There's a fungus among us

[Lukas060606]

So there's some wood on a nature preserve right up along my property line that was stacked about three years ago. I have a good relationship with the folks, and one of them stopped by the other day and told me the wood was mine if I wanted it. He told me the story of how they had a guy come in to clear the fallen trees off their paths and he stacked it and was going to take it away. He never came back. The thing is the wood is not rotted at all, but it has the fungus growing all over it. This is not something I have ever had to deal with, so I'm asking the gurus here if I should take it or leave it, and if I do take it, what, if anything do I do differently?? Do I cover it and let it sit for a season (or more)??? I'm guessing if I do this the fungus dies as the wood dries, and I have some wood for 2011/2012 with less effort than normal. Any thougths?

 

[RobC]

How about a picture(s) ? There are all sorts of things that grow on trees. I would say in general that you shouldn't have anything to worry about. There are a few things that have a relationship with host trees and that you should be aware of before moving.

 

[DaveBP]

I use the rule of thumb that if it will split along the grain it hasn't decomposed so far as to lose enough of its inherent heat value to discard. If it "chunks" away from the splitter wedge instead of splitting I call it forest compost.

 

[Lukas060606]

Thanks for the replies. Good idea on the pics. I'll take some tomorrow and post them up. In the mean time, the description of the fungus is it is an off white, that looks like a half a disc coming off the surface of the wood. There are a lot of these "half discs" coming off the wood in question. I've never seen this type of fungus on a living tree.

 

[RobC]

From your description that wouldn't concern me. There are some jelly structures that you need to be careful of and and black ball type structures in the outer branches.
What you describing sounds like normal stuff that grows on deadwood.

 

[bigburner]

This wood, would work for me. I pile out doors anyway. Don't know if this is a record, but I cut down a tree in 1983 and for what ever reason I didn't pick it all up. Oak laying on the forest floor, last year I picked up the stuff and it was only rotted in about an inch or more, lots of good wood underneath. Top that.

 

[rkusek]

I cut up some old oak last winter where some of it had up to a 1/4" rotted on the outer portion but the rest of it was not rotted at all. It was actually a standing dead tree and a few others had fallen but only the end was touching the ground. Most at the edge of a ravine where they had given away due to erosion I guess. I think these may have been dead for several years. It definitely was much lighter than a wet oak would have been but much denser than the other elm I have been cutting. Saw the mold and some of the jelly stuff on it as well. Most of it fell off while splitting and stacking. Don't even see any mold on it anymore as I am burning it this winter, guess all the handling knocked most of it off. Seems to burn pretty good although probably not like good oak would. There are several more big trees like this by that ravine. Going to go after more of it this winter. I could barely lift the big pieces cut the length of the EKO ~20". Wish I had a winch, instead of carrying each piece out of that ravine. Great way to make the pile grow fast though cutting that stuff.

 

[pybyr]

I find that dead wood really varies, by species, location, etc. Sometimes decay really does diminish its heat content to the point that it is not worth the bother. I go by the sound (do two pieces hit together give a nice sharp sound, or a thud-- and the "heft" of it (if it is noticeably lighter than a piece of that species, its lost a lot of heat content).

Also, the species really affects it a lot. White birch seems to rot remarkably fast, whereas I regularly cut, split, and use hophornbeam that has been laying on the ground long enough to have become covered in moss.

 

[benjamin]

This wood, would work for me. I pile out doors anyway. Don't know if this is a record, but I cut down a tree in 1983 and for what ever reason I didn't pick it all up. Oak laying on the forest floor, last year I picked up the stuff and it was only rotted in about an inch or more, lots of good wood underneath. Top that.

In 2000 or 2001 I salvaged some black walnut that had been bulldozed into a gully in 1961. There was no sapwood left on the branches trunk or roots but the trees were intact and mostly clean. Some of it burned, but most of it was sawed up. It planes as smooth as butter.

So you never know until you cut into it.