Cherry burl

[David E Keller]

Bill Blasic and I traded a little wood recently, and a cherry burl was among the stash of stuff he sent me. It was a gnarly looking thing, and I just couldn't wait any longer to tuck into it. This morning, I stuck it between centers and started tearing the bark off of it. There were a lot of cracks under the bark but nothing that seemed to affect the structural integrity of the piece(other than the large, barky voids which I find so appealing:D).

This is how it finished up. It's about 8 or 9 inches tall and a little over 4 across I'd guess(Hate to measure things). I chose to highlight the cracks by means of my pyro pen. Comment, criticism, and suggestions appreciated. Thanks for the wood, Bill!
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[John Hart]

Dang man...you do beautiful work. That 40% air thing ain't too shabby neither!! Great looking piece of wood and a very nice job turning it.

Oh...speaking of trades....I just finished an HF out of that Elm burl you sent me.....HOLY SMOKES!! You are gonna be some kinda PO'd that you sent me that. ;)

[Steve bellinger]

Doc ounce again a out standing piece. Looks like you and John are dueling to see who can get the most done on this weekend.:cool::cool:

[David E Keller]

Dang man...you do beautiful work. That 40% air thing ain't too shabby neither!! Great looking piece of wood and a very nice job turning it.

Oh...speaking of trades....I just finished an HF out of that Elm burl you sent me.....HOLY SMOKES!! You are gonna be some kinda PO'd that you sent me that. ;)

Thanks, John. I knew that was going to be a sweet piece... That's why I sent it.:)


Doc ounce again a out standing piece. Looks like you and John are dueling to see who can get the most done on this weekend.:cool::cool:

John wins! His pieces are all about three feet tall, so by volume alone, he's the winner.:cool:

[Jim Burr]

I really wished you worked more!!!!:D:D Did you use a steady of this or go it alone? How thick did you feel like going with the fissures? Really beautiful burl and a productive weekend for you! Those steady hands sure pay off!;)

[David DeCristoforo]

Smackdown!!! He does it again... out of the park.

[John Keeton]

Another winner, David! I really like the collar treatment on this one - and, of course, the wood is awesome. Nice trick with highlighting the cracks - really adds to the piece.

[Roger Chandler]

That is a very fine turning, David........did you have to wrap it when hollowing? It looks as if fragility and pucker factor would have begged for it to be wrapped while hollowing..............again, very nice!

[Rich Aldrich]

David - Really nice job. I love cherry burls, but this one had to again be a little tedious.

[Lupe Duncan]

Pretty Awesome David.

That came out pretty sharp.

[Bob Bergstrom]

Looks about a sturdy as "Humpty Dumpty Egg". Beautiful work. It is a pleasure to see the pieces you turn. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming.

[Baxter Smith]

Very nice job David. Maybe it is my monitor, but your cherry burl seems much browner than what grows around here.

[Michael James]

Totally over the top David! I love your use of these hole-y woods, and when I noticed the nicely cut collar I had to do a double take - totally changed my initial perception of the piece. You're getting very creative and artistic in some of these suble nuances.
mj

[Kathy Marshall]

Great looking piece David! Very cool looking piece of wood and I really like how you highlighted the cracks. Excellent job!

[Michelle Rich]

another "air david" I find the cracks & color variations visually interesting

[Bill Blasic]

David,
Now that is what you call making a silk purse from a cow's ear. Great work!
Bill

[Steve Schlumpf]

No doubt about it - you definitely have this hollowing thing figured out! Beautiful work! Bet it went a lot faster than the normal HF because you didn't have to stop near as often to get the shavings out of the inside! Love all the voids and the way you darkened the edges!

[Dan Forman]

Congrats on bringing this to completion, though I must be one of the very few on this forum who has not yet developed a taste for very gnarly pieces such as this.

Dan

[Roland Martin]

Gee Whiz, that is some gnarly cherry indeed! Quite a scary looking piece, I can't wait to get set up with a hollowing rig so I can get a chance to scare myself silly:). Fine looking form and burl. Like Baxter said, the color of the cherry seems to be unusually brown, but certainly is gorgeous.

[David E Keller]

Thanks folks!


... Did you use a steady of this or go it alone? How thick did you feel like going with the fissures?...

No steady... Too lazy to set it up, and I'm not sure how the piece would fare with the wheel running over the voids. It's about 3/16 I'd guess... That's plenty thin for my tastes.


...did you have to wrap it when hollowing?...

No wraps either, Roger. I thought about it, but the same laziness that kept me from using the steady prevented me from walking over to the shelf to pick up the tape. Honestly, these pieces with voids are much easier to hollow because you can see the cutter while working in some areas... I find that more helpful than tape or wrapping. For the folks who haven't tried a holy(or is it holey?) pieces, I think they're easier than solid forms in a lot of ways.


Very nice job David. Maybe it is my monitor, but your cherry burl seems much browner than what grows around here.

Don't know lot about cherry coloring, but I agree that this piece seemed a little darker from the start. There's no mistaking that sweet cherry smell when cutting, so I don't have any doubts that it's cherry. Maybe the Pennsylvania cherry runs a little darker? Maybe Bill can weigh in about any peculiarities associated with this particular chunk.

[Curt Fuller]

Keller, you really need to quit wasting your time on all these cracked up, half missing, reject pieces of wood.

Man, that's another beauty!

[Cathy Schaewe]

I'm only about 10 miles from PA, and our cherry here is quite red. Maybe because it's a burl? Anyway, I love the piece, and especially the collar treatment. Did you sand the inside?

[Josh Bowman]

David, very pleasing to my eye. You did good!

[Cory Norgart]

Sweet David. I really like the natural flaws, very nice, once again I am amazed by your work.

[David E Keller]

Thanks everybody!


I'm only about 10 miles from PA, and our cherry here is quite red. Maybe because it's a burl? Anyway, I love the piece, and especially the collar treatment. Did you sand the inside?

Thanks, Cathy. This wood did have the typical pinkish hue I associate with fresh cherry, but that faded quite quickly. That area near the top in the last two photos was a funky color to begin with. As for the inside, I did scratch around in there with some 120 grit, but I gave up before it was really smooth... I hate sanding especially on the inside of a form.