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Sawed some ambrosia maple this afternoon

Started by warren46, January 08, 2015, 07:15:36 PM

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warren46

It got above 20° just after noon today (I know you folks in northern climes have no sympathy) so I fired up the mill.  One advantage of an electric mill is you just push the button and it starts even in the cold.

I had a customer's maple logs on the skids.  I suspected that ambrosia beetles had done there thing in the butt log.  When I opened it up I found some very nice ambrosia.


 

  
Warren E. Johnson
Timber Harvester 36HTE25, John Deere 300b backhoe/loader.

Seaman

Lucas dedicated slabber
Woodmizer LT40HD
John Deere 5310 W/ FEL
Semper Fi

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Looks like you sawed it at the right time. Nice looking lumber.  8)
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

samandothers


MSSawmill

Home-built bandsaw mill
2004 Kubota M110 with LA1301 loader

johnnyllama

 Great wood! Ambrosia maple is one of my favorites to use for  panels in doors, etc. Here's a recent project of my son and I. The kitchen is Butternut and ambrosia maple and the passage doors are Hard maple and ambrosia bookmatched panels. Your wood looks like it has a lot of potential!!

  

  

 [img]
Turner Bandmill, NH35 tractor, Stihl & Husky misc. saws, Mini-excavator, 24" planer, 8" jointer, tilting shaper, lathe, sliding table saw, widebelt sander, Beautiful hardworking wife, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 23 llamas in training to pull logs!!!

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

drobertson

I will admit, I know absolutely nothing about it, but will say it does look  like you got it right on time.  It appears to be very dry already, and should make some beautiful stock to work with..
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

warren46

Quote from: drobertson on January 09, 2015, 11:06:25 AM
I will admit, I know absolutely nothing about it, but will say it does look  like you got it right on time.  It appears to be very dry already, and should make some beautiful stock to work with..
Ambrosia maple is the result of an infestation of a particular beetle that carries a fungus into the live wood.  The fungus causes the elongated blue tinged stains.  If you look close at the pictures you may be able to see a pair of small holes in the center of each stain.

The logs were green and fresh so the lumber is not very dry.  Fortunately the drying process does not affect the color very much.
Warren E. Johnson
Timber Harvester 36HTE25, John Deere 300b backhoe/loader.

WDH

I believe that the ambrosia beetle brings the fungus in with it.  The fungus feeds on the sugars in the wood, and the baby beetles feed on the fungus.  Fungal farming by a beetle. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

scleigh

Johnnyllama, those cabinets are amazing.

Warren, customers seem to love ambrosia maple. i sawed some last month and sold the last 2" slab today. A woman showed up in a Saab station wagon to buy an 8' 3" slab that was 20'' wide and 2' thick. I cut in half for her and she was on her way.

Kasba

Just curious what price you got for it and I assume it was still green or did you have it kilned? I have some air dried Western maple 2" x 9 and 6 foot live edge slabs, not sure what I should charge for it.
Timbery M285 25hp, Husqvarna 570 auto tune, Alaskan sawmill, Nova 1624 wood lathe, Dogo Argentino

scleigh

I've been getting $2 a b.f. on the ambrosia maple. It was green, but it was 20" wide also.


 

YellowHammer

We have ambrosia maple here, but it is only occasionally mixed in with normal tie grade red maple logs and I have a small "possee" of loggers who keep an eye out for me.  When one of them finds a nice big clear ambrosia butt log, they will roll it off to the side until I get enough for a trailer load.
It saws like butter, dries straight and fast but is very prone to sticker stain, either dark or white stripes, when its fresh off the mill, that sometimes won't plane out.
I put big fans on mine for two to three weeks to get past the staining stage and get the moisture content way down before I put it in the kiln to finish it. Although most folks cringe when they hear of insect damage in wood,  customers really like the whole "baby beetles grazing on the mold" life cycle story and don't hesitate to buy some.   
YH
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

xlogger

What are you looking for in a ambrosia log before cutting or buying it? Would the log be dead for some time? Bark coming off?
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

thechknhwk

From what I have seen around here ambrosia would be evident right off the stump, but what I think you're referring to is spalting.  I don't know of a way to tell before cutting the tree down, but perhaps someone else has more insight.

BTW, that kitchen posted previously is awesome!

kelLOGg

What is the difference in ambrosia maple and spalted maple? Not knowing, I would have called that spalted. I let a red maple log sit on the ground over winter several years ago and when I cut it, it looked just what is in this thread, complete with the little holes. I called it "spalted".  :P
Bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

xlogger

So if you get a green log like Maple and leave it like Bob said over months, does that work?
Timberking 2000, Turbo slabber Mill, 584 Case, Bobcat 773, solar kiln, Nyle L-53 DH kiln

WDH

Quote from: kelLOGg on January 10, 2015, 05:53:19 AM
What is the difference in ambrosia maple and spalted maple? Not knowing, I would have called that spalted. I let a red maple log sit on the ground over winter several years ago and when I cut it, it looked just what is in this thread, complete with the little holes. I called it "spalted".  :P
Bob

Ambrosia maple is not the same as spalted maple.  The ambosia maple comes from a live tree that the beetles infested, but they do not kill the tree.  So it is a living, green tree with the ambrosia streaks in the wood.  You cannot tell by looking at the tree until it is felled, then you can see the stains on the butt end of the log. 

Spalting occurs after the tree has been felled or is dead.  The spalt is the result of fungal mycelia that are beginning to rot the wood.  Not the same fungus as in ambrosia maple, but a rot fungus.   
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

YellowHammer

Quote from: WDH on January 10, 2015, 07:46:35 AM
You cannot tell by looking at the tree until it is felled, then you can see the stains on the butt end of the log.   
smiley_thumbsup
Whenever I see a butt cut like this, I know its ambrosia gold $$.  The beetles make these characteristic radial markings in the  crosscut log.  Sometimes the markings are dark, sometimes they are more gray.  Either way, its easy to spot once you know what to look for.  This log was heavily infested and turned out some exceptional wood; most times it'll show as fewer streaks.

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

johnnyllama

Here's a comparison of ambrosia maple vs. spalted maple. The first image is ambrosia in the door panel. The second is spalted maple in the panel, both sets feature butternut frames.

 

 
Turner Bandmill, NH35 tractor, Stihl & Husky misc. saws, Mini-excavator, 24" planer, 8" jointer, tilting shaper, lathe, sliding table saw, widebelt sander, Beautiful hardworking wife, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 23 llamas in training to pull logs!!!

samandothers

Johnny
Those are both very nice.  I think I like th spalted a bit better in this comparison.   Given another set of doors or different applicaiton of the wood, the ambrosia may be on top.   Both are great looking! 

POSTON WIDEHEAD

The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

kelLOGg

Thanks, Johnnyll. That is a very clear account. I have seen both and now I am more well informed as to which is which.
Bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

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