Burl?

[Steve Hudson]

My boss brought me this from VA mountains. It was at the bottom of a tree trunk...is it a burl? I would like to cut it but not sure what to use other than a chainsaw and which direction should I cut? I am not skilled enough to turn bowls yet, so do I need to seal it? I would like to cut into turning blanks and then use the smalls to make pens. Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
steve

[Steve Hudson]

Forgot to mention that it is about 27" x 24" x 13" thick.

[charlie knighton]

1st picture not sure what type wood i am looking at, 2nd picture is the burl side


I would like to cut into turning blanks and then use the stalls to make pens. Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated

i would hold it for now, you may develop in the future a fondness for bowls, and burls are pretty rare for me. any pen blanks you made you would probably want to stablize. just my opinion, the grain in burls run in every direction so it will just lose moisture, it most likely will not crack, keep it out of the sun, in the basement, garage, etc.

[Steve Hudson]

I would like to cut a piece and give it to someone but I don't know if I should cut across it or lengthwise.
Thanks
steve

[Michelle Rich]

cross or length matters not as the stuff runs all directions in the burl

[John Keeton]

Most folks would want to emphasis the top surface shown in the second pic, so I would try to get 4 sections from it with each having a natural top. It does appear to have a lot of deterioration, though. The under surface appears rotten.

[Dan Hintz]

Steve,

This type of piece is also a pen caster's dream... plenty of voids to fill with dyed acrylics, which makes for nice looking blanks. Depending upon how you cut it up, you may want to consider 1" thick slabs starting from the tree side (first pic), after casting, of course.

[Jerry Marcantel]

Steve, that's a gorgeous burl. At 13" thick should net you near 8" of solid wood for a bowl and platter. It's exactly the type of wood I look for when I'm in the desert. Rotten and worthless to anyone but a woodturner... The desert is freindly to wood in that it's drier than most of the country and wood will last for over a hundred years or more before it completely disintegrates.....
Whatever your lathe swing is, my thoughts would be measure each side from the middle to match your swing, and cut out a square. Stand it on edge, cut the thickness you want for a bowl and platter, allowing for enough solid wood to get either piece, then trim it to a round blank. Blank out your smaller pieces from the cutoffs. You should net quite a bit of small pieces from that burl.
This suggestion might go against the grain of other ways of prepping wood, but that's how I would do it...... ......... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Wally Dickerman]

Over the years I've cut up a lot of burls, mostly BLM. Though the grain does seem to run in different directions there is a direction to the grain. It's the same as the grain of the tree. This is important to know when cutting pen blanks for instance.