Wood rots. This is a fact of life in the forest—sometimes a welcome one, as when woody debris returns to (and enriches) the soil, or when we are able to harvest a bumper crop of edible mushrooms from a log or stump on the forest floor. We are generally not so pleased when we see signs of decay in our standing timber, but trees, much like ourselves, incur wounds, are infested with insects, lose vigor as they age, or otherwise fall preyto infection regularly. While I get a sinking feeling when I see cankers or shelf fungi popping out on my best crop trees, as a woodworker I have to admit to a certain pleasure in the new-found possibility of finding some interesting spalting in the lumber of those trees.
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