Black Cherry Burl Help

[Toby Bouder]

I am having trouble deciding what to do with this burl. Maybe take a slice or two off of the trunk side for platters then shape and core the remainder for bowls. Or should I slice it all for platters and maybe a small shallow bowl? I am inexperienced with hollow forms so I don't want to go that route. Is there something that I'm not considering? It is 16"h x 16"w x13"d. It was cut 3 months ago but is basically fresh green there are no cracks and it is very heavy and seems solid. Suggestions please.

[Mike Cruz]

Honestly, if you don't want to make a HF out of it (and at that size, I don't know that it would be the best use of the wood), I wouldcut it in half, and make two bowls (maybe in half like pic 2). That way you will get two turnings out of it. Now, I'm not sure if you sell your stuff, but if you do, you could buy a coring system, core it, and likely get your money back from the coreing tools by selling the extra bowls (probably an extra 2 from each side) that you get from it. This looks like it could yield 6 bowls...

You're about 2 1/2 hours from me. Otherwise, I'd tell you to bring it here and drop it off...I mean bring it here and we can core it. :rolleyes: :D