Unknown wood

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PTBuilder

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I enjoy hiking in the Cherokee National Forest and have stumbled upon some interesting woods at times. I've been calling this Spalted Maple but I'm not really sure and was wondering if anyone could verify this. Both Pieces are from the same piece of wood except for the walnut windows.
 

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Could be a maple, but who knows? There are hundreds of native trees & bushes with the same color wood & similar grain structure, and once spalted would be extremely difficult to identify without lab testing.
 
It was a log that had been downed but without the leaves to identify it I am only guessing with knowledge of what does grow in the area. I suppose it could even be hickory now that I'm thinking.
 
I'm standing with qbilder on that. Sure looks like maple, spalted.

Had a cue like that, noisy one. Did not understand why until a cuemaker told me. When its spalted like that it turns brittle. Not the best wood to qbuild:) unless its been processed.

I sure love the look of it. Wish someone could build a nice one for me from spalted maple, but the few makers spoke with did not want the trouble with this wood.
 
I have some Oak, that has very similar figuring in the wood and grain.
Neil
 
PoolTrip said:
I'm standing with qbilder on that. Sure looks like maple, spalted.

Had a cue like that, noisy one. Did not understand why until a cuemaker told me. When its spalted like that it turns brittle. Not the best wood to qbuild:) unless its been processed.

I sure love the look of it. Wish someone could build a nice one for me from spalted maple, but the few makers spoke with did not want the trouble with this wood.
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I remember seeing some cues a while back that Mcdermott built called the Speckled Gecko from a limited supply they had stockpiled. Pretty nice just wish they left off the Gecko on the butt sleeve.
 
PTBuilder said:
I remember seeing some cues a while back that Mcdermott built called the Speckled Gecko from a limited supply they had stockpiled. Pretty nice just wish they left off the Gecko on the butt sleeve.
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Right on, saw those too. Some of that spalted maple looked great. Its got to be impregnated stuff I think.

Can we actually make one that's not impregnated like that? Cue's gona crack?
 
Brittle depends on how spalted it is. Spalt is the early stages of rot. If caught early, the wood can have all the streaking & coloring of the spalt while retaining structural integrity. Too long & it'll be soft & brittle. There's a tiny window you gotta catch it at. Lots of spalting is done purposefully. I learned a little bit about it from other woodworkers while in Alaska. There's a science behind doing it right, even though it happens naturally.
 
qbilder said:
Could be a maple, but who knows? There are hundreds of native trees & bushes with the same color wood & similar grain structure, and once spalted would be extremely difficult to identify without lab testing.
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I say we persue the lab testing. :D
Mr H
 
qbilder said:
Brittle depends on how spalted it is. Spalt is the early stages of rot. If caught early, the wood can have all the streaking & coloring of the spalt while retaining structural integrity. Too long & it'll be soft & brittle. There's a tiny window you gotta catch it at. Lots of spalting is done purposefully. I learned a little bit about it from other woodworkers while in Alaska. There's a science behind doing it right, even though it happens naturally.
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Its a chemical equation:grin-square:
Spalted maple looks GRRRREATTT

Can they spalt other woods? wonder whats ebony or purpleheart gona look like spalted.
 
The pores in the upper right look a lot more like hickory than maple and hickory has that reddish brown color as well.

I make cues out of impregnated spalted maple all the time.
 
This a cue a freind of mine built, and is for sale, but handle is Spalted Beech . Nice cue.

MVC-004S.jpg


MVC-005S.jpg
 
Paul Dayton said:
The pores in the upper right look a lot more like hickory than maple and hickory has that reddish brown color as well.

I make cues out of impregnated spalted maple all the time.
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It could be hickory, I can say this particular log is very solid and besides a few minor imperfections in the wood it finishes up nice and it doesn't require much sealer to close the pores.
 
Did we rule out Indian Tamarind? Frequently spalted too. Some examples. Although the grain in that butt sleeve does look a bit streaky like hickory.
Mr H
 
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PTBuilder said:
I enjoy hiking in the Cherokee National Forest and have stumbled upon some interesting woods at times. I've been calling this Spalted Maple but I'm not really sure and was wondering if anyone could verify this. Both Pieces are from the same piece of wood except for the walnut windows.
Click to expand...

It's defenately not maple due to the filamented grain of the wood.

I would not go for hickory eather but for white oak. The reddish/brownish stains next to the black lines (spalted indeed) are iron sulfide (rust) and that is a very common with oak. The acid sap in oak causes the iron to rust.

That's why I'm positive it's spalted white oak.

Just my two cents...

Tom Penrose
 
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