School me on processing burls

[Dan Masshardt]

Say I come across a burl that I want to process for pen blanks.

Do burls crack more or less easily than regular grain? Do they dry more quickly or slowly?

Should I process them all the way down to dry or dry whole or in slabs?

Thanks very much for any advice. I appreciate it.

[Scott Hackler]

I am assuming that the burl is green and wet. I usually cut pen blanks up to 1" square by 6-7" long, soak in denatured alcohol for 24 hours and then stagger stack them on a shelf in my shop so they have a little space between each other. So far this process has worked fantastic. The Dna might not be nessasary, but I am used to doing the alcohol soak for green rough outs...so that what I do. After about 3 weeks, they are faily dry, after 5-6 weeks they are bone dry.

In slab form you aren't getting equal drying on the sides and might open up problems.

[Dan Masshardt]

Thanks very much Scott.

Anyone else comment on use of the DNA ?

[Russell Eaton]

I use it just like Scott. It definitely speeds the drying process. Make sure to leave space between the pieces.

[kevin nee]

I cut them large like Scott then I put them in the microwave 1 minute a day on full power. I have had very good success with this system. I make all Burl cutoffs into Mandrel project blanks. Good luck however you go about it.

[Mike Cruz]

I use the method Scott uses...

[Dan Masshardt]

Thanks very much guys.

Any advice for what to put the DNA and blanks in?

Need to be metal or plastic okay?

As a side question, would you guys use the same process / time frame for regular wood pen blanks or is this unique to burl wood?

[Mike Cruz]

Dan, I use a plastic dog food storage container (largest one I could find on the net). No leaks, and is air tight.

Same process for all blanks for me.

[Scott Hackler]

As long as you can seal it and it's large enough to hold everything, it doesn't matter plastic or metal. I use a very large, 8 gallon shop vac base so I can soak very large rough outs... So pen rough outs are no biggie!

[Mike Cruz]

Great idea, Scott with the shop vac as your dunk tank. How do you keep it "sealed" so the DNA doesn't evaporate?