Sweetgum

[bama20a]

Didn't know & still don't, if this is the place to post it,But I guess it's as good as any,I posted this on another forum without any luck.so maybe one of you can help.
I've carved wooded dough bowls before,don't use power tools,Anyway was wondering about carving one out of Sweetgum.I know that stuff will walk all over the place ,but I've got one that has been cut about a year,that is about the right dia",It's still on the ground where it was cut in lengths of about 6-8' long.
Would it be safe to make a bowl from it as long as it has been cut?Also I've seen some that was spalted sure was nice grain wood. how long would it take to spalt?are they a way I can make it spalt,Any help on this I'd be greatful,Sure hate to see it wasted,thank you for any help.

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by bama20a

Didn't know & still don't, if this is the place to post it,But I guess it's as good as any,I posted this on another forum without any luck.so maybe one of you can help.
I've carved wooded dough bowls before,don't use power tools,Anyway was wondering about carving one out of Sweetgum.I know that stuff will walk all over the place ,but I've got one that has been cut about a year,that is about the right dia",It's still on the ground where it was cut in lengths of about 6-8' long.
Would it be safe to make a bowl from it as long as it has been cut?Also I've seen some that was spalted sure was nice grain wood. how long would it take to spalt?are they a way I can make it spalt,Any help on this I'd be greatful,Sure hate to see it wasted,thank you for any help.

I guess the folks on the other forum where you posted your question, didn't know any thing about sweet gum. And that may be the same on this forum. I sure don't know.
I'd say, go for it, give it a try and when you find out the do's and dont's of sweet gum, you'll be the person that others will go to for answers.

[Claude]

It should be ok, if it's good clean wood. There has been much controversy on a wood turning forum I frequent about spalted wood being used for anything related to food. General consensus is that if it's spalted, don't use with food; there are some others who say it's ok, so you'll have to make up your own mind. The spalting is caused by a fungus. After the wood dries to a certain level, the fungus can't grow any more so the wood stabilizes. Personally, I don't want fungus-infected wood associated with my food, but you may have a different opinion.

Claude

[Dagwood]

Claude make a valid point as far as spalting however if the bowl is for decoration then great. As far as the question on how long it takes to get it spalted I've heard if you cover it up with mulch for around 6 months you will be good

[pallin]

Aboriginal people carved bowls from available wood for thousands of years. Their population was decimated not by the wood, but by the germs brought to the "New World" by Europeans.

[bama20a]

Thanks for the info-,The bowl would be just for decoration only. I'm going to try to cut it & then I'll split part of it to see what it looks like.
Dagwood: When they covered the wood with mulch,Do you know if it was the whole log or was it split?

[twymanok]

you can spalt it yourself all you need are old leaves plastic bag and paitence. put the log chunk in a plastice bag with leaf litter. do not seal the ends of the log but pack the leaf litter along the ends and let it set for about a year you may think about putting somewater int he bag with it. it is more of a trial and error thing so do a couple or more pieces. I have tried it with maple with some success, but not enough to have it to a science

[Dagwood]

when i was turning bowls i would burry them with dirt and mulch...leaves bark ect.. before you start make sure u have some wast wood to work with... depending on the wet season in your area will determine how long it takes. in NC i kept them in the ground from fall sept or so till april... cut the ends off as they will be worst. then turn the wood and see what ya got. if it needs more throw the log back in the ground. I've tried the plastic bag method mentioned above with smaller pcs. diff wood will Spalt (rot) quicker so u may want to check more often depending on where you live ...good luck