After a very soggy summer, September arrived with blazing sunshine. With the ground finally dry enough we took the opportunity to move our winter wood supply up to our woodshed before the season shifts again…
As we threw and stacked, a musty fungal scent thickened the still air and we reached some crumblier, dustier logs at the bottom of the pile. It reminded me of when we chopped these logs back in the winter, from tree limbs that had been sat dead on the ground long enough to become host to a myriad of fungal life.
Left for long enough, a whole variety of fungal hosts will completely devour fallen timber, each excelling in slightly different conditions within different timbers. In fact, their remarkable colonisation is what creates the staining that, in the timber world, is known as ‘spalting’.
The dark lines mark the path of fungi through the wood, delineating the front line of battle where different fungi meet each other in a clash for dominance over the next section of lignin (which, combined with cellulose, makes the cell walls of all woody plants). Before fungi evolved to break down the lignin, fallen trees and other plant matter piled in layers and layers on top of each other, becoming crushed by millennia of carbon matter, eventually, of course, forming the coal seams that fuelled industrialisation.
Back in May 2019, Danny procured a huge old Beech tree which had come down in winter storms a couple of miles down the road - and on the road. Enlisting the help of a local farmer with a loader he managed to rescue the butt before it was ringed up for firewood and milled it in the yard with our old TrekkaSaw. The tree produced and extraordinary amount of timber, which has been used for an entire kitchen, a built-in dresser, window seats, benches, shelving, bespoke speakers… All these were made from the straight lengths of the trunk, which could be processed into uniform planks suitable for joinery. What was left, was the crown…
Of all the timbers, Beech is probably the most commonly spalted. This is for two reasons; the grain is never straight - it twists and turns in folds and waves, which also makes it the choice for mallet heads as it doesn’t split, and a perfect challenge when chopping for firewood …for the same reason! The other characteristic is that, unlike many other hardwoods, it is very low in tannic acid, making it a much more hospitable place for a whole range of conquering fungi, who race up the twisty turny fibres.
Having been left for over a year out in the damp Welsh air we had no doubt that the crown would have developed some funky spalting. It was so wide that it had to be sliced up with the Alaskan Mill - a 6ft chainsaw mill with a guide rail to keep it level.
The slabs were then stacked and left to dry for 4 years and are now finally ready to be made into some extraordinary furniture. This one is destined to be a table top, but we are also dreaming up a bed design, using one of these huge slabs as the headboard.
Finishing these mammoths to be flat enough for a level table top required a bit of invention as they are far too wide to go through any planner that exists in the UK (to our knowledge!) This one measures 130cm x 160cm and could be completed as a dining or coffee table, costing around £1500.
If you are interested in a table, or have your own idea and would like to talk to us about a commission, please do get in touch! Likewise, if you are keen to embark on your own project, we have some rough sawn slabs still available for £350 each.