Spalting Chamber

[rblakemore]

OK, a new sub-forum may be needed for spalting.
I am working on a pressure chamber and a vacuum chamber.
And ...
a spalting chamber. I was considering using a black tub that I fill from my composting bin. But, my wife suggested putting the wood in the composting bin directly. So, here are some pictures of my spalting chamber:
1. The compost bin, it is in the east sun, so will be hot; but, not scorching.
2. Inside the bin, not the prettiest pictures; but, it shows that I have good compost / spalt start. But, I am also a biologist by training, so this works for me.
3. A view of a piece of heavily spalted pear (from Hurricane Ike in 2008) with a mushroom pad that I broke off added to the compost. I also added some smelly organic fertilizer for good luck.
4., 5. Two view of the maple that I am using for this experiment. The first shows that this side does not have any spalting. The second is the reverse side and there is a little spalting from the rest of the tree.
6. The wood in the compost bin, we will see what happens.

 

[denniszoomy]

This sounds like an interesting experiment. What is the time frame you are looking at for doing this?

Dennis

 

[triw51]

Interesting experment, I would be interested in how this turns out Please keep us posted. Good luck

 

[Edward Cypher]

I do not mean to hijak this thread but I posted a Spalting Science a while ago here is the link:: http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/spalting-science-122421/ lots of good information it is from Oregon. Hope this adds to the discussion and maybe give others ideas.

 

[toddlajoie]

From a science experiment point of view, I'd like to see a comparison piece of similar wood just left outside of the chamber for the same amount of time and see what the difference may be... My guess is that the chamber will speed things up considerably, but I wonder about it's ability to speed up penetration into the wood... (i.e. I would expect to see HEAVY spalting on the outside of the log, but not much difference on the inside..)

 

[Cmiles1985]

This is an interesting experiment, and I agree with Toddlajoe on the comparison part of the project. I would certainly think fungal growth to be a function of surface area, not volume. Having said that, I don't know how to really go about creating more surface area without causing issues in the drying process...

 

[rblakemore]

I anticipate on checking every 2 weeks and letting this go either 6 or 8 weeks.
And, yes, Ed, I read the suggested site that you indicated and some others on other folks responses. The reference for Fine Woodworking was excellent and I liked one for the US Forestry Products Laboratory. I think that what I am doing will fall right in line with the references that I read. The only real addition that I would like to add is to have a method to culture the fungi in the composting bin and the maple. I have some maple, sealed on my patio, I doubt that it will spalt much more. I may put piece in the shade under some trees and see what happens with it.