Aspen burl questions

[Brian Brown]

To All,

I have seen some bowls and vases made from aspen burls, and they are beautiful. Because quaking aspen trees are one of the few indigenous hardwood trees in this area, I have been looking for some trees with burls, yet I have never seen an aspen tree with a burl. I am wondering if aspen burls come only from the roots of the trees. If so, what is the likelihood that there will be rocks and sand imbedded in the burl? Also has anyone ever turned aspen (whether burl or straight grain) and how does it turn?

Thanks for the information!

Brian

[Keith Burns]

Never turned Aspen Burl but I have turned regular Aspen. It is very very soft and stringy. Easy to turn but requires a lot of sanding (in my case anyway).

[Al Wasser]

I don't recall aspen burls in the SW either - Colo, AZ, NM.

[Quinn McCarthy]

It burles a bit up here in northern MN. I have never turned it however.

Quinn

[Ron Ainge]

I have turned a small aspen burl that I got from a hunting buddy. He harvested it on the western slope of Colorado. The burl was about the size of a baseball and cut like butter. The next year I went to the area that the burl cam from and found that a lot of the trees in that area had small burls on them but they were all so small that they were not worth gathering for me. I do turn a lot of aspen and I like to turn it because the aspen that come from here in Colorado has so many colors in it that you never know what you will end up with until it is finished. The Tourist that come to visit here love the wood and it sells well.

[William Fourness]

We been buying burls off of local loggers here in our area for almost 5 years now and have watched for burls here in norhern Pennsylvania and we have actual came across two in all these time. I see some of these burls offered for sale on Ebay up in Canada I believe it was off and on. The couple burls we did find were of a golden brown color and full of eyes. Good luck on your find.

Bill