What to do with burl

[Bill Jobe]

MmPicked up this burl yesterday and don't have any idea how to cut it or what to make with it. Any ideas?
Also what kind of wood.
Picked up 4 smaller ones, to. Will post later for suggestions.
Sad part is I just have a HF mini. 10" swing.

[Wes Ramsey]

Looks like red oak to me. I'd seal it or turn it quickly. Not sure about burl, but red oak splits and checks pretty quick and often even after you've roughed it out if you don't take precautions. Others may have some suggestions to avoid that specific to red oak.

To me, figuring out how to chop up a burl is the hardest part of turning. I would cut it into the biggest blanks you can handle and go from there. If you see that the grain is doing something really cool once you're in it you can adjust accordingly, otherwise there's not much way to tell what you'll end up with just looking at it.

[Thomas Canfield]

Sadly the HF 10 mini will have a very difficult time with the burls even when cut down to lathe size. It looks like there is checking on the end cuts of picture 3 that will need to be cut off when reshaping blanks. I would suggest finding a friend with a bigger lathe to rough turn the sections to about 10% diameter thickness and then pack or seal to dry before turning to final thickness. Even then, you would need to turn to about 9" D to allow for warping and might have trouble remounting dried rough turned piece due to out of balance on the small lathe. Those are some big burls judging by bricks.

[John K Jordan]

Bill, the first thing I would do is get some sealer on those pieces before they degrade further. I personally would cut the checks out of the one shown down to the solid wood then seal it immediately.

As mentioned, deciding how to cut up a burl is difficult even with a lot of experience. Furthermore, a burl can be a surprise inside, sometimes not a good surprise. Without something specific in mind I would cut it somewhere through the middle with the bandsaw, look at what is inside, then decide what cuts to make next. I generally seal figured turning blanks on all sides.

Fortunately, I like to turn small things and a turned box or a small bowl from a burl can be spectacular. A natural-edged bowl can look great too.

JKJ

[Bill Jobe]

I don't really feel qualified to have these. As a beginner I think it best to seal them good, cutting away the checks as John suggested and store them away until I get more experience and a bigger lathe.
If nothing else I could find a veteran turner and will them to him/her, perhaps giving one of the smaller ones a try.
The one in back in the group photo is incredible. I'll get a better shot of it tomorrow and post it.

[Wes Ramsey]

Where are you located Bill? If you're close to north central AR you're welcome to bring it by my shop to cut it up on my bandsaw and round it up on my meager Delta lathe. But only if you take some wood with you. ;) My stash is getting out of hand and degrading. Need to go through it again and see is firewood and what is still viable.

[John K Jordan]

I don't really feel qualified to have these. As a beginner I think it best to seal them good, cutting away the checks as John suggested and store them away until I get more experience and a bigger lathe.

Join the club! I've been turning wood for about 15 years and I STILL don't feel qualified to turn some of the pieces of wood I've been saving! I keep waiting until I get "better", whatever that means. :-) For example I have a huge block of bloodwood, big pieces of cocobolo almost too heavy to lift, and various spalted and burled blanks that have been drying for over 10 years now, large slabs for platters, a big stash of blackwood and ebony and pink ivory and cherry and maple and dogwood and..., way more wood than I could turn before I cash it in. (It is a nice problem to have, though.) I need to just start turning some of the good stuff, give it away, or put it in my will.

Avoid this trap! I'd say after you cut it up start with a smaller piece and make something, anything. Not perfect? Make something else! Trade some with other turners - that will give you more variety and make more people happy.

JKJ

[Bill Jobe]

Yes, I'm constantly reminded by the wife that I have far to much wood, but I just cannot walk away from wood, especially if it's free.
Wes, thank you for the offer but I'm many hours from you. However, I have a brother who lives in AR and I've been wanting to go visit him before he's gone. Late 70s and bad heart.
So, perhaps I'll contact you should I decide to go. 5hat would sure help me out. I can and have use a chain saw before but that is not a reasonable way to go about it. Bill

[Wes Ramsey]

Join the club! I've been turning wood for about 15 years and I STILL don't feel qualified to turn some of the pieces of wood I've been saving! I keep waiting until I get "better", whatever that means. :-) For example I have a huge block of bloodwood, big pieces of cocobolo almost too heavy to lift, and various spalted and burled blanks that have been drying for over 10 years now, large slabs for platters, a big stash of blackwood and ebony and pink ivory and cherry and maple and dogwood and..., way more wood than I could turn before I cash it in. (It is a nice problem to have, though.) I need to just start turning some of the good stuff, give it away, or put it in my will.

Avoid this trap! I'd say after you cut it up start with a smaller piece and make something, anything. Not perfect? Make something else! Trade some with other turners - that will give you more variety and make more people happy.

JKJ

I'm in the same boat. I am all the time coming across great wood finds, whether on our land or around town. I've got a buddy that trims trees for the county and he calls me when he cuts something interesting, another with a tree service that just piles it up to burn a couple of times a year, and folks at church call me anytime the see someone cutting a tree. Spring flooding at our cabin in MO always provides a variety of stock and I'm still finding cool pieces on our land from a tornado 7 years ago. I have the greatest of intentions to use it all, but realistically I bring home more firewood than future blanks.

