around the wood by changing the ph of its environment and cause different strains to generate wildly different colors. Some wood turners bury blanks in compost piles or heat the wood in an oven to kill out some bacteria and let other strains take over.

But you gotta be careful, it is part of the decay process and if you accelerate it too much or let it go to long your rough turned bowl blank can go from colorful to punky and unworkable fairly quickly. For small pieces like pen blanks lots of turners use pressure and vacuum chambers to stabilize the wood by impregnating it with various and assorted obscure and mystical fluids. (I use gloss poly cut half and half with mineral spirits).


----------

