Large Cherry Burl, Advice Requested

[Ed Scolforo]

I acquired this black cherry burl that was cut about a year ago. The guy was going to burn it but figured someone may be able to use it :D. It's probably more than 200 lbs. So, before I hack it up, I'm hoping that some of you guys with your magic pencils could direct me in the best way to cut this up. Should I just cut the burls off, or take some of the log with it, etc., etc. I hope the pictures give you enough info. Thanks. Ed

[Patrick Taylor]

Wow, I'm green with envy....

I'm looking forward to hearing the advice you get.

[Raymond Overman]

Cut it in half. Send half to me. I'll be able to make a more informed decision at that point.

[Dario Octaviano]

Ed,

There are various ways to cut this but highly depends on what you intend to turn later.

I love to turn natural edge stuff (bowl, vase, HF) so I will tend to cut in along the trunk to the pith and stop (if you are looking at the trunk itself, end grain, the cut will be like that of a pizza). All cuts will be between burls if possible and leave them as round as possible. Trim the edges (trunk part) later and the end of the "wedge" (nearest the pith).

Not sure if I am making sense but I hope you can picture what I mean.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Ed
I was shown one time there are two kinds of burls. Some are on the surface of the log or at least not real deep into the log. Others are like an ice cream cone where the 'cone' reaches toward the pith and the 'ice cream' is the part we see outside the log.

Watch for this as you make your first cuts. If its the Cone kind you'll want to orient your turning to use all of the figure.

I hope that makes sense.

Frank

[Paul Engle]

Boy golly thats a nice one, I have one to cut and having a hard time laying it out also. gee if one uses the Ben Franklin close on it , pros vs cons the larger list wins... for bowl , hf's, etc, let me know how it went , mine i think will make two gallery bowls , display stuff only like the one i have in the jury show thread from Sunday.Good luck Ed. :D

[Ed Scolforo]

I cleaned up alot of bark in bewteen the burls to get a better idea. I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to take a paralell cut to the fresh cut (a limb was there) about 2 1/2 inches wide for a NE plate/platter. What do you think? I noticed that the bark was fairly loose on the side of the 2nd pic, the tree had been laying there for about a year. Hopefully it won't be too punky. I'm thinking mostly of NE bowls/vases. Thanks for your help. Ed

[Bill Wyko]

Whatever you do with it I look forward to seeing it. If you don't mind, I'd like to see before, middle and after pics. That's a nice chunk of wood you have there.:)

[Tom Collins]

I made the mistake of just cutting the burls off the trunk once. I wish i would have left a portion of the trunk on each burl which would have allowed me to use more of the burl itself. Your chuck or faceplate can be mounted onto the trunk wood and then parted off when the project is complete.

TC