Black cherry (I think) burl

[Thomas Wilson80]

Visiting my in-laws in eastern TN for the week and they had a bunch of trees blow down and I found this on their property. I think it is black cherry. It is about 10 inches in length and 7 inches in width and goes circumferentially around the branch, but I think it will be much smaller once turned past the voids. Was thinking of keeping it intact and doing a simple hollow form but wondered if it is big enough or if anyone has any other suggestions. This is my first time working with a burl.


Thanks,
Tom

[Barry McFadden]

I hope I'm wrong but it looks like once you get past the voids it will be about the size of the stick......

[Peter Blair]

Don't remove all the voids. Just touch the outside to get an intersteing look then hollow. The walls don't have to be thin . . .

[Thomas Canfield]

I had a couple of similar mistletoe burls on Mesquite a couple of years back. I cut biscuit slices about 1 to 1-1/2" thick and turned natural edge shallow bowls or saucers. Worked well. You can add a glue block to save material to get the most out of burl. Had to go to friends bandsaw with riser since those burls were about 7"D.

[Thomas Wilson80]

I hope I'm wrong but it looks like once you get past the voids it will be about the size of the stick......
Yeah, I’m worried about the depth of the voids too...worst case scenario I’ll make a couple boxes but I’m hoping to get a hollow form. We’ll see!


Don't remove all the voids. Just touch the outside to get an intersteing look then hollow. The walls don't have to be thin . . .
Good idea Peter - will try to conserve as much as possible while still showing the grain. Thanks!


I had a couple of similar mistletoe burls on Mesquite a couple of years back. I cut biscuit slices about 1 to 1-1/2" thick and turned natural edge shallow bowls or saucers. Worked well. You can add a glue block to save material to get the most out of burl. Had to go to friends bandsaw with riser since those burls were about 7"D.
Interesting idea Thomas - I’ll keep that in mind as I start turning. That might be a cool little project to have multiple matching saucers, etc. Thanks!


Thanks For the input - Tom

[Alex Zeller]

Post an update with how it turns out. I have dozens of cherry burls on my property. The biggest is close to 3' in diameter all the way down to about that size. I have a really hard time cutting trees that don't show any signs of disease. Each time I look at one I wonder.