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Splintered wood is colored by fungi that live within the structure. Staining gives the wood a unique look and increases its value. Although the fungus also damages wood, the carpenter can take steps to minimize its impact on the structure. Chipped wood is commonly used for artistic wooden pieces, such as decorative bowls or statues. While most varieties of wood chips are safe for human interaction, their weakened state and potential health risk generally make them unsuitable for some purposes.
In general, usable chipped wood is only found in hardwoods such as maple, oak, and playa. Softwoods like pine have a common fungus called brown rot. This fungus quickly destroys wood, rendering it unusable for carpentry.
Shedding is generally divided into three areas: pigmentation, white rot, and zone lines. Any wood chip may have only one or all three. The variety of fungi that grew on the tree, combined with the conditions that caused the fungus to grow, influences the final appearance.
Pigmentation changes are color changes that permeate the sapwood of a tree. The sapwood is the most porous external zone of the tree between the bark and the heartwood. The fungi that cause this change are usually very dark in color, usually a deep blue. While pigmentation changes in a tree don’t speed up the decay of the wood, they do make it more porous, making it more susceptible to damage.
White rot is the hardwood form of brown rot. This creates areas within the wood that appear whitewashed; long, thin, ovoid regions with little or no wood color. This effect occurs when the wood fungus eats away at the part of the wood cell that contains the distinctive brown colorations. The fungi that form white rot eventually destroy the wood, so steps need to be taken to kill the fungus and seal the area. Brown softwood rot acts just like white rot, only faster and without the unique pattern.
Zone lines are dark lines that run through the wood. These lines are usually oval in shape, as they mark the edge of the impact of a specific fungus on the wood. As a fungus spreads, if it recognizes the presence of other fungi in the wood, it will put up a barrier to protect the area. This creates a dark line of waterproof material within the wood. While the zone line itself is harmless to wood, the fungi that form it may not.