light density shaft wood

[bruin70]

i happen to love shaftwood that has that dark reddish grain(not dark wood itself, mind you. just dark grained).........not that cosmetcally "white " stuff.

can shaftwood have this dark reddish grain, yet still have light density,,,or they all very dense by nature?

 

[VinceS]

shaft color

Hello...

In my experience the color of shaftwood has absolutely NOTHING to do with weight or density. There are a couple of variables that determine the "color". One being how it was dried. Shaftwood is sugar maple (acer saccarum...or something like that). So is birdseye and curly for that matter but I digress....If the wood is dried at too high a temperature the "sugar" in the wood fibers turns the wood a brownish color. Just like you were cooking it on your stove. One of the other reasons for the color is determined by how the wood was harvested. Whether or not it's quartersawn lumber or if that particular piece of wood was taken from the heartwood or the sapwood of the tree. Now.....add all that to where the tree was grown, the climate, the amount of rainfall, the soil elements etc etc etc.....

Hope this helps.

 

[bruin70]

thanks vince.

i'm going to assume that what you said goes for dark grain as well as dark wood. my Q was in regards to darker reddish GRAIN, even though the wood itself might be light.

 

[lignum]

Hello...

In my experience the color of shaftwood has absolutely NOTHING to do with weight or density. There are a couple of variables that determine the "color". One being how it was dried. Shaftwood is sugar maple (acer saccarum...or something like that). So is birdseye and curly for that matter but I digress....If the wood is dried at too high a temperature the "sugar" in the wood fibers turns the wood a brownish color. Just like you were cooking it on your stove. One of the other reasons for the color is determined by how the wood was harvested. Whether or not it's quartersawn lumber or if that particular piece of wood was taken from the heartwood or the sapwood of the tree. Now.....add all that to where the tree was grown, the climate, the amount of rainfall, the soil elements etc etc etc.....

Hope this helps.

actually curly maple can be sugar maple (hard , rock) , but it can also often be red maple (soft) , I buy either from Bellforest !

 

[VinceS]

shaft color

Bruin....

That assumption is absolutely correct. The grain itself or darkness thereof has no affect on density, or flexibility, or weight. The very cool thing about curly and birdseye are that they're a miracle of nature. When you go into a "maple" forest you can't distinguish a curly maple tree from a birdeye maple tree from a rock maple tree. They're the exact same tree....and it's not until you harvest it that you have a "eureka" moment. I was told by someone a very long time ago (don't know how true it is) that the differentiation in maples is determined by a fungus or disease in the particular individual tree itself. Got fungus = birdseye.............no fungus = clear maple Weird huh? Ain't Mother Nature grand???

 

[ridewiththewind]

Yes, it is the fungus which produces the birdseye and spalted maples. My husband spent alot of time in the woods of OR when he was younger hunting out maple burls on downed trees. He's got some amazing pieces that he's made out of those burls, with incredible birdseye to them. I also have a guitar stand that is made of the most spectacular spalted and birdseyed maple I have ever seen. It's all about the fungus.

Lisa

 

[MVPCues]

To my knowledge, nobody really knows what exactly causes birdseye. It seems to be failed bud attempts, but whether it is caused by a fungus or disease, or just a genetic makeup that causes it is an unkown. It could be as simple as a person with freckles. Everyone might have their own idea, but I work in forestry research. If it was known to foresters and scientists it was a fungus, and what the fungus was that caused birdseye, there would be entire experimental forests planted with the trees injected with the fungus to create a vast supply of birdseye maple.

There are two types of burls, one of which is birdseye burl. Burl is diseased wood, sort of a living cancer. The tree tries to heal itself through attempts of growth.

A hard maple does not have to have birdseye or curl figure. Curl figure is caused by compression growth. The curl bands show up due to changes in density of the wood due to compression. That is why sometimes when turning a piece with heavy curl you can feel the bands. The different density of the wood reacts slightly different to a cutting tool just enough to feel the bands.

One particular hard maple can have sections of it exhibiting curl (if a maple tree is growing on a slope, there might be curl figure on only one side of it), another area of the tree might have some birdseye, other areas void of figure.

Kelly

 

[rhncue]

Yes, it is the fungus which produces the birdseye and spalted maples. My husband spent alot of time in the woods of OR when he was younger hunting out maple burls on downed trees. He's got some amazing pieces that he's made out of those burls, with incredible birdseye to them. I also have a guitar stand that is made of the most spectacular spalted and birdseyed maple I have ever seen. It's all about the fungus.

Lisa

It is known that Spalted Maple or for that matter any Spalted woods are caused by fungus. Spalting is the transition period between a live healthy tree and one that is completely rotted. Very unique and nice looking wood. I've never read that Birdseye Maple or other woods that have Birdseyes were caused by fungus however.
Dick

 

[Cue Crazy]

Yes, That's they way I have always heard it also, the spalted being diseased, which could in effect be caused by fungas, because It can kill trees. It's possible that you could get a piece with the other characteristics in a spalted piece as well, so maybe that is what was being refered to.

I have heard or read the same thing about the compression on the other side of it when it comes to the other types of maple. Even heard the thing about a tree on a hill or leaning to one side, many of times. I have seen pieces like that with the figure on one side, but I'm no expert, so It is only here say, but I guess It's possible that It could have something to do with the mystery.

Greg