Burl bowl

[doug faist]

I have a friend with a nice looking burl who would like to have the burl turned into a bowl.

Anyone here have that kind of expertise and would be interested in taking on the project? If so, in broad terms, what would something like that cost.

Thanks as always for any advice and suggestions.

Doug

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[doug faist]

No takers, Huh?
Doug

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi,Doug you may have better luck finding someone in the turners forum.Nice looking burl is it walnut?

[Damon Stathatos]

Since lathes turn in a (perfect) circular pattern, you'd need to overlay a circle (physically or mentally) onto any portion of your blank to anticipate what your finished piece would be. When you start out with an oval such as this, you'd end up with two opposing 'flower petal' shapes separated by adjacent and opposing voids. As Andrew pointed out, you'd have a better response in the Turner's Forum...those guys rarely wander out into the hinterlands such as this.

[Tony De Masi]

PM a moderator and have this moved to the Turner's Forum. Plenty of excellent turners in CA who should/would be able to help you out.

[Gary Herrmann]

Since lathes turn in a (perfect) circular pattern, you'd need to overlay a circle (physically or mentally) onto any portion of your blank to anticipate what your finished piece would be. When you start out with an oval such as this, you'd end up with two opposing 'flower petal' shapes separated by adjacent and opposing voids. As Andrew pointed out, you'd have a better response in the Turner's Forum...those guys rarely wander out into the hinterlands such as this.

Not true!

Definitely post this on the turning forum, though. The concern I would have is how deep is that dent/void shown in the 3rd pic. Your friend would also need to understand that when turning anything - especially burls, you never quite know what you're gonna get.

I'm behind on Christmas gifts, so will bow out.

[Gary Herrmann]

Is it a burl? I'm wondering if it's a scarred over branch end that was cut off. Hard to tell with these pics.

[Damon Stathatos]

...Not true!...


I'll defer to Gary here but I'll be darned if I could figure out how to do it. The only option I could see to get close to a round bowl would be to set the axis point off center, in which case you'd end up with apex, high side which tapers down uniformly to almost an open ended 'front' of the bowl...a diagonally cut egg.

Now you've got me curious as to how this can be done so I hope you do get this over to the turner's forum.

[Dennis Peacock]

I moved this thread here so that it would get proper exposure and advice for the OP. Please and thank you. :D

[charlie knighton]

i guess someone who uses apoxey could add the apoxey to the inside void or even the outside. turn the resulting mix into a bowl. the turner would have to halve a very large lathe, 19 inches across at one end, or turn it outboard. given that my 16 turning radius is short, i would have to turn it outboard, but i could not use tailstock that large. looks like something that would explode. i have several projects that i have planned that are more important to me, but if someone does it i would like to see what they end up with.

[Steve Busey]

Rather than turning it as a bowl, perhaps just flattening the bottom and cleaning out the inside with a sandblaster might be the ticket. As has been mentioned here, turning it will have you end up with thinner and thicker walls in different areas - cleaning out the center would preserve the original shape.

Charlie mentioned filling it with epoxy and turning a bowl out of that, but you'll lose the wood nature of the inside.

[Thom Sturgill]

Mate it with another piece of wood (of about the same weight) and go at it from the end as a hollow form? then split it back in half and have two bowls, one burl one whatever you glued to it.

[Eric Gourieux]

Doug,
From what I can see in the pictures, I don't think you have a burl here. It looks like a branch scar or something similar. It could be turned, but as mentioned, it would be difficult. I'd consider the other options mentioned previously

[Curt Fuller]

Doug, one of the problems with getting that turned into a bowl is the size. At nearly 20" in the widest measurement it's pushing the limits of most fairly large lathes. There are lots of turners who have a lathe large enough, but lots that don't too. Also to get it to someone would be a substantial cost if you have to mail it, especially in one piece. I see you're in Southern California. There are a lot of wood tuners in that area I'm sure and many that would love the challenge. I would suggest you look over this list of turning clubs in the American Association of Woodturners and see which clubs are within reasonable driving distance and contact someone in one of the clubs. I'm sure you'll find a taker.
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/LocalChapters.asp

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The biggest problem with that scab (it is a grown over broken off branch) is that the top has very little if any wood, there's just some bark on the top end, to get enough wood to turn a bowl from that piece you'd have to cut a large part of the wood away/off on one side of the piece, so that you get a more circular form and more wood also.

I have cut a number off those grow-over pieces and seldom was able to make anything out of it, not to say it isn't worth it, but you'd be lucky to get a 12" bowl out of it in my estimation.

I add some pictures here to show some scabs all cleaned up and they do show some of the problems with them, some have the broken branch-wood still showing and it is rotten inside the scab, the wood grown over the broken branch is often very thin, not enough wood to turn it into a bowl.

From those pieces shown here's one piece that I turned into a bowl, but even there I had to add something to have it stand, (brass legs here), I hope this shows the problems inherent with scabs that are always hollow/not solid.

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[Thomas Canfield]

I just recently started to turn a Cherry Laurel smaller version (about 6"x4"x3"H) like this. The burl/scab was cut at an angle like this with even more on one side. I mounted the block at an angle to provide a large section that almost looks like a ceramic Chinese soup spoon and turned the outside between centers and a tenon on the bottom. The tenon ended up being weak, and broke twice. It now has a bigger/stronger tenon and was soaked with CA, but other projects. Turning at an angle would be my suggestion, but I would also plan on adding a base section since I doubt there is enough solid wood for a base and need for a wider base if the top is left eccentric and top heavy. I would guess that the section tipped would then be down to less than 18" and my Powermatic 3520 could handle it. A challenge is a good thing, but need to do safely. It definitely would be easier than some trunk/branch sections that I have mounted and turned.

[Mike Cruz]

I, too, agree that this is not a burl. It is likely a scarred over old branch. Still, it could yield a nice turning. I don't think it would be all that "hard". Rather, you just don't know what you'll get... It could be saddle shaped, if turned down far enough, you might get it solid all the way around. Just a crap shoot until it is turned... It might be a total waste, you really don't know 'til you work it.

[David E Keller]

Looks like it might be better suited for a hand hewn bowl if your friend wants to maintain the size and the oval shape. I could turn it, but I think it would be preferable to find someone who could carve this out rather than turn it.