Bill Grumbine
11-23-2003, 4:03 PM
Good afternoon all
Like many woodworkers, I hate throwing small bits of wood away. This is especially true of burls that I collect, and which find their way onto the lathe. Even after roughing and coring a burl to get as many round pieces as possible, there are often small bits left lying around. I have been hanging on to some of these pieces for years wondering what to do with them. A while ago a friend of mine suggest sticking a clock into each of them, and I finally got around to doing it. Below are some examples of pieces I "made". Make is sort of a loose term. I kept at least one part of the burl natural edged, and planed, sanded and polished the rest. The process is fairly fast and easy. While drilling the hole for the clock got to be interesting on some of them, the results are - well, you be the judge.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/cherryclock01.jpg">
This is a piece of cherry burl that has been sitting around for close to 10 years. Its size and shape never suggested any form of turning to me, and while in my clock frenzy, I got two pieces from it.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/mapleclock01.jpg">
This is a slab I sawed off an irregular bowl blank. I couldn't see this being turned into chips, and the blank is now ready and regular in its shape, soon to be a natural edged bowl. All I need is time to do it (ha ha). I was able to get two of this size from the chunk and still leave enough for a nice sized bowl.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/elmclock01.jpg">
This piece is the leftover of a slippery elm burl given to me about three years ago. It comes from the part of the branch where it broke, and was badly splintered. Still, I couldn't see throwing it on the burn pile until I thought about it for a while. It took three years, but I finally figured out how to saw it up to get this one and two others like it.
This has turned out to be a great use for burls, but it's not for everyone. I would highly recommend that you consider this path of action carefully, and if you have any burl scaps you need to use up, and are uncomfortable in the least with this idea, send them to me, and I will see that they are well cared for. :D
Thanks for taking a peek.
Bill
Like many woodworkers, I hate throwing small bits of wood away. This is especially true of burls that I collect, and which find their way onto the lathe. Even after roughing and coring a burl to get as many round pieces as possible, there are often small bits left lying around. I have been hanging on to some of these pieces for years wondering what to do with them. A while ago a friend of mine suggest sticking a clock into each of them, and I finally got around to doing it. Below are some examples of pieces I "made". Make is sort of a loose term. I kept at least one part of the burl natural edged, and planed, sanded and polished the rest. The process is fairly fast and easy. While drilling the hole for the clock got to be interesting on some of them, the results are - well, you be the judge.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/cherryclock01.jpg">
This is a piece of cherry burl that has been sitting around for close to 10 years. Its size and shape never suggested any form of turning to me, and while in my clock frenzy, I got two pieces from it.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/mapleclock01.jpg">
This is a slab I sawed off an irregular bowl blank. I couldn't see this being turned into chips, and the blank is now ready and regular in its shape, soon to be a natural edged bowl. All I need is time to do it (ha ha). I was able to get two of this size from the chunk and still leave enough for a nice sized bowl.
<img src= "http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/elmclock01.jpg">
This piece is the leftover of a slippery elm burl given to me about three years ago. It comes from the part of the branch where it broke, and was badly splintered. Still, I couldn't see throwing it on the burn pile until I thought about it for a while. It took three years, but I finally figured out how to saw it up to get this one and two others like it.
This has turned out to be a great use for burls, but it's not for everyone. I would highly recommend that you consider this path of action carefully, and if you have any burl scaps you need to use up, and are uncomfortable in the least with this idea, send them to me, and I will see that they are well cared for. :D
Thanks for taking a peek.
Bill