buckeye burl and redwood lace burl

[Karl Card]

buckeye burl and redwood lace burl, do these two woods normally need stablized?

I have had some redwood lace burl before that was very soft and actually turned it that way and it did okay, but just seemed a little to soft.

I have not had enough of these to know if they are naturally soft woods and if so would pentacryl do the trick to stiffen them up a bit?

[David E Keller]

If you're making pens, you can get away with a little thin CA before reaching your final thickness with either wood. In my experience, buckeye is generally softer than redwood.

I've turned redwood forms without stabilization but I've yet to get my hands on a sizable piece of buckeye burl.

I've never used pentacryl, so I can't comment on that.

[Frank Van Atta]

I've turned bowls and vases in both, and never needed any stabilization.

[Wally Dickerman]

I've turned a fair amount of both buckeye burl and redwood burl. I've never used anything to stabilize either one. As has been said, if you plan to turn pens with buckeye b. it's a good idea to stabilize it with thin CA as you're turning it to size.

Both, especially buckeye burl, are very soft and should be turned with care.

Wally

[Karl Card]

Thank you very much.

[Don Alexander]

i've used pentacryl on redwood burl never had any buckeye to try it on

the color of the redwood lightened up slightly but turned nicely after the treatment

a bit easier to get a nice finished surface on it as opposed to the untreated piece i used before that

i think it worked well i guess time will tell if the pentacryl makes a difference in the durability

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have turned redwood and haven't stablized it. It is soft and must be turned carefully. Buckeye I have only turned pens with it and just use CA to stablize it as I turn it.

[Karl Card]

Well I have a quart of pentecryl here that has been sitting on the shelf saying "use me" so I am going to go ahead and soak a couple of buckeye and redwood lace burl blanks and see how it goes.

Let you all know the outcome.