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hawthorn (?) windfall, odd heartwood pattern

teef

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happy Saturday all. i was doing my walkabout in the woods yesterday and happened upon a bit of hawthorn (?) branchwood windfall.
hawthorn can be a tricky wood to store and work but i've found that with patience and persistence it can pay off. i've come to love the wood for its tight grain and incredible durability. some of my treen-carved spoons from hawthorn have lasted us almost three decades.

anyway, back to the windfall. i cut some long chunks off and started seeing this closer to the base of the broken branch:

odd-wood-decay.png


well that's new to me! i've worked a fair bit of the stuff over the years and never seen that. the wood is still solid, seemingly no signs of softening or rot.

anyone know what this is or what's causing that reddish patterning from the heart? disease or blight of some kind?

as i worked my way up the branch that reddish stuff petered out and the wood colouring returned to normal, so obviously it's either something creeping up from the base of the tree or it's just a varietal with natural heartwood color that i'm unfamiliar with.

Gooble word and image searchs turned up nothing useful so that was a dead end. hoping someone among us knows the story here.
 
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you and me both Sax. as mentioned i usually carve spoons and suchlike out of the stuff but here i think i'll hold off a bit until i have a better idea what this is.
sure is pretty though, different cuts show that it morphs into all kinds of lovely flower-like patterns throughout the length of the wood.
unfortunately the branch was only about 4 inches in diameter at its largest so any cross-sectional projects -- to capture those lovely patterns -- are going to be on the wee side.
 
Sure is a Purdy piece of wood Teef :thumbsup:

Wonder if the pattern is caused by the Phloem rising in the tree over the years.........grasping at straws here?

@Ystranc might know šŸ¤”.....Mike!!.....where are you:)
 
happy Saturday all. i was doing my walkabout in the woods yesterday and happened upon a bit of hawthorn (?) branchwood windfall.
hawthorn can be a tricky wood to store and work but i've found that with patience and persistence it can pay off. i've come to love the wood for its tight grain and incredible durability. some of my treen-carved spoons from hawthorn have lasted us almost three decades.

anyway, back to the windfall. i cut some long chunks off and started seeing this closer to the base of the broken branch:

View attachment 30108

well that's new to me! i've worked a fair bit of the stuff over the years and never seen that. the wood is still solid, seemingly no signs of softening or rot.

anyone know what this is or what's causing that reddish patterning from the heart? disease or blight of some kind?

as i worked my way up the branch that reddish stuff petered out and the wood colouring returned to normal, so obviously it's either something creeping up from the base of the tree or it's just a varietal with natural heartwood color that i'm unfamiliar with.

Gooble word and image searchs turned up nothing useful so that was a dead end. hoping someone among us knows the story here.
Hi Teef because it peters out the further went up the branch then it's almost certain to be rot and probably the reason the branch fell in the first place and the parent tree has probably started going hollow at the base. I have seen similar colouring in apple wood
 
It's the result of a fungal infection. It's often referred to as spalted timber and gives beautiful patterns when planked or turned.
wow! i'm familiar with spalting in other woods -- maples and oaks in particular -- but they are a pretty modest thing compared to what's happening with that hawthorn.
that said, spalting is almost always an attractive thing in wood as you can see in some of these samples:

spalting-mapleveneer5.jpeg
<-- maple
spalting-oak_white_4a.jpeg
<-- white oak
spalting-elm_1b_large.jpeg
<-- elm
spalted_beech_bowl.jpeg
<-- beech
Spalted_Birch_Kuksa_1.jpeg
<-- birch
 
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very sorry, those finished pieces are NOT mine. i just nicked some photos off the web to show the spalting characteristics of different woods.
i should have properly credited the sources, my mistake.
my work is a lot more bush league, i assure you. :(
 
very sorry, those finished pieces are NOT mine. i just nicked some photos off the web to show the spalting characteristics of different woods.
i should have properly credited the sources, my mistake.
my work is a lot more bush league, i assure you. :(
Spalted beech makes beautiful knife scales
 
very sorry, those finished pieces are NOT mine. i just nicked some photos off the web to show the spalting characteristics of different woods.
i should have properly credited the sources, my mistake.
my work is a lot more bush league, i assure you. :(
I'm sure it's better than my chainsaw joinery šŸ˜‚
 
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