Spalted Beech and Cherry box

Description

Stunning handmade wooden box made of beautifully figured Spalted Beech with a scorched Cherry pivot hinge lid.

The box has 3 compartments which are lined with luxurious brown suede.

Highly distinctive ‘spalting’ running through this box. Spalting is a term used to describe the process by which certain fungi grow on dead or fallen trees and after colonizing the wood via travelling up the wood cells from the ends or from broken off branches. The process takes 2 to 3 years to reach the ideal stage to cut & season the timber.

Size 390 x 265 x 110mm

Spalted Beech.

Many timbers can spalt but Beech is one of the most common. Spalting is a term used to describe the process by which certain fungi grow on dead or fallen trees and after colonizing the wood via travelling up the wood cells from the ends or from broken off branches, leave a most attractive pattern. The process takes 2 to 3 years to reach the ideal stage to cut and season the timber.

The black lines are zone lines created by different species of fungi erecting barriers around their territory! There are primary colonizers who come first and establish territories and then have to defend them against secondary colonizers who are only able to colonize the wood because the primary colonizers have changed the ph of the wood and its structure. A microscopic army! If left unchecked eventually the whole tree is eaten and consumed, part of nature’s process of dealing with dead and fallen trees.