Lifetime wood stash+ dumb question - PICS

[Steve Mathews]

I recently purchased a large quantity of wood from an estate auction. The previous owner, now deceased was a prominent woodturner commonly known as "Hillbilly". He was featured in quite a few magazine articles including the first issue of Oneway's Newsletter. The variety of wood, most for woodturning is overwhelming, at least for me. Below is a pic showing one piece that has me stumped as to what to do with it. Is the horny texture on the outside from bark? There are quite a few pieces like it in various shapes and sizes.
489828489829

[Maurice Mcmurry]

They look like some stump and root wood I have seen. Those are going to be exciting to get into! Congratulations!

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Burl? Maybe maple?

https://www.cookwoods.com/products/maple-w154270

[Tom M King]

I was going to guess Burl too.

[Jonathan Jung]

I have a piece that looks very similar and it's Oregon myrtle burl.

[Steve Mathews]

Burl? Maybe maple?

https://www.cookwoods.com/products/maple-w154270


There are quite a few caps that look very much like what is shown in the above link. I ended up purchasing a 20' enclosed cargo trailer to store all of the wood after running out of room in the shop.

[Jim Becker]

Big Leaf Maple Burl, most likely. Highly prized for turning.

[Bill Dufour]

OP location might help narrow it down. At least what continent. I doubt Antarctica has wood like that.
Bill D

[Steve Mathews]

OP location might help narrow it down. At least what continent. I doubt Antarctica has wood like that.
Bill D

Most if not all of the wood is not local (NW Arizona). According to the deceased's daughter, "Hillbilly" purchased or acquired the wood from all over the US and beyond. What I purchased was only a part of his collection. I will be posting pics of some other pieces as time permits.

[Mark Gibney]

It's an interesting tension that I'm sure many of us experience - we can end up with a collection of varied and beautiful boards that take up room, are too good to get rid of, but that are not right for any project on the horizon. I so frequently hear of well known woodworkers dying and leaving a vast collection of lumber.
Steve, are you a turner?

[Earl McLain]

That horny piece in the first post, and others like it, can be extremely dangerous and hopelessly addictive. Fortunately, I’m trained in safely disposing of such peril, and will do so at no charge to you…just send it over!! :D
Nice looking burl for sure. Could be big leaf maple, but also has the color of blonde coolibah (Australia). Whatever, it’s sweet!
earl

[John K Jordan]

Most if not all of the wood is not local (NW Arizona). According to the deceased's daughter, "Hillbilly" purchased or acquired the wood from all over the US and beyond. What I purchased was only a part of his collection. I will be posting pics of some other pieces as time permits.

Do you have more than you can use? If so I think you could easily save enough for your use and advertise and sell much of what you will never have time to use. I have thousands of blanks in my stash, mostly dry or drying, way more than I can turn. I am considering the selling some before I get too old.

You could make a web site with pictures, sell on ebay, carry boxes of blanks to woodturning clubs, list some in Classifieds here, or sell a lot to a wood dealer - won’t make as much money that way but be spared a huge amt of effort. One friend bought a room full of amazing wood from a widow and decided to become a wood dealer - he soon found out he didn’t have the level of intimate wood knowledge needed and decided the huge amt of work it was taking was not worth it - he started giving it away or selling it cheap to get rid of it (I bought more cocobolo than I could carry).

I know another guy who bought over 3000 bd ft of genuine mahogany from a widow for a steal (8/4 and thicker, much looked 10’ or longer - but he is an established wood dealer and already had contacts and knew the business.

I give away some of my wood stash too, some to students, some to friends, and some to the turning club for our wood auction.

Or just hold on to it all and let your heirs dispose of it someday, maybe sell it in bulk just as you bought it. I’ve heard plenty of stories like that, even one where the unknowing family just put it on a big burn pile to get rid of it - imagine: rosewood, burls, ebony, olive, koa, spalted…

JKJ

[Steve Mathews]

It's an interesting tension that I'm sure many of us experience - we can end up with a collection of varied and beautiful boards that take up room, are too good to get rid of, but that are not right for any project on the horizon. I so frequently hear of well known woodworkers dying and leaving a vast collection of lumber.
Steve, are you a turner?

I've been trying my hand at woodturning off and on for a few years mixed with efforts at woodworking in general. I really like working on the lathe (Oneway 2436) but lack the confidence and skills to do much beyond completing some basic bowls, etc. One of the obstacles in doing more was obtaining wood in this part of the country. The estate auction that came up close to me changed that situation dramatically. I went there to purchase a few items but because it was sold in two major lots I ended up with more than expected. Aside from finding a solution to store the wood it ended up being real bonanza. The lot won is probably more attuned to woodturning. There are quite a few exotic smaller pieces (my take on it) that I'm hoping to use for making boxes and the like.

[Jim Becker]

Steve, as an aside and acknowledging that this isn't the Turning discussion area, I'll suggest you get some mentoring to get over any humps you have with enjoying the activity. Learning from someone with a lot of experience can be a game changer and it will better equip you to use all that wonderful material you were able to get your hands on. That burl, for example, is something coveted by folks who do the spinny thing.