Need advise on to make bowl from a burl

[John TenEyck]

An arborist friend who brings me logs gave me this maple burl, freshly cut out of a live tree he took down:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qg-tyZdGEBuV3ZElnWH4OP8vGLeqV1FskW8X2ZiHUcHosdZ_zaEUK hYymjk07E799vD7SC39-bTChMP3KA12P9RXFu2xMRBZYm2Jcp4wuLEKxl0s6rR5kwnvVYL zZZLL_B1jqnLk2mMEnDrjF8Ep0v_UvKqY1ovrT9XR2fEnhXztL O95GWul_SWsDB7S7rh8KqSFqRtW0YTGUbOPBf5INd2xLfyzEIM wiqa0unX0NUwnExxUE8QzvBNPrW8-USP3iLwtViDrDMoypcbvuIh2QkbIIYg20j2SW1C4JwdZ7epjnq v5U6qoUku3k9EEyCHBsTfGF42UeTfW5YE2eSPP3dDReb17puuT eb2iO38S5kLRlqHYozh6ZPI_drsWb0NlTv6w-GHGcA1lTu7xYQrgEO1fzHm4FibDbS2CIZEtwbPQ26RHjMr2pau 2Q2wRwpMuOAYG2Rw4ntiPFl36sCeLrj3RH2qy08ThrelZnUFiF TzNU4GzojWaotv4yt_8_iqyZivBDoKgXne87bQwTx8R3iKwNPj fA63jTvwUy0uVXIWtW8hEMHFvSMAY2VC7UBREN6QHwucLnsaKw J17EXVSwEXvoGlm-5NsIE1X3JC65YVPfPQbaAPUKDA5mJQj14e2Web9dIgy-C4CdiVvLA0GjqlECzPse9UPke8D9PG62jbz1MzcE_EAl524xMI Xh198maMFjqfdtUS2vqlFV1n--WGNNw=w1006-h566-no

The trunk on the left side is maybe 10" across, and the burl area is about 2X that across. The burl doesn't go all the way around the truck, it's more like a letter "C". My friend asked that I make some sort of bowl out of it as payment for the load of logs. I've made a few bowls, some pretty nice by my standards, but I'm not a skilled turner in any way. My one or two experiences trying to turn something with burl wood was not very successful, so I'm wondering if I should try using a grinder with a Lancelot chainsaw carving disk or something similar to rough out a bowl. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

I'm also wondering where I should cut the bowl blank or blanks out of this big chunk of tree. I have all kinds of chainsaws at my disposal as well as a bandsaw lumber mill, so cutting it down shouldn't be a problem once I know where best to cut. Any ideas?

Thanks very much.

John

[John K Jordan]

Deciding where to cut a burl is an art and a guess, not a science. Without x-ray vision it's difficult to picture where the figure is and whether there are objectionable defects. Sometimes burls that look great on the outside have a lot of rot, inclusions, or voids inside. What I generally do is start cutting off the non-burl wood first to see what I find then try to decide. Sometimes most of the best figure is near the outside of the burl so a bowl might be positioned to take advantage of that.

Fortunately, I like to make a lot of smaller things so if a larger idea doesn't work out I might use the wood, perhaps not an option if you are required to make it into a bowl.

[Prashun Patel]

I assume you have turned green wood before. Burls can be prone to moving, warping, and cracking, so take care to dry it properly.

I like to turn burls with the bark side on the rim, and if possible to leave the live edge. The irregularity of the surface makes for an interesting rim.

[Reed Gray]

First thing I would do is cut the log down the pith, or as close as you can get without cutting through any of the burl. This should give you a fairly good look at the wood. Initial thoughts on a piece like this would be to take a center piece out of it for the main bowl, and cores, and that would leave you with two side smaller burl pieces. A lot of the time, burls like this one are kind of cone shaped in towards the center, but some times not... Just have to cut into it to find out. You may just want to cut in towards the center from the tops of the burl, kind of like my first option, where you take the center big piece, and cut the two side pieces. This would probably be best option if the burl is the cone shaped type...

robo hippy

[David Delo]

