Turning a burl

[Jim Daughtridge]

GoodMorning,

Being relatively new to burl turning, I can have the luxury of asking the simple/dumb questions.

Is there a preferred way to mount a burl for bowl turning? Looking at the burls, should I imagine the bowl up on its edge with the bottom of the bowl being the outer 'bark' side or should it be the reverse of that with the bottom closest to the pith? I can imagine that it is turners choice as to what is going to be top and bottom of a burl bowl, but since I only get one chance and knowing nothing about burls, which layout would yield the most figure?

One burl looks a little more solid than the other, don't know what this means, just an observation.

Thanks and have a great weekend.!

[John Keeton]

Jim, a burl seems to be an effort by the tree to grow multiple branch tips that just never seem to make it. The result is a bunch of "rays" which are the small branch efforts, and the "eyes" that lie on the surface, which are the branch "tips", if one might consider them that.

So, the method you use depends on the look you want. The most "figure" is on the exterior surface, where the eyes are, but the natural edge created by the outside surface of the bowl can be interesting.

Here is a bowl I turned a few years ago, and this view kind of shows the whole picture. Perhaps it helps some. BTW, this one has been dyed and some leaf added to the bark inclusions.

[mike ash]

I agree with what John said and have a pic of a bowl from a burl that may show the rays a bit better. Personally, I like to mount from the center of the tree with the bark side being the top of the bowl.
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[Wally Dickerman]

Depends on the burl, the kind of wood it is and the size of the burl. If it's a fairly small burl and you want a natural edge bowl then John and Mike have showed you how. If it's a larger burl then you might cut it up and make several pieces from it. You may even cut away the rough outside of the burl and just be left with some very pretty wood. Incidently, Burls do have endgrain. it runs the same direction it did when on the tree.

Not all burls are equal. I've had fir burls that were full of pitch. I've had burls that were full of bark and rot. I have cut up burls that weighed hundreds of pounds. They were big-leaf maple. A friend just emailed me that he had just obtained a 1700 lb. madrone burl. He'll probably get at least 100 salad bowls out of it after coring a lot of large blanks. Madrone burls grow underground.

[robert baccus]

Like Wally greybeard says, there's lots of kinds of burls and few have directions for cutting up. Here in the deep south "eye" burls are very rare. They are basically a tumor--uncontrolled growth. Most hardwoods have buried subcutatious buds which are there if they are ever needed. They go crazy when in a tumor. This is what makes a tree exposed to sunlight due to topping make a bush. Rare in conifers but beautiful when found. Down here we have growth that looks like big blobs or pumpkins and not so pretty sometimes.

[Jim Daughtridge]

I have located a smaller cherry burl that I will make my test burl rather than ruin the larger finds. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and burl information. Great looking art work John and Mike, you two have set the bar pretty high.

[John Grace]

To add to the above...

I've turned a half dozen or so burl pieces and I found that patience truly pays off. You mount a square blank and start turning...end of story (well...sort of). Because of burl's shape and texture, I think you need to take time to figure out what shape best suits the wood and what you want the end game to be. OK...I know it sounds hokie, but frequently the wood itself dictates the final shape, and thereby, how it's mounted.

[Jim Daughtridge]

Not ''hokie'' at all John, I believe that this is very often true when going directly from the tree to the lathe. I am looking forward to seeing what is behind the crusty looking bark.

[Chip Sutherland]

To add to the above...

I've turned a half dozen or so burl pieces and I found that patience truly pays off. You mount a square blank and start turning...end of story (well...sort of). Because of burl's shape and texture, I think you need to take time to figure out what shape best suits the wood and what you want the end game to be. OK...I know it sounds hokie, but frequently the wood itself dictates the final shape, and thereby, how it's mounted.

For me, the wood always dictates the shape and how it is mounted. John....You are spot on the mark IMO.