Burl approach

[David Ragan]

Hello,

A friend brought me this burl yesterday.

It is Cherry, the big storm about a month ago blew the tree over, and here is what I asked for :).

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The swelling on the right side is presumably the burl.

Any idea how deep the burl goes in the wood, or how big around my eventual burl is?

Is it possible that this drawing depicts most of a large burl is w/in the tree?:

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For scale, the location is outside our garage-the Hardyplank siding is about 6-8" wide.....I'm guessing the diameter there is about 12"

Is the next step a horizontal cut above and below the burl?

I suppose any cutting should be w a bowsaw w plenty of set?

Any guidance is appreciated!

[John K Jordan]

What you have is unknown until you cut into it. I've seen many swellings on the side of a tree than when cut into are actually where a limb died or broke off and the tree grew over the stub for protection. Usually there some bark and/or rot inside since it took the tree years to cover the damage. I think such a growth tends to protrude less as the tree diameter gets larger while a burl can grow larger. From what I've see in cherry, a burl starts with a dark, rough spot on one side of the tree then expands, almost like it's spreading around the tree (I don't think that's how it works but just what it looks like to me watching some change over the years.)

I'm not saying what you have is NOT a burl, but I have a number of cherry burls growing on my property and none of them look like that - I don't have a picture but every cherry burls I've seen here looks somewhat like this (picture found on the net), rougher, dark colored, without bark, and growing all the way around the tree, most are more elongated than the globe shape as this one:

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There are lots of ways to cut into a spot like this, unfortunately all of them are guesses. Whittling at it as you mentioned might give you an idea of what to do next. A bow saw would certainly waste less wood than a chain saw!

JKJ

[Phil Mueller]

I’m afraid I’m with John on this one. Just not sure what you have there is a true burl. Looks more like healing around a broken or removed branch. To add to John’s photo, this is typically what a burl looks like (from the internet).

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Here’s a bit of info on how to cut, if it has eyes (like the second photo).

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If no eyes, then as John said, take small slices and see what you have. I’d start slicing from the outer most section and work your way into the stump.

[David Ragan]

Thanks guys......This fellow owes me nothing, and I was thrilled when he called me that he dropped it off.

That said, I had pictured something more bulbous/protruding-so I am a little let down.

This is probably where a branch came off.

Looking @ this picture (we are out of town, and a friend sent me this picture), I was thinking.....for some growth process to proliferate new tissue in response to an irritatnt, the growth would have to be outward, away from the hardened heartwood, so it is unlikely that I have a buried ball-shaped mass.....biologically, such tissue would grow faster than the regular early/late wood rings, thus, outward growth-even, if vigorous, encircling the tree, as John indicates above.

For there to be a (submerged) ball-shaped growth buried under there........the process would have to be a huge growth of burl while the tree was relatively young, then stopping; and with the burl growth stopped, the regular early/late cycle gradually covered up most of the burl process.

Seems like the process for a submerged ball mass occurs, just probably not very often

He said there's more/bigger, so we'll see.

I have made some really cool little boxes out of veneer, so I'm sure some good will come of it!

And, am grateful that my friend brought this by :)

[John K Jordan]

David,

Free wood is nice! (Especially cherry) Try to put AnchorSeal or something on the end grain as soon as possible. This time of year is not so bad but some cherry can still start checking and cracking.

If you get up this way (just north of Knoxville) holler at me and I'll find a consolation prize for you from my burl stash, moving here from a storage building to my new shop near the barn about 3 years ago. I have plans for some of them but I can probably find one that needs a new home! Since I took that picture I've cut up some into pen blanks and ornament blanks for friends.

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When moving that and a lot of other wood look what I found on a shelf behind some other wood! It had been out of sight for so long I can't even remember where and how I got it.

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That one was evidently cut off the side of a tree - it's burled all the way to the cut. Maybe I'll cut it up into little pieces and make finger spinning tops. :)

JKJ

[Tom Bender]

David
That one is amazing enough to use as a display piece just as it is.

[David Ragan]

Awesome piece John