? Burl ? Best way to process

[sam upton]

I aquired this ugly duckling today & will be taking tomorrow to the saw mill to get it processed. My first thought is to have two 2 inch slabs from the center, & the balance would be turning blanks of various sizes. It measures 6 feet long, 13 in. at the small end, 24 in. at the large end & 39. in the middle.
I would like some other opinions from you all.
Thanks, Sam
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[John Hart]

Wow. I'm not sure I'd let anyone "process" that without me standing there saying, "cut here....ok, now come over a bit and cut here.....No no...not there....Here!." It looks like endless possibilities with many natural edge applications, hollow forms....you name it. I'd go for 50 totally different blanks.

[David E Keller]

I don't know what it is, Sam, but I'm anxious to see what's inside of it. I assume the two inch slab would be for a table or mantle? Dismantling the rest of it would be determined by what else you want to turn. I hope you'll post some photos of the inside of that thing.

[Cory Norgart]

Ya, I think Ill stay out of this one:) Ill bet it will be something beautiful in there tho Sam, cant wait to see.

[sam upton]

It' s good old Texas Mesquite, & yes I just may have sweet deams tonight...............And I will be there discussing every cut.

[Jeff Nicol]

Sam, By the looks of it, there should be a lot of good usable wood and like already said if you plan to make a table or some sort of wall hanging, carving etc. having the slabs is a good thing. It looks pretty dry and has been sitting around a while by the checking on the end. The thing is that it looks to be not real straight and depending on the sawyer and the mill (Hopefully a band mill) how it will get positioned on the mill. I have been sawing lumber for 26 years with a Woodmizer and getting it cut in half and taking a slab out of the middle is sometimes a good thing, you will know more after the first cut what is inside and how to proceed. Like John said I would cut a lot of different types of blanks out of it after the slabbing to get the most out of the wood. No matter what Mesquite is non-existent here in WI so I have never sawn any, but I do have a couple of hunks I need to turn.

Have fun and keep and eye on the sawyer to get it done the way you want it,

Jeff