11 year old cherry Burl?

[Allan Speers]

I'm doing some Spring cleaning.

11 years ago I bought a whole bunch of big cherry burls. Not for turning, I had some odd plan for them that never happened. I'm wondering if they are still worth anything.

They were coated with light wax, but are surely dry & hard by now.

Are these still viable for turners? I.e. should I sell them to turners, or toss them?

(or maybe cut them into blocks, and then, well I dunno ...... )

[Curtis Myers]

Where are you located?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Allan - if your intention is to sell the burls, then let me know and I will move your thread over to the Classifieds Forum because sales/ads are not allowed in the regular forums.

[Allan Speers]

No, not an attempt at a stealth sale at all.
My intention is to find out if these are still viable to turners, being so dry. That's why I asked what I'm asking.

If I do end up selling them, I want to know what they are/aren't good for so as not to cause a problem. Same if I keep them.


I don't own a lathe, but my understanding is that green wood is usually preferred, correct?

[Michelle Rich]

how about you find a small one, turn it and let us know how an 11yr old burl does?

[Dan Hintz]

Definitely still viable, just a bit harder on the tools/hands/arms. If you were close by, I'd be happy to let you dump the entire lot in my trunk and free up some space in your workshop :D

[Prashun Patel]

Allan-
Definitely take some pictures and publish with sizes. If one or multiples can fit in a flat-rate shipping USPS box, you have a chance to make a nice tidy profit right here @ SMC.

As long as they have not spalted, they are still turnable.

[Brian Kent]

You say you don't have a lathe. How about if you pick a name of somebody with a lot of experience and send him or her a small piece in exchange for a report on the wood. Then you have a good tester for your burl.

[Paul Williams]

I think Brian has the right idea. I bet there is a turner in your area who would be happy to turn something for you. Perhaps even give you a little experience on his or her lathe. I am sure you will find out it is turnable, but very hard. It might surprize you what you find inside.

[Wes Ramsey]

Where are you located?

I have a small cherry burl I cut about 8 years ago. I haven't done anything with mine because I don't know what's in it or what I want it to become. It's small enough that I would only get one shot. I stare at it at least once a week to try and figure out the best way to cut it, or whether to just leave it whole. Such a quandary. Anyway, it should be fine to turn. I've turned some dry cherry and it cuts just fine, though it probably wasn't was dry as your piece.

[Allan Speers]

Thanks, guys.

Good to know it's not wasted. Now to figure out if it should be turned or cut into blocks...

If anyone lives near Rockland County, NY, (Suffern) and is experienced turning these, definitely shoot me a PM.

[John K Jordan]

Allan, I have turned some burls older than that and they were beautiful. I recently made a number of platters and things from walnut burl that was probably over 30 years old. The guy who have me the burls said he got them from his father who had them who knows how long!

Dry? It is the old difference between turning dry wood and wet - green wood is very easy to turn but shrinks and warps and sometimes cracks. Dry is harder, sometimes much harder, more difficult to turn and stays stable. A lot of people seriously do not like to turn dry. I am one who almost exclusively turns dry wood - the fact that it is harder to turn doesn't bother me in the least. You just need sharp tools, a refined technique, and patience. Most of the wood I turn now I cut into turning blanks for drying 8-10 years ago.

Deciding if and how to cut a burl is a judgement call. I like to look at the figure. If it is old and discolored I might take a little off the cut face with a plane to see the figure and color. If the figure is tight with small swirls and such, I might cut it into smaller pieces. Some people love tight burl for things as small as pens. If the burl has larger, more sweeping figure much of that beauty may be lost in a smaller piece. Since dry wood is harder to turn, fewer people might be interested in making one big bowl from it. Coring might be challenging or impossible so a large bowl might waste a bunch of beautiful burl. Your best bet might be to sell or trade it in one piece and let someone else decide!

Also, a burl is often a surprise. Some are wonderful inside and some are quite disappointing.

Having an experienced turner look at it would definitely help.

JKJ

[Allan Speers]

John, that's incredibly helpful, thanks.

I still don't know which way to proceed, though. I'm going to take pics of the burls tomorrow & post them here. Maybe then you guys can tell me if you would cut them into blocks or not. For all I know, they aren't even lathe-worthy, as some contain a lot of "trunk" as well as burl. They might not even be worth the effort, or they could be really nice.

I don't understand burls (in the raw) at all.

[Dan Hintz]

It shouldn't matter if the burl is still on the trunk... most will orient the cutting on the lathe so that the bowl (assuming that's the target item) will mostly contain the burl. Smaller blanks (pens, bottle stoppers, etc.) easily ignore the more boring wood.

If you were closer, I'd help you out. If you decide you don't want to mess with them, give them to your local turning group. But i can guarantee you there is some great looking wood in there... I haven't seen a true burl yet that wasn't useful.