large Maple burl gloat

[Jason Clark2]

I found a link to an eBay auction on my local Craigslist this week. I kept my eye on it most of this week and long story short ended up the high bidder and picked it up this afternoon. It was listed as 36" diameter, 40" tall, and 1000 pounds. I had my doubts about the size and weight listed. Boy was I wrong!

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I'm still not convinced it's 1000 pounds but it's at least 36" X 40" as you can see below.

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I'm not quite sure what to do with it now. It's too big for my chainsaw so I'm considering taking it to one of the local sawmills to have it slabbed. Anyone here ever done that and have any suggestions?

Jason

[Scott Hackler]

Thats way too big. I would say that half of it should come to Kansas! What a score! What was the winning bid, if you don't mind sharing?

[alex carey]

that looks about 1000 to me.

[Norm Zax]

The burl is bigger than the girl (nice tounge twister, isnt it). Drill a hole about half way through and drop in a finger of dynamite. Run and cover ears.
Just kidding of course. Looks like you will really need to have it sliced professionaly. Plan for bowls and plates.
Congrats on the win!

[Rick Markham]

Jason, I am glad another Creeker grabbed it, I watched it too, and was tempted to try and get it. Shipping would have been a killer to Florida though! He got it for a total STEAL too!!! Seriously that is honestly the BIGGEST wood gloat ever!!!! Maybe he will share the winning bid, but if he doesn't trust me on saying it was a "Once in a lifetime grab"

[John Keeton]

Congrats!!! Whatever you decide to do with it, make sure and cut it so as to preserve the natural edge with some pretty good size chunks! That is where much of the figure will be - although this one looks like all of it will be good.

[Doug W Swanson]

Jason,

How do you feel about stealing that? I looked up the auction and you got that for a song!

Great gloat and get turning!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Jason. Wow there will a lot of turning in that one.

[Jason Clark2]

Thanks everyone. He was disappointed it went for so little but he knew that not everyone (including me) can handle something that large. He said he'd already got his investment back and that he was happy it was going to someone that was going to put it to good use.

I didn't really want to disclose how much I paid but I will because it's not that hard to find the auction. The auction ended at $103 and change. I've got a bit more than that invested after paying tax, giving him and his son a little extra for helping get it loaded, renting the trailer and purchasing a come along to help move it around but I'm still well under $200 total so far. I suspect that getting it milled will probably run another $2-300.

Jason

[Randy Gazda]

What great piece of wood and a great gloat. If you have it slabbed, you could probably sell one or two slabs and get all you money back. Keep us posted on slabbing (photos) and more importantly what you make with the wood.

[Baxter Smith]

Looks like it will be a great piece of wood. Good luck with it!

[Baxter Smith]

Looks like a great piece of wood! Good luck with it!

I must be getting old early alzheimers!:o:o

[Curt Fuller]

Jason, I would use the money that a mill will charge to cut that (most aren't really set up to cut something like that so they charge quite a bit for their time) and put it towards a nice Stihl saw with a 20" bar. Then you could cut it from both sides and you'll be able to cut the burl any way you want from there. And you'll have the saw for the next time you get a chunk like that. Nice Gloat!

[David E Keller]

WOW! That's a fantastic deal! I think JK has passed the first part of his stress test. For part two, we'll have you put up another picture that shows an enormous claro walnut burl that you got for $100 dollars. If he doesn't completely lose consciousness, he'll have passed the entire test.

[Cathy Schaewe]

WOW! That's a fantastic deal! I think JK has passed the first part of his stress test. For part two, we'll have you put up another picture that shows an enormous claro walnut burl that you got for $100 dollars. If he doesn't completely lose consciousness, he'll have passed the entire test.


Ha! :D

[David DeCristoforo]

Yup... that's a bigun! I'm with Curt. Use the dough to buy a bigger chainsaw. By the time you reduce that mongo burl to turning blanks, you will have more than offset the cost and you will still have the saw.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jason - Congrats on your burl! Should be some amazing wood in that one! Another vote for getting a bigger chainsaw - but, also, in our neck of the woods we have a lot of folks that have portable sawmills that they take out on site and slab wood there. You may be able to find someone that would cut the wood up fairly cheap - at least compared to a mill.

[Jason Clark2]

Thanks again everyone. I already have a Stihl MS290 with a 20" bar. Any significant upgrade from that would be quite a bit more than what I'm estimating it will cost me to have it milled.

Some of you may be happy to know that karma caught up with me rather quickly, my back, shoulders, hips, and legs are killing me today.

Jason

[Rich Aldrich]

With that saw, you should be able to cut it. Of course, it depends on your comfort and skill level because you end up with the tip of the saw in the wood. The key is to not cut with the top quarter of the tip so the saw doesnt kick back. You would have to plan your cuts and possibly do chunks at a time. Take your time and keep your chain sharp.

I agree with Steve that someone with a portable mill could really take care of this burl for you in short order. It would also be much safer than cutting it with the chainsaw.

[john taliaferro]

With a chain saw or chain saw mill you loose 3/8 '' to 7/16 , but it can come to you . with a band saw , loss is maybe 1/8 '' so you would get two extra boards,but have moving exp. there are a lot of small mills that will mill for wood .