Spalted Maple

[skeezix]

I’m fond of spalted maple.


Here are a couple of Kimber 1911s with spalted maple grips. Both guns have mag wells installed. The smaller gun’s grips are double-diamond checkered, while the grips on the full size gun are smooth.

I'm thinking about trying to "spalt" some wood. Have any woodworkers here done it?

 

[boykinlp]

I don't know "spalted" maple from "malted" maple grips, but I know I really like the look of your spalted maple grips!! Really classy looking.
Larry

 

[RedDawn]

A local GA buddy got lucky and came across a piece in the woods. Cut out a section of it and run it on a lathe making some turkey calls and made me a grunt call. It’s very unique and way too cool. Those grips look outstanding. Good luck in your quest.

 

[Jebus35745]

Very nice grips, all I have is a couple from Keith Brown. Larry

 

[walter o]

this is a set i made for a Hj Standard

 

[Fishinfool]

Those 1911 grips look nice. I am not sure how you would simulate spalting though, maybe with various wood stains? Spalting is usually caused by fungus growth, and the wood tends to be soft unless stabilized. I have a pair of stabilized spalted maple on my Ruger flat top .44.

Larry

 

[JohnRippert]

That kinda looks familiar. Have something similar on a knife. I think mine may be curly birch.

 

[mikerjf]

I know you can spault your own, never have tho. You’d want a nice grain for the fungus to follow, I imagine, and control temp/moisture.

 

[Gunhacker]

I've tried to spalt wood without success... what I end up with is just pain rot on the end that I try to "encourage" the mold to enter. And as someone has mentioned, even if you're successful, you'll need to stabilize them to have the integrity needed to be usable. Which is not cheap to equip for, unless you're already doing wood stabilization.

Bottom line, you're better off buying commercially.

Those are very nice grips by the way... did you make or buy them?

 

[Spurdann]

Put a piece of split maple firewood in a black plastic bag and throw it back on the wood pile, check in six months. I would suggest doing five or six pieces so that if six months is not long enough you can give the others more time in the bag. By no means is it an exact science, I get it right about 20% of the time

 

[ameridaddy]

To spalt maple, you have to start with green wood so the moisture is in the wood cells, not applied later. That will just get you surface mold and rot.
Take the green wood, bark off, very rough cut, say, like a chunk of firewood, it put it in a plastic trash bag to dry. Periodically check it after a month or so and you'll find unevaporated water in the bag. Look the wood over for spalting. Once it appears even slightly, check it often. There's a fine line between spalted but still firm and spalted, mostly spongy rotten.
I've done this with vase and bowl blanks, and about a third of them came out OK, the others were too rotten to use on a lathe.

 

[PatriotX]

I’ve seen some interesting lichtenberg figures burned into 1911 grips that looked similar to spalting.

 

[max503]

Seems it would be easier to go out and find some, or go to a sawmill and buy a piece. Shouldn't be at all expensive. Around here it is quite common out in the woods.

I've heard you can get some nice figured wood out of the root balls. I've got a chunk I picked up off the riverbank, but haven't done anything with it yet.

 

[bananaman]

The only ones I have are on my .40 1911. Got them from Fusion. Really like them! On my RIA Tactical II. Bob

 

[skeezix]

Gunhacker asked: "Those are very nice grips by the way... did you make or buy them?"
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I bought both sets of grips.