Ambrosia Maple

[YellowHammer]

After a little time off, I got back to sawing again and was halfway through a load of Ambrosia (wormy) Maple and thought I'd snap this picture.  I always like sawing this stuff, it sells real well, and the striking colors and pattern made up for the nasty, cold rainy day.
YH

[Peter Drouin]

Will it change the color after going in the kiln?

[cutterboy]

WOW! That log is loaded with it. I see it in red maple sometimes, but never as much as that.

[Swatson]

That is a nice looking log.  Hope it fetches a good price for you.

[drobertson]

Absolutely stunning contrast,  and I knew you would be back soon!  glad to see it! 8)

[red]

Such a shame that log is spoiled
You can throw them nasty boards on my firewood pile
I don't want you to hurt your new hip
Just trying to help you out . . .

[Tree Dan]

Will it change the color after going in the kiln?

No...Our KD wormy looks just like that.

[WDH]

WOW!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[YellowHammer]

Will it change the color after going in the kiln?

Only if I screw it up.  Here's some I did a few months ago. 
YH
   

[5quarter]

and curly figure to boot! That stuff is sweeter that honey on a sugar plum! I'll be sending my beetles down your way to learn how do the ambrosia thing the right way.  ;) :D

[SwampDonkey]

Nice! If you have a market for it, it can be like gold. ;D

[WDH]

DanG....you never said that you have some curly ambrosia maple  8).

[mesquite buckeye]

Hope it doesn't twist with that spiral grain. :(

Super cool if it works. ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[SwampDonkey]

curly grain in maple and yellow birch is prized stuff. ;D

[WDH]

Sell me the curly stuff, please  ;D.

[Magicman]

Wild Bill might have some he will sell you.   ;D

[WDH]

 :D :D

It ain't his no more. 

[YellowHammer]

I have to admit, I really like working with this wood.  It saws very fast, yield is high, logs are big with minimal heart check, and the boards are usually well behaved and dry straight.  There is very little waste. Sticker stain is a problem with this species, and we lost some money with zebra striped boards, but once we broke the code on that, we can crank out a kiln load in a week with no stain at all.  I probably sell 3 or 4 times as much of this as clear, unmarked maple.  When we get a few logs in, we trim them to length and sell the sealed cut offs to wood turners; this is a favorite for them, and very little goes into the burn pile.  We get some with really nice patterns and colors, too.


This is us getting the logs ready to saw, bucking them up and Anchorsealing the ends on a cold day as it was getting dark.

YH

[customsawyer]

That is some mighty fine ambrosia maple.

[FarmingSawyer]

Wow! I don't think there is anything quite like that up here in Maine! Beautiful! I've sawn some DanG fine curly maple, but none with anything near that amount of stripe. Occasionally mineral stain will be strong in areas, which is always interesting.

Is there any way to tell from the outside of the log whether the Ambrosia will be inside? Or can you tell from the ends? A lot of big maples came down in a recent storm and I'm trying to get people to saw them up rather than turn them into mulch......

[WDH]

Ambrosia is more commonly found in soft maple, i.e. red maple, Acer rubrum, than in sugar maple. 

[xlogger]

YH. what did you do to stop the sticker stain with your stickers? I'm now sawing red cedar for my stickers, but I just air now. Hope to build a solar kiln next year.

[WDH]

xlogger,

Airflow, airflow, airflow.  The air must be moving immediately after sawing.  Fans are a must if it is even close to hot and humid.   

[flatrock58]

Nice looking Maple.  I cut an old half rotten maple last week and got some nice boards.  Not sure what I will make with them.




  

 

[WDH]

Beautiful!