Another wood dump score (Cutting advice?)

[David DeCristoforo]

Found this little gem at the local wood dump yesterday. Again, no idea as to species but there is no question that it's a burl! This is right at 16" in both directions if you don't count the limb stumps sticking out.


I have chopped up lots of wood and gotten some good turning material out of it. But this one has got me wondering. I know there's lots of folks around here that have cut these things up so I'm wondering… how would you cut this? I know it should be determined based on what one would make from it. But that's part of the question...

233795233794233796

[Tim Rinehart]

Let me be the first to say..."since you're not sure, just send to me!".

Ok...if I were wanting to make some sort of hollow form, I'd make pic 3 be showing my top, to emphasize the burl eyes near top of form, and reverse if a bowl of some sort.

Alternatively, assuming you want to maximize it, orient such that pic 2 represents a front on shot of finished piece, but upside down and resulting a big void where the burl doesn't wrap around.

If you want to get two nice forms out of it, I'd split right down the axis of the trunk, and thru the center of the voided area to get two nice burl chunks.

Just a few thoughts...and again, kinda depends on whatcha wanna do with it.

Nice score, by the way. Wish our local dump was as willing to let us rummage.

[Wally Dickerman]

Lots of secrets inside a burl, expecially a small one like that. Could be nothing but beautifull swirls of figure or could be lots of bark inclusions and even rot. You'll never know until you cut into it. It's hard to tell how to cut a burl and I've cut a lot of them in all sizes. I've studied a burl for days before making the first cut.

I suggest that you cut down the middle of the tree portion of the burl to sort of see what you have. Looks like most of the burl is on one side of the tree.

Good luck

[John Keeton]

David, it appears the "depth" or thickness of the burl is about 5-6" (from what would be the trunk to the outside surface. Some of that is bark. You will also lose some thickness just from shaping the piece to get started on a form. I don't think you will find much figure in the trunk. If you end up with 4" of thickness, I think you would be lucky. Given that, I would try to get three "clumps" out of the burl by cutting in toward the center of the trunk. Since the circumference of the burl portion would be about 20-22" - taking out for the void - you should end up with three pieces about 6+" round x 4" thick - perfect size for a HF.

A sawzall with a long demolition blade would work well for this.

[David DeCristoforo]

Humm... those are all the options I had thought of! Guess there's only so many ways to go!!! Here's the dilemma so far:

233807

I might lose sleep over this...

[Kevin Bourque]

Hit the burl all over with a mallet. Does it sound hollow anywhere? Is there any loose stuff flying off? If there are any cracks;can you see how deep they run?

PS You can always remove the bark down to bare wood. This will give you a fairly decent idea if whats inside is solid or nasty.

[Prashun Patel]

I vote option one. I am unsure which side to place up though

[Mike Cruz]

DD, I say first do option 3, then kinda incorporate option 1 into a bowl with the bottom of the bowl being the part of the burl you are looking at (in that orientation) in opt 1. You can make pen/bottle stopper blanks out of the rest of the burl left overs. Of course, this would kinda beg to be cored so you don't lose all that burl when turning it.

If you aren't planning on a bowl, that changes things up... Maybe doing option 2 and making two amphoras?

BTW, GREAT SAVE!!!!! Wouldn't that have been a shame to have burned?

[Jamie Donaldson]

Can't tell much about species from the burl bark, but it looks a bit like pine. The end grain of the trunk would give better clues to the actual ID than burl bark. I think I would slice the burl and some of the trunk into thirds lengthwise,and that should maximize the available material for bowls or shallow hollow forms. There is often a lot of waste in a raw cut burl, but you don't know what opportunities are available until you open it up!

[Curt Fuller]

I turned a similarly shaped burl a couple years ago. I chose to use the entire piece without cutting it up. So that led me to use the solid wood trunk that passed through it as the bottom because it was most solid and made the best tenon. Mine was scrub (gambel)oak and the wood inside the burl was some of the most unusual and pretty burl wood I've seen. I also left quite a bit of bark near the top of the piece I made.

233896233897233895

[David DeCristoforo]

I remember that piece, Curt. I would feel blessed if my burl looked half that nice inside!

Jamie: I will cut the ends off tomorrow. Not pine, that's for sure...

[Jim Underwood]

Interesting discussion.

My problem is that I didn't ask the question you asked. So the nice piece of Cherry Burl has sat on the shop floor for several years, and I think the bark beetles have chewed it up....

And the Oak burl still sits on my front step, and it's already cracked up.

Onna dese days Ima gonna get rountuit.