My greatest find was a cherry burl - 24" across and all the way around the 10" trunk. I sealed it and it sat in the yard for 3 years as I was not yet a turner. Not knowing any better I ended up trading it and a pile of other decent wood to a duck call maker 3 years ago for MOST of a HF lathe. I still cringe thinking of how I got took on that deal, but I wasn't using it and he probably got a lot of enjoyment out of the wood. I still have a smaller burl from the same tree sitting on my bench that I haven't figured out what to do with yet. I was thinking it would make a nice small bowl, but the more I think about it I think I would like to slab it out and make knife scales for knife kits. Should be enough to do 2-3 knives - perfect for when my boys get their 1st deer :)

[John K Jordan]

...Wes, thank you for the offer but I'm many hours from you.

Bill, where do you live? I'm in East TN and my shop is always open. (PS I didn't see your location in your profile)

[Doug Ladendorf]

I'd say cut it into the best blanks you can and start turning. See what different parts of the burl look like and different positions of the bowl within the burl. Use the scraps for other decorative turnings like ornaments, bottle stoppers etc.

Doug

[Bill Jobe]

John, sadly I'm about an 11 or 12 hour drive from you.
Last night I did as was suggested. Having no other way to cut up the big one I got out the chain saw and just started cutting. This thing was unbelievably tough. Wore out the chain so I went to my 10" table saw and managed to cut all the way around by turning the piece.
So now I have all of them sealed, accept for 1 piece I rough turned and triple bagged in paper bags.
Their outward appearance was that of dry wood, but when I turned it the wood was water nearly waterlogged.

[John K Jordan]

Their outward appearance was that of dry wood, but when I turned it the wood was water nearly waterlogged.

A chunk of wood can take a long time to dry. For lumber the old "rule of thumb" for air drying is to allow 1 year per inch thickness plus 1 year. However, this doesn't work for all species and I think doesn't work for boards over about 2" thick. A chunk or block of dense wood can stay wet inside for many years.

BTW, after the lathe, the most valuable tool a turner can have besides the grinder is a bandsaw. A table saw will work with some things but, of course, can be very dangerous with irregular pieces without extensive jig building. With a good bandsaw you can easily and safely process enough free wood that you will always have a big supply of blanks. Some of the wood I'm using now has been air drying for about 10 years.

JKJ

[Bill Jobe]

A chunk of wood can take a long time to dry. For lumber the old "rule of thumb" for air drying is to allow 1 year per inch thickness plus 1 year. However, this doesn't work for all species and I think doesn't work for boards over about 2" thick. A chunk or block of dense wood can stay wet inside for many years.

BTW, after the lathe, the most valuable tool a turner can have besides the grinder is a bandsaw. A table saw will work with some things but, of course, can be very dangerous with irregular pieces without extensive jig building. With a good bandsaw you can easily and safely process enough free wood that you will always have a big supply of blanks. Some of the wood I'm using now has been air drying for about 10 years.

JKJ

A bandsaw is on my list, but funds are short.

[Bob Bergstrom]

From the pictures shown, it appears that quite a bit of the wood is knot caps rather than true burl. When a limb is sawed off the tree will grow bark over it. The tree looks to have been trimmed back some time ago. In some of your pieces the knots are visible. Even when totally covered there will not be solid wood at the distal surface of the bark cap. The wood on the side can be swirled and quite attractive the ones with knots will always look like knots and cracked. I would cut away as much of the knots as I could hoping to see better figure than the picture with end grain cracks. Find someone with experience and a bigger lathe and turn one wet to completion. If you think it hard now wait till it drys and it will be even harder. I would put it in contractor garbage bags, keep it in a cool place and turn it wet. Here some true oak burl pictures. Hope some looks like this. 337831337832

[Bill Jobe]

Wow. Those burls are absolutely gorgeous. I'd be scared to death to put a tool to wood that amazing.

As for the piece with the stumps, what would you think of using them as feet and turn a bowl at the opposite end?

[Bob Bergstrom]

Wow. Those burls are absolutely gorgeous. I'd be scared to death to put a tool to wood that amazing.

As for the piece with the stumps, what would you think of using them as feet and turn a bowl at the opposite end?

I'm sure you could configure a way to hide the knots as a foot on a pedestal, if the surrounding wood is pretty. If the wood is pretty enough even epoxy in the cracks can be blended into the piece. I wouldn't worry too much, turning is as much a journey of learning and accomplishing a craft. Enjoy the experience.

[Bill Jobe]

Thanks Bob. I'm guessing it would take more hand carving and not so much turning to use in that manner.
A friend at work got me into carving many years ago and frankly, my talent is greater there than where I'm at now with turning. I just kind of fell away from carving. Maybe this piece will renew my interest. Bill

[Ronald Campbell]

I have the good fortune to turn a lot of burls. I stack up my burls and pull one out that I think I want to work on. It will sit in my way in the shop until it comes to me. Yes I have had burls more than a year before I turn them. Don't be in a hurry. I have two in work now and one is 3 years old and the other I bought in Jan.

[Bill Jobe]

Yeah, I have wood everywhere. Not a good subject with the wife. She says pieces of turned wood just ain't her thing. I don't care. I turn them to please myself.
By the way, that walnut bowl I turned for my daughter's birthday from a tree her husband cut down? She loved it. Then when I told her it was made from her walnut tree her eyes really lit up.
Wish I'd had time to make it nicer.

[Ronald Campbell]

This is what you can find in a burl. Took a couple days but this is what you can do. I had trouble as the inside had rot. The base where the tenon was is sold. There is a hole in the bottom and crack running across the bottom did not turn thin Structural integrity

[Bill Jobe]

That is incredible, Ronald !!
I cannot imagine taking on a job like that. It's a real blessing that it came to a turner who knew what he was doing.

By the way, I did turn one piece of the big burl but there was none of the charactoristic "silage" smell to it.