Burl find

[Matt Newton]

I am always on the lookout for burls in my area. (It makes my wife nuts, she keeps telling me to watch the road not the woods). I found this giant red oak burl, but am at a loss as to how to harvest it. Can you just slice it off the tree or will that kill it? Most burls I have found encompass the whole tree so this is a new one for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[John Keeton]

Matt, first of all - hope you are able to end up with those burls!!! They are sweet! But, I suspect harvesting those would eventually kill the tree as it would open up large wounds that would invite insects and moisture. I bet the root ball of that thing is burly, as well - do you have a backhoe?!?!?!:D

[Cory Norgart]

Hey Matt, first of all, nice find. As far as killing the tree, I wouldnt think so. By cutting the burl off, you are actually releiving stress from the tree. If you leave a half inch or so of the burl outside the trunk wood it will be fine. I have sliced many a burl, and havent had any trees die. Example, five years ago, a lady in town here called me to come and cut some burls off of a distressed tree that was dying and they wanted to remove the tree, so I did so, as they had put off downing the tree for a few years, it is still standing, and healthier than it was five years ago. Another example, when I am harvesting burls, And I come across alot of downed trees, 6 out of 10 trees have burls on them, already dead, already on the ground, go figure. A large burl will eventually kill the tree. Now for the Oak burls, we have alot of oak around here, the picture with the burl at the root level, will probably be rotten in the middle, that seems to be my experience with them anyways, but you will never know until you cut into it:) Hope this helps.

[David DeCristoforo]

The first thing you are going to need is a good muffler for your chainsaw. Also night vision goggles....

[Doug Palmer]

Thanks for the humor! I love it. :)

[Scott Hackler]

muffled chainsaw.....check
night vision goggles..check
ninja costume..........check

Now where do you want to meet up prior to the "operation"? :)

[Scott Hackler]

On a semi-serious note, I dont think that harvesting a burl off the side of a tree would kill the tree IF you sealed the exposed wood. I can remember my Dad cutting large limbs off of trees that he definitely didn't want to kill and as soon as the large limbs were cut he would slather on a thick coat of latex paint. I would suspect Anchorseal wasn't available to him. Anyway, the trees would eventually heal over and they didn't die. Keeping the moisture in and the bugs out seemed to be the key.

I would bet that if you left an inch of the burl, intact, that the deformation would likely continue and the burl would eventually grow back as well (but thats just a guess).

[John W Dixon]

I would bet that if you left an inch of the burl, intact, that the deformation would likely continue and the burl would eventually grow back as well (but thats just a guess).

Hmmmm, burl regeneration. Sounds like a business opportunity. Motto could be like the Dorito's commercial; Turn all you want, we'll make more.

[Bob Bergstrom]

That made me laugh. When I lived in Northeast Iowa they would steal walnut trees in the middle of the night that way. Chainsaws with mufflers and cranes on the back of the truck. Twenty minutes and they had a $1,000 veneer log.