is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

Thanks for all the information here! Just asking, how many of you are woodworkers? What is the industry like? How much experience have you had and can you give me an idea of how many elements there are to woodworking? Thank you.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

I've been known to work a little wood around the house when the mood strikes me.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

It's probably not bacteria. My guess would be genetic defects, possibly caused by disease of some sort, but I really have no idea for sure.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

In atleast maple most of the figuring is due to variations in the grain. Some can be caused by disease but not all some are just natural occurrences in growth variation. The waves in the grain pattern can occur radially and tangentially this variation is what explains some of the different types of figure. How the wood is cut makes a large impact on how the figure appears. Like if flame maple is cut perfectly on the quarter the stripes will be more even and smaller if you cut it off axis a bit the stripes spread out more into kind of the fat wavy flames. In contrast quilted maple shows up in flat sawn not quarter sawn boards and is along the tangential plane instead of radial.

I dont know about birdseye. I know this though figure doesnt occur in small trees. Ok thats not quite right it starts in small trees then as the years go by and the layers are stacked upon the distortions the figure becomes more evident. So its in small trees but its not big enough to matter.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

I read on a violin luthiers forum that it was also caused by extreme weather changes. A tree being treated as a crop plant in this case, it's technically a defect, but has appealing visual aesthetic qualities. However, there hasn't been concrete proof of discernible sonic properties, good or bad, introduced by it.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

beaubrummels said:
I read on a violin luthiers forum that it was also caused by extreme weather changes. A tree being treated as a crop plant in this case, it's technically a defect, but has appealing visual aesthetic qualities. However, there hasn't been concrete proof of discernible sonic properties, good or bad, introduced by it.
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Im sure this is true... you get a year of really cold or really dry weather and stunt the growth and get a weird set of growth rings... the next year just adds on top of it.
 
But the uniformity of the appearance of the spalts must point to very universal factors, or at least mean that the various causes have the same effect. Can anyone explain the mechanics of this?
 
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Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

Spalting is mostly caused by fungi (which is separate from bacteria, as bacteria are prokaryotes while fungi are eukaryotic); often in dead, decaying trees.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

Letus said:
But the uniformity of the appearance of the spalts must point to one common factor, or at least mean that the various causes have the same effect. How does this happen?
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Yeah as Myacc said its caused by fungi and is unrelated to the other types of figuring. The other types are all related to growth and changes in cell divison for various reasons (The exact reasons are not agreed upon from what i know) At one time birdseyes were said to be the result of damage to the tree like bugs burrowing or like a wood pecker pecking a small hole but this has been proven to be untrue
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

Edgecrusher said:
Yeah as Myacc said its caused by fungi and is unrelated to the other types of figuring. The other types are all related to growth and changes in cell divison for various reasons (The exact reasons are not agreed upon from what i know) At one time birdseyes were said to be the result of damage to the tree like bugs burrowing or like a wood pecker pecking a small hole but this has been proven to be untrue
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I actually was referring to all types of figuring, and used the incorrect terminology.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

Letus said:
I actually was referring to all types of figuring, and used the incorrect terminology.
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Oh, well besides spalting the mechanics are known... the causes are not... The mechanics are what i mentioned earlier its aberrations in growth but the reasons why are not agreed upon at all.
 
Re: is maple the only wood you can get a flame or quilt from?

I'm also working on a burl redwood project. It's a veneer on top of a walnut back. I too think it looked like blood vessels.

 
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