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Walnut with mold, questions

Started by Tom the Sawyer, July 28, 2015, 04:38:12 PM

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Tom the Sawyer

This batch of walnut was milled 10 days ago and stickered directly as it came off the mill.  Mostly live edge, 4/4 with a bit of 8/4.  It is stacked inside a very large shop building with nothing blocking it and the client has a large barrel fan set up to cycle on and off with a timer.  Shop bay doors have been open most days.  Heat index most days since then has been well over 100.

He called today after he noticed white mold growing along the area between the sapwood and the bark.  Any ideas?   Suggestions for remedies?


 


 


 
07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

beenthere

Wonder why the cycle on/off of the fan? And shop doors not open all the time?  maybe theft..the reason.

But a bit too humid for keeping the white mold from growing. Don't really think it is harming the wood.. like mold on cheese. In time the humidity will come down, and/or with fans going all the time, that mold will stop growing.

Spritz it with some bleach/water mix should knock it down in the meantime.

Looks like a nice stack of walnut and great stickering job.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

bkaimwood

X2...most of that kind of fuzzy exterior type mold I've seen comes in quick, and goes away, easily wiped off, no permanent wood damage...yup, fans 24/7...no cycling till surface MC drops a bit, as to not support the mold...should happen quick, within a few days to a week at most...
bk

Seaman

That's a NICE stack of Walnut !
Lucas dedicated slabber
Woodmizer LT40HD
John Deere 5310 W/ FEL
Semper Fi

mesquite buckeye

Piling one once more. Leave on the fan and open the doors as much as possible, especially in the daytime. ;D :snowball: :snowball: :snowball: 8)
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

Kcwoodbutcher

Tom , just about every load of walnut I dry has mold like that on it after the cycle. Nothing to worry about, it planes off without a trace.
My job is to do everything nobody else felt like doing today

Tom the Sawyer

Thanks for all the quick replies.  Security is a concern at this location so it can't be left open continuously.  I've air dried a bunch of walnut and never seen it before (or didn't notice it).  He is recently retired and is getting into woodworking.  He's really looking forward to all the projects he can build with this walnut.  The logs were salvage, a bit gnarly and crooked - loaded with character.  Boards went from the mill to the forks, and from the forks to the stack.  The stack was done before I started packing up the mill. 

You can see he was pretty happy with his milling day.


 

07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

WDH

Wish that it was my stack  :)
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

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

No sense running the fans when the humidity is much over 85% initially (17% EMC) and then much over 65% (12% EMC) as the wood gets drier.  Even though the temperature here in GA was 95 F, the humidity was 50%.  It will be foggy by morning.

The mold is "eating the sugars in the sap" so apparently there was a good meal there.  Sometimes, there is not.  So, this mold comes and goes, but it is worse with bark-on lumber.  It does not affect lumber quality.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

5quarter

Georgia, huh? Before you know it Gene, you'll be sayin things like "y'all" and "I ain't got none". Just don't let them grits creep into yer diet...they don't call em grits for nuthin.  :D ;)
What is this leisure time of which you speak?
Blue Harbor Refinishing

GeneWengert-WoodDoc

I was born in TN, so I am very close to home.  Spent 16 years in VA too.
Gene - Author of articles in Sawmill & Woodlot and books: Drying Hardwood Lumber; VA Tech Solar Kiln; Sawing Edging & Trimming Hardwood Lumber. And more

YellowHammer

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

WDH

Wish that was my stack, my building, and my fan  ;D.
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

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