Well, certainly not Olive wood...!
With those yellow colours, it matches the Mulberry, the root/butt end has normally the bright yellows and that white(ish) areas, there is a simple test that can determine if is Mulberry or not as Mulberry is one of those woods that darken considerably when exposed to light so, put a couple of those blanks in the sun for a week or so, bring them inside and compare, the yellow will become brown...!
Cheers
George
Interesting! I wish you saw this thread before i packed them up to spalt some more.
Since you're than man with the answers on wood. What do you think about spalted mahogany? Would you think it's worth to try? I've never seen any available. I have a good slab in my garage about 6ft long 3inch thick and about 1ft wide i could cut up and try. But if it's not aesthetically pleasing to look at i won't even bother trying to spalt it.
Have you came across any spalted mahogany?
Pitoon
Well, I know a bit about some woods and tree species, particularly those that I have had hands on experience with, what I know is only a scratch at the surface of the issue and some people have spend their life time studying the subject, one person that I know with 60+ years on scientific work in this area, has told be some time ago that, he will die not knowing more than 1/10 of what is there to know, and I have no hesitation to agreed with such statement...!
In relation to your question, mahogany does spalt and can spalt very well however, there are dozens of mahogany subspecies and they behave all differently when it come to spalting so, not knowing which one you've got, you could try to provoke spalting by cutting a section of that wood you have, soak it really well and while wet cover the whole thing with "ash" from any burnt wood pile or fireplace. The ash powder will stick to the wood and you then wrap it all around with news paper, 3 or 4 layers of it.
Use use fine string to keep the news paper in place, find a plastic bag big enough to put you wood piece in it and fill the spaces around with saw dust/shavings. Before you seal/close the bag, use a garden hose to wet the hole thing well. This will make the bag quite heavy so, you should first set a place where the bag will stay for awhile, outside if possible.
Seal it properly so that no air gets in, that will force the wood to soak what it has available inside that bag. Leave it alone for about 6 months, then open and check, if right take it out to dry completely if not, repeat the procedure and give it another 6 months. After 12 months, you will get all the spalting that wood is capable of, the ash will colour the water as it soaks through the wood, and if everything goes right, the fungi that produces the black spalting will have extra nutrients in the ash to produce more dark colourations, is like fungi on steroids...!:biggrin:
Again, spalting is not something that all woods are capable of, I prefer to leave that job for "nature" to do, up here, most woods spalt quit fast in the paddocks, infact so fast, that I keep find trees that I'm a couple of years too late and I missed the best spalting time, what I get left is basically, dust/sawdust...!
You lose nothing in trying, right...???
Cheers
George
