re: Spalted wood, what are your thoughts.

The MB wood I sent you came from India, wrapped around a slab of granite or other stone. Stone Holding Co in Minnesota imports a lot of rock from there, and much of it comes wrapped in that wood. They normally burn it to fuel the heater for their warehouse. So if I want more and am in MN, I just need to swing by with my pickup and start loading it up.

They have the standard label for pallets that MikeB showed above. And Methyl Bromide is nasty stuff at point of use (which is why it’s been banned here) but it breaks down relatively quickly, so its import is still allowed. When processing pallet wood treated with MB, the big thing, as I understand it, is that exposing new surfaces is what might put some MB in the air, so do your ripping and planing with good ventilation. And expose those new surfaces to sunlight, as sunlight breaks down MB.

But for pallet wood, that “Indian cherry” wood is awfully darned pretty stuff.

I probably won’t make a special trip to pick up more, but if we’re back in MN for something else, I might pick up more of it. Then again, the same friend has a brother with a pole barn full of oak, pine and walnut slabs that he’s harvested from his own land, and part of his garage full of “offcuts” from a life of woodworking (he has over a dozen stacks, 4 feet square, by 8 feet high of white oak 4x4s, most just under 2 feet long, for example), so I would probably help clear some of that out first.