trees that were struck by lightning?

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truckerdave

truckerdave

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
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134
Location
Rochester, New York
Unusual Question:

I searched for and did not find photos of pens made from trees that were struck by lightning.

Somewhere in my decrepit, outdated memory banks, I thought there were pics that someone posted on here of some Buckkeye or Box Elder burl that was hit by lightning, causing some dramatic color changes.

Does anyone know what I am thinkling of or have other examples of this phenomenon, or am I just plain wrong???
 
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I have a bunch of 150-200year old red oak that was repeatedly struck by lightning, other than where the lightning struck the tree, blew the bark off and burned the the wood, no real difference in the wood other than right at the strike points, and it was very un-spectacular
 
As far as I know lightning will not cuase colors in wood except after the wood it kills starts to spalt.Box Elder red is cuased by a fungus/bacteria carried by the box elder bettle(If I remeber correct).That is what I know anyways,Victor
 
I've cut a couple of lightning strike maples that has dramatically changed in color. Usually greens and purples in the wood. On the down side, it was full of cracks and hard to find any good blanks after drying. The cracks can show up on growth rings, much like ring shake. I can't remember if I have any of those blanks around or not, I'll look. I do have a roughed out maple bowl, I'll try to take a pic.
 
I have cut struck trees for firewood and found no unusual color. However, I did find them to not split well at all. It appeared that the grain ran across itself in a twist. It would grab the wedges, splitting mall and axe. Nasty stuff.
charles
 
There is a guy that makes lightning wood. I never heard of changing colors but you can make lightning in wood and its pretty cool to look at. Some woods work better than others due to moisture and sap contents. I think this guy uses arc welder but a car battery will work. Drive nail in either end of wood and simply attach jumper cables. I met this guy a few times at some scrolling shows.
 
workinforwood said:
There is a guy that makes lightning wood. I never heard of changing colors but you can make lightning in wood and its pretty cool to look at. Some woods work better than others due to moisture and sap contents. I think this guy uses arc welder but a car battery will work. Drive nail in either end of wood and simply attach jumper cables. I met this guy a few times at some scrolling shows.
Click to expand...

What does it look like?
 
Lee K said:
home-made lightning just sounds like trouble waitin to happen for me :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
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Yep....buzzzzzz.......kerpowwwwwwwww....what's that smell...???

"I felt something cold on my shoulder, looked over and it was the floor..."

Tom
 
I think there may be a lightning bug (not the kind that glows at night) out there that discolors wood. Seems like I read about it, not 100% sure, but you might give a search.
 
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