Madrone tips?

[Toney Robertson]

I just received a fairly large piece of Madrone burl. I think it weighed 38#. I have read it moves a lot and cracks easily.

Any tips? Should I go more than 10%?

I am going to cut it into two or three bowl blanks. It would probably make a great HF but I am too chicken to try that yet!! :o

Toney

[Steve Schlumpf]

Toney - I've never turned any, so not any help there, but sure am looking forward to seeing what you turn from it!

[JerHall]

so just build it into your design. If it is green it will usually crack even at 10%. I turn it a lot in a couple ways. Turned thin and let the cell collapse into potato chip shapes be a feature for natural edge bowls or thin square bowls. Or thicker natural edge bowls and accept the cracking, enhance it with carving and fill with coffee grounds or key shavings. I have even put walnut biscuits as keys across the cracks. The featured bowl on my web page is madrone and some of the square bowls on subsequent pages are madrone. See
http://www.jerryhallstudio.com/

Dale Larson is a master of madrone and follows a rigid boiling protocol that seems to beat the cracking and deforming. Here is info on his process:
http://www.seriouslathe.com/wood-turning-a-madrone-bowl-01.php

Another master is Christian Burchard who turns green and thin and lets the wood move and makes its character a beautiful feature of his designs. See his web site:
http://www.burchardstudio.com/baskets.html

I love the wood. it turns like butter. You just have to to put up with it's orneriness.

[curtis rosche]

i think this would might be bad, send it to me for disposale

[Wally Dickerman]

Madrone burl may be my most favorite wood to turn. But only if it has been stabilized by boiling. I've been fortunate to have had a lot of it.

It is probably the most unstable wood in North America. If you are going to rough turn it, it just about has to be boiled or it'll warp like you wouldn't believe. Check out either Dale Larson (newly elected AAW board member) who boils a lot of rough turned salad bowl blanks, or read about boiling wood on Steve Russell's website.

After boiling, if done properly, (after rough turning) madrone burl becomes very stable and is a real pleasure to turn.

Did you know that madrone burl is a root burl and is underground? I have seen them that weighed well over 1000 lb.

Wally

[charlie knighton]

Jer,

thanks for the links, a lot of good info

[Tony Greenway]

Hey Toney, I was searching for ways to cut a burl for turning when I came across this site, I remembered your burl question and thought I would relay it to you. Maybe it will help......http://www.seriouslathe.com/turning-a-madrone-burl-bowl-05.php

[Reed Gray]

Madrone is my favorite wood to turn, mostly because you never can tell what it will do as it drys. One reason (according to Fine Woodworking last year) is that it is some thing like 90% water content compared to most other woods which are around 60%. This means it shrinks a lot more than other woods. I really don't consider turning to 10% thickness to be an option unless you boil which I have never done. I have had bowls that finished moving at 8 inches wide and 13 inches long, with 2 inches in height variation. Your other choice is to thin turn to 1/4 inch or less, and slow dry it. The burl will warp very 3 dimentionally with all sorts of ripples and bumps and dips, which if you sand them out, you will lose most of the character of the bowl, if it is even possible to sand out. You need to cut very cleanly and wet sand, then apply finish later. I do prefer the warped shapes. I will turn standard bowls to about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick, do the LDD (soap) soak to make sanding easier, then wrap the outside of the bowl with a couple of layers of newspaper. I secure it to the rim of the bowl with the plastic film that you use to keep boxes on a pallet. Wrap the plastic tight by stretching it. Cut out the paper on the inside of the bowl. The bowl will still move, but there is almost no cracking. This method really does more than anything else. The DNA soak on thin bowls does nothing at all. To sand, you need to have a lathe that will go down to about 10 to 20 rpm, otherwise you can't keep your hands or a power sander on the wood. Most of the VS lathes with a converter can be adjusted to go this slow, but you need a technician to walk you through it. It cuts wonderfully, and the colors can be spectacular, from almost white to pinks, reds and purples, and blacks. There are root burls, and some even on the trees.
robo hippy

[Toney Robertson]

Thanks to all for the help and the links.

Now I just need to figure out what I am going to do. I really don't know if boiling is an option since I do no think we have a SS pot big enough. Plus I don't know how crazy the wife would be with wood boiling for hours in the house!! :D

Toney

[Reed Gray]

Toney,
Madrone won't stink up the house unless you stick it in the micro wave too long, it will turn the water purple or maroon, if you rough turn it first and use an old camp pot it doesn't take too long to boil (1 hour per inch of thickness) and let it cool off in the water.
robo hippy