How hard is Burl to turn?

[Ed Morgano]

Before I make the plunge into buying burls, I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into. Is it any harder to turn than a regular piece of the same species?

[John Hart]

It's harder wood....but in many respects it is more "machineable". For me, the most difficult thing is the fear that I'm going to ruin it!!!

[Scott Hackler]

From my experience they are great to turn AND finish. Some are a bit harder than others. The grain goes every which-a-way so its more like turning side grain than end grain. There can be dirt and stuff in inclusions so be prepared and you might have to resharpen once in a while. The "shavings" are generally NOT shavings but powdery dust.

Overall, in a perfect world, I would turn burls only. Not only for the great looking wood but for the qualities meantioned above.

My experiences are with big leaf maple burl, mulberry burl, red box burl and AMBOYNA. Others will have to chime in if other varieties turn different.

[Wally Dickerman]

Depends on what kind of burl you're turning. I've turned literally tons of big leaf maple burl. It tends to be softer than the rest of the tree, and barring too many bark inclusions, is a very nice wood to turn. I've turned quite a bit of Cal. buckeye burl and it's very soft but can be full of rocks, sand etc. (it's an underground root burl)

On the other hand, if you're attempting to turn Aussie red mallee burl you'll find it to be very hard and often difficult to turn. Possibly the worst burl I've encountered was some mesquite burl that was so full of Arizona minerals that it dulled tools as fast as I could sharpen them. Both the red mallee and the mesquite burl turn out to be beautiful once turned and finished, making it worthwhile, at least to me.

[David E Keller]

I don't think they're too much trouble with the exception of most of the Aussie stuff I've turned... They're quite hard and dusty, but I think they're worth the effort. The green burls that I've turned were a pleasure(cherry, maple, box elder, ash, redbud, elm, oak, and others). I suppose they are a bit more dense than there respective timbers but not dramatically so. As Scott mentioned, there's not really a grain pattern that you can follow for 'downhill' cuts, but I find that to be an asset rather than a drawback. Sharpen often and enjoy!

[Curt Fuller]

It depends on the type of burl. Some of the Australian burls can be as hard as concrete, Box Elder burl is pretty soft. But the nice thing about burl is that the grains is going in so many different directions that you don't have many of the problems associated with straight grained wood and cutting across the endgrain. I'd have to say that I've never met a burl I didn't like.

[Don Alexander]

it sucks ............... so send all your burls to me and save your tools :eek::D:eek::D

uhhh ok i'm just trying to get some free burl .... you caught me :D:D:D:D

[Cory Norgart]

If you are turning a North American Hardwood Burl, I would turn it green, and like Keller said, sharpen often. Whe have a guy in our club that turns some pretty nasty stuff (turns chicken poop into chicken soup) he turns for five minutes, sharpens for five minutes. Also mentioned above was bark inclusions and dirt and such, that mainly comes with root based burls. Find a burl that has grown higher on the trunk and you wont have to worry about that, the dirt anyways. But, it seems the closer to the ground, the more configuration.