Today, I went out with the tractor and chainsaw to harvest a sycamore log that has been bugging me for over three years. It was about 12 feet long, almost 2 ft. in diameter at the butt end, and laying in a ditch at the foot of Harmon Park in Eureka Springs. It had been bugging me because I knew it was decaying and going to waste and I drove past it at least twice a day on my way to and from school. The ditch nearly always had some water in it from a nearby spring, keeping the log wet, preventing serious cracks, but also maintaining perfect conditions for rapid decay. I really didn't know what to expect. Would there be anything useful in it, or would it all fall to sawdust at the first cut?

I had been offered the log by the parks director for free if I would haul it off. So today was the day. I cut it into three pieces to be able to carry it in the front loader of my small tractor, and then found that the last piece at the butt end was still too heavy to lift. I made a ripping cut down the center, cutting it in half for two loads, but also revealing the beautiful spalting wood inside. Parts of the log are too far decayed to be of any use, but those parts that are spalted and still sound will make beautiful inlay on the tops of boxes, and if I am lucky, a table top or two.

The amazing thing abut this sycamore log is that it had been in the ditch for years with thousands of cars passing by, unaware of the potential beauty at hand. I get emails from readers wondering "where can I get spalted wood?" I tell them they can find it on eBay and pay lots of money, or they can pay attention as they walk or drive thorough their own communities and it will turn up. Bringing it home in a front loader and sawing it yourself is a much better adventure than waiting impatiently for the UPS truck. Photos above and below show some of the beauty, and if you can imagine something like this coming in a UPS truck, you can see why it might be expensive.

By the way, my daughter loves her tool box.