Thar's Copper in Them Thar...Trees?

[Morsecode]

So, we've been splitting a ton of red oak the last few days, and this one old tree was probably 150+ years, and starting to decay from the inside out. What's this have to do with copper, you say? Check out the green streaks.

I did a little googling and there is some opinion that red oak (and possibly other species) can show signs of long term mineral absorption. They had a scientific name for it but I already forgot it.

Oh, and this guy...he lived his long life along the banks of a stream here called...hmmm, what was it again? oh yeah - Coppermine Brook.

What say you...verdigris or plain old fungus?

[Rodebaugh]

Green elfcup......that I recalled on my own.

aka...Chlorociboria aeruginascens ..... I had to look that up.

First remember seeing this as a boy playing in the woods. I thought it was so cool.....still do.

[Morsecode]

So, if I'm hearing you correctly - there's no future in oak hoarding...

dang

[knibloe]

Very cool. Why the name copper brook. Was there a mine nearby. Could there be nuggets?

[Morsecode]

Yes, there was copper mining here a long time ago, when my red oak tree was still an acorn. In 1848, the mine at the base of Burlington Mountain produced 583 tons according to reports of the day. Coppermine Brook wanders nearby.

[Engineer]

What say you...verdigris or plain old fungus?

Peel off a chunk and take a torch to it.

[knibloe]

What say you...verdigris or plain old fungus?

Peel off a chunk and take a torch to it.

We used to take old copper wire and throw it in the fire. I love the blue and green colors it give off. The real nice thing is that you can use the same wire over and over again.

[blackrabbit]

So, if I'm hearing you correctly - there's no future in oak hoarding...

dang

You can get decent money around here for a cord of oak.

[OtusLotus]

Nature is AWESOME!

[Shazbot57]

Several things I DID NOT KNOW! Who'd of thunk it?

[Hawkeye]

Wow. You learn something new every day. Interesting!

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Doc "nailed" it.

There are wood turners who will drive metal rods into live trees to stain the wood before it's harvested for wood turning. Different metal rods beget different colors. A tree on top of a metal deposit could be streaked with stains.

Boxelder will get two different fungus attacks. One will stain blue, the other red. It's called spaulting. Boxelder heartwood is a creamy white color. Many times you will find both fungus in Boxelder, so, you get red, white, and blue.

[Silversnacher]

Cool! One of the trees I was cutting up had cool green color inside it as well but I didn't know what it was