I am not one to hang around on beaches, lay in the sand and do the things that beach goers do and enjoy. But I love beeches, beech trees that is.

The beech wood stash I recently carried out of a nearby forest was worth the repeated walk from the car to the downed tree and back, wondering and anticipating what the wood looks like.

Opening a round is kind of like opening a Kinderüberraschung chocolate egg. You don’t know what’s inside and hope for a pleasant surprise.

The beech tree that I harvested my pieces from had lain for over a year and last spring I cut my first rounds form its thick limbs. I was not surprised to discover spalting in the grain patterns.

Spalting is a form of wood coloration. Fungi are the primary cause. The trees defensive mechanisms result in inteesting patterns. Spalting is generally seen in dead trees, however can also occur in living trees. Spalting can cause weight as well as strength loss in the wood and not all spalted wood is stable enough to carve so you have to keep a close eye on the process and learn to discard pieces in advanced stages of the process.

In the accompanying images you see the lighter and darker coloration in the spalted beech wood spoon blank and finished spoon.

I was very pleased with what I found inside the wood and am having a great time carving some useful and lovely kitchen utensils from this beautiful and strong wood.

The spoons carved from this tree should last a long while and serve its owner well.