Spalted wood offers a unique way to add life to your live edge projects. It adds such great character to any piece, but have you ever wondered what exactly gives spalted wood its look? Keep reading to find out!
What is Spalted Wood?
Great question! Spalted wood is caused by a process called spalting, which is when wood is colored or bleached by fungi. This is a process that can happen to any type of wood, but typically shows up in maple, sycamore, and beech woods. Typically the color left behind by the fungi is black or brown, but it has also shown up as red, blue, yellow, and purple. These funky colors are much less common and are very special to come across.
What Can I Use Spalted Wood For?
Take your pick! We have seen our customers make anything from a charcuterie board to live edge coffee tables. Take a look at them below! We have a gorgeous slab of spalted maple hanging in our office, too! This wood will speak for itself in any project you choose to use it for.
Since spalted wood is the result of a type of rot as the tree is dying, a lot of the time wood like this can be softer or punky and therefore lose some of its strength. Because of this, sometimes people shy away from using it for more load-bearing projects, but you can still find slabs that don’t have as extensive rot that can still be used for larger, heavier projects. For those slabs that do have this heavier rot, they are fairly easy to stabilize using epoxy.
Is Spalted Maple Different Than Ambrosia Maple?
Sometimes while referring to spalted maple, the term “Ambrosia Maple” comes up. A lot of people think they are the same thing, but there are some pretty distinctive differences. Ambrosia maple wood is caused by the ambrosia beetle boring into the tree and, as they bore, they bring with them ambrosia fungi, which is a type of spalting fungi. This spalting shows itself differently because the discoloration from the fungi only follows the path of the beetles.
To Wrap it All Up...
We at The Lumber Shack have quite a few pieces of Ambrosia Maple lumber to choose from in addition to all of the spalted slabs we have in stock! Check out our website for your next live edge project!