Sugar Maple Core Rot?

[bigschuss]

Had a nice old Sugar Maple (24" DBH) snap off about 20' up last winter. When I had a chance to buck up the crown for firewood I noticed that there was a lot of dead wood and rot at the source of the break. Today I dropped the rest of the tree to get it out of the woods and to a local sawyer...was planning to have it sawed up for a butcher block counter top. When the tree was on the ground I noticed the heartwood is heavily discolored. The cross section shown in the pics was about 10" off the ground, so obviously this tree had something going on from the base up to the crown.

Just wondering 1) what is the cause of this and 2) will this discolored heartwood be any good to have milled into lumber for a butcher block countertop?


Thanks in advance.

[Pdiamond]

How does it act if you stick it with a jack knife. Is it still solid or a little punky?

[bigschuss]

How does it act if you stick it with a jack knife. Is it still solid or a little punky?

It's not punky. More stringy than anything. But certainly a little different than the nicely colored wood that surrounds it.

[Pdiamond]

It may cut okay but I doubt it. You can always try and see what it looks like. It will definitely be a unique looking piece when completed.

[Andy VT]

Very interesting! Did this tree appear healthy with good crown, good bark, etc prior to breaking?
It looks like you have a cookie of it lying there... wonder if you could cut that open and see what the long grain looks like.
Then you know exactly what you've got.
Pretty sure its not going to look like what you originally imagined.
But that's all I've got! Good luck and let us know what more you find out!
Andy

[Swingpure]

I wonder if is heart rot fungus. I have seen more than one tree break off 20’ or so above the ground, and find that it is hollow.

One tree guy here blames it on acid rain weakening the trees and allowing the fungus to take hold.

[bigschuss]

Very interesting! Did this tree appear healthy with good crown, good bark, etc prior to breaking?
It looks like you have a cookie of it lying there... wonder if you could cut that open and see what the long grain looks like.
Then you know exactly what you've got.
Pretty sure its not going to look like what you originally imagined.
But that's all I've got! Good luck and let us know what more you find out!
Andy

It did appear healthy. I was surprise to see the top laying on the ground after a winter storm last year.

Good idea about using the cookie to see what the inside looks like.

Thanks Andy.

Blair

[bigschuss]

It may cut okay but I doubt it. You can always try and see what it looks like. It will definitely be a unique looking piece when completed.

I agree...it sure would look neat of the wood and the grain are fairly normal.

[bigschuss]

I wonder if is heart rot fungus. I have seen more than one tree break off 20’ or so above the ground, and find that it is hollow.

One tree guy here blames it on acid rain weakening the trees and allowing the fungus to take hold.

Interesting. I live in a fairly cold and snowy spruce and fir swamp. I see a ton of evergreens come down that are alive and healthy looking, but that have a hollow core.