Can't disagree with any of the previous comments.....good advice. However, I'd first get some anchorseal on it if that hasn't already been done . I'd like to see a pic of the piece rotated 180 degrees & also a top view because you do have a crotch included there. Can't really tell from this view how solid that crotch might be in the Y but you might be able to turn the entire crotch into a flying wing vase or split it in-half and get a couple small bowl pieces. From where the piths are located in the picture, you would lose a little bit of the burl but you've sort of hit the double bonus with this timber in that you have burl & a crotch to work with. Just my 2 cents.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the advise so far. Here are some additional photos:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cY6M6r7yRoHK6-_42qV6tTNjAT7qerv-ksOVL0eOgE2s4Tug4jdHKErytcjmQEIQB26DYy5YqHol0Mcy7a 0F4xcEw0PLenM5AsOcCyzOsJj1vXx0aqcKjgB4knlme2geuUek m3KtzGqwvy9k2iBlTrAW-5G47r9At4yJM-fArFk0_G2ZWUmsCXz2u42mxi2MHz15HQ9ozfbwOMBMY4mv6Bif dzb0qDrArgq0ibDqnndFEKTG8vHgLknLvHsC8q4egK-oOj2mJydFP_k6Ik0sCzh6FJ2DIOf7XkEgizyn5ReOhu0GMz-hLMo-f3Oxjsi7z0WDNI1M_8PgxdYjTj8aRklsMG4FjThMMKHB4hKrHG 457_8oIRAiKcCnW4E2kVeF3Ks8iQDUubEuDvwLm097oaOsz9fZ gxhUAjCnj9jm2lDMQltkClnxVVSZrBit8smZjhD8FoHEbjockD nMS8QNREr17sj17thHT4rhG8x0-f4a40WN9Z_AUQviiP6m_eSn7oLXRW9mN4_MDE4b8YKZlTmVqrf QRqvJoQ_GI3elYr4fLaPqC2N9LHxqyYyRqY9t0miHWOCTS9q1r ETdRJAGpBY3JUamM7oWehyrcsHhT5pgwC_AhsITJbN0YaIXxgY j85aeRzOlZmBd4yJw7NvhzD6_dPZLi0LdzvE-0hgM6p_aHa4UjIAq5XhCeUs4zSwjDFrvjwBET_6Sw5xVuahbFw z5ew=w1006-h566-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oCulSPMVb_uctcQTR2VAgpUTGVfbtl596o5UNZpZrq0HZUr6k4 rD3oeSmcyYV5N6iZx-tPZ3jfxOCTu48yxL2frSp0a19KjNPUDsA57jjmDGbJfKaBZLiO vW2nrevrTFKWZ1ScNB13D4Yg7UNh5H5uXX_ZmSjIrt9g1R3h2o _LrTWcMgzSvbiVSb0RLZp8s3xxmrpJ_7XpqZA2t66AI3zvvs7j tocDk9bxQqvyfhr1Y9dYTbfCAeu2ENWP778VeFTVh7fe2OBtUX OPAcUs7HF4JwXjrc3eYpFLUj_7O10iz7dsIVuqyrO11KxPVUcM ouOkaQzz8Og1UTJOVl2422yzqntSYHYHMAHhfXKijsyj8eLZMq 4xiLji4nGw90yCfmPI_Ky-VxBHuQuVH7yU0xnLmWVBiTFrw7WGmK1aCMqz7ZN7ts73szBWsq XTbSWHX4gK_ZeaNq7d_QBZdVtsCFmkfdQAggHq0m01iushG67R B7XcQNwNV4xn9dmONcadHQrAPaw19swt01851G5wpm6iZXq6Cx SAmCC8ZKVqbzyJsxL1ZuQgytggnDuYY5KTOZSbTgfLn2-oY6EHO60H_29RmOdLEAk423sMh2bIxEgYesD237fDr8uCf9ARa 430jaATHGFkHy5In8DEA9k3E_QddHUbS2qQJ2_Rf5__QHgJuFv AqLsD7pNyZinPgXpHjLbFA-EksfAubibLUwYgeq0CBrgg=w1006-h566-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8K5hnj_2yrkLSO3k7hXCzP9R-MsG-4oWUVkDuAK51vTJKrHhOkoosQv1gjN344KsbVlrGwYCPTgcQQu K4SRGNYfZFCJTwv1byJMbx6mm64vnBNqDi5fw66keYUrf7_bPw MVuhr8etrZKzSkE-KcXuj0rCDMjd7UBH6wUSzKdEB7E_qwmj5hPfCtTu-IwhjNvgZL1U9fW85lkt4MeJspQPtdZRoZ0vjOSxKC-6sw19DLxZfC5K4jg2XLqFFj4FMBNyKzdwECqNHL9J09jrVVC4c tj-NOH3wXF323gxeTThJD9Oq8v1-rs1Zb8qhnQGdzEyzZWPRvzItUX_CTYYI7l1wnQo76Zuc__MHpo yjLLcRZUPVyNTmIMO0q2rEtdRmIpxqNWf1EruNMbmUT1613pLS Gi92nICtO3jb9V0wtNrxBQxbSdnEyGPrJB1wuynvmsnkDl4THr WXoh3CciYqyVRJlj3wbQcQZQq5_vApVa9D6yZbNk2hvaTUXncs YNpboShj71hal7xjUr3Xv3vutpfGuzUc975N-Z4KstTK4Esu_q9Wqb688PPWNihaVvRCVwPDdjB0ECwC37n-sFsNs3i916pG-5cExpJmvnC7u8S6_reQQrEC2z6kX3tAtnAikwYhTMgcHi2_UrD _KzQEspFZOsfZKawTRM2KVXbdHXxU7lkUiQvHOPEj71X_-iJTGMoTjOmP3MoP_2a9tDAh-waDUFDQ=w1006-h566-no

Thanks,

John