# Strange Stains on White Oak



## phillip.c (Aug 9, 2012)

Hello all,

On my most recent project, I noticed some black stains appear during milling. The stained area intensified as I milled more. Of about 15 boards, about 4 have a few stained areas. The stains were adjacent to the grain, which suggests that the stains are not naturally occurring in the grain. From the surface, I couldn't tell which boards would have stains. Occurred on 4/4 and 8/4. 

See the attached photos. Is this a known phenomenon or did I get a freak batch?


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Kind of looks like the steel forklift fork imprint, or a steel rack or cart, or bunk imprint.

Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

looks like the oak came in contact w/ iron or steel...
oxalic acid may clean it up...


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

wondering if barbed wire might have caused that?? this is an interesting one


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Maybe steel banding on the sling, if it was bundled. Or if it was kiln dried, maybe the cart or rack support made it as the moisture was drawn from the wood., if it was the bottom layer of the stack.

Is it on both sides of the board, and in the same spot on other boards?

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Another but slightly lesser possibility is that the lumber was stickered with some wood that maybe had too high a moisture content.


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## phillip.c (Aug 9, 2012)

The steel banding on the stack was my first thought. Strange though that I didn't see any markings on the outside of the wood. I only noticed something when I begin milling. Also, the markings intensified as I got deeper. Any way I might anticipate this for the future?


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## bcfunburst (Jan 14, 2012)

*Staining in White Oak*

Is it possible the staining is a type of mould inside the wood, just like the blackish staining in Maple?? I have seen this sort of staining in many different hardwoods and I was told it was a type of mould caused by prolonged moisture retention. There may be a product to bleach out the stain if you do a Google Search.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

If it got worse as you went deeper makes me think it may have been on the verge of starting to rot. Rots start out as a stain and the stain that's there is too wide for banding. Banding is only normally 1/2 to 1" wide. Is there any indication that that area was close to a knot? Broken limbs are the usual entry point of wood fungi and since knots go to the heart of the tree they follow the heart and then work their way back through other knots back out to the surface of the tree.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Looks to me like it was bunked on a steel bunk or rack to dry and the moisture in the wood migrated to the steel and as the wood dried it absorbed it and turned dark. It probably only showed up on the bottom boards of the pile, is my guess. If it was fungus seems to me it would be following the grain.

Herb


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

some body drove a nail into the tree that produced the wood...


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## phillip.c (Aug 9, 2012)

This is an interesting mystery. I was hoping there was some clear answer. Thanks for the input!


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