buckeye burl

[jim carter]

has anyone here turned buckeye burl? i have a friend who moved into a new place that has 17 acres and alot of buckeye and wants 47 huge bushes removed. i have seen buckeye burl in clocks and tables and other things but have never turned any. i would have to dig up every burl. is it worth it?

[John Fricke]

I can't speak to the quality of the burls........havn't seen a bad burl yet tho...:cool:. If they are numerous and of decent size I would think it would warrant renting a skid loader or small loader tractor to pull them and get them loaded.......save a lot of hand labor. If you are organized and have someone to hook the chain you can do a lot of work in 1/2 a day.

[jim carter]

these bushes have been cut off about 1' above ground last year but each bushes main trunks are 3-4 trunks about 8" dia. each so the burl is probably 3' diameter.

[John Fricke]

I'd certainly dig one and try it. If there is more than you can use yourself.......have you seen what burl wood blanks sell for on the bay? Wouldn't take long to pay for a few hours of rental equipment

[jim carter]

i am going to dig 1 up tomorrow. will take pictures.

[Mark Norman]

We have buckeye here and When I cut one down several years ago (Big one tree size) a neighbor asked me if he could have the stumps. I was happy to have em go away for free. Now I know better, He scored big time. However, if they were cut down a year ago they may not be worth as much if dried and split.

[curtis rosche]

take a google search. buckeye burl is about 20$ a pound!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looking forward to the photos of the one you are going to dig up! Should be able to tell a lot from that!

[Wally Dickerman]

Buckeye burl can be quite spectacular. It's very soft, so a bit dificult to turn but well worth the effort. It'll be full of rocks and dirt so need power washing.

Wally

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've turned a couple pens from buckeye burl. Nice stuff....Beautiful stuff...

[Brian Brown]

Buckeye burl is rotten nasty stuff. :eek: Do the world a favor, and dig it up. Be very careful when digging so as to not to polute the surrounding soil with any wood debris that may fall off the stumps. ;) Once you have carefully bagged them for disposal, give me your address, and I will come dispose of those awful nasty burls. :D

Actually, a lot of buckeye burl is garbage because of rocks, dirt, voids and bark. However the rest is beautiful if you have the equipment to handle it. It has been mentioned how soft the wood is. Many commercially available pen blanks are stabilized with some sort of resin that makes the wood much harder. Stabilized BEB wood turns nicely.

[Norm Zax]

You may be able to sell a few here on the creek. Im up for a couple.

[jim carter]

We have buckeye here and When I cut one down several years ago (Big one tree size) a neighbor asked me if he could have the stumps. I was happy to have em go away for free. Now I know better, He scored big time. However, if they were cut down a year ago they may not be worth as much if dried and split.

they are still alive. many suckers grew out of the stumps.