Slicing Burl

[Joe Pelonio]

A friend of mine purchased a Coolibah burl, a hard wood from the eucalyptus family to make slabs for bonsai display. In the past he has sawed them by hand, clamped to a workbench, but since suffering a recent heart attack is unable to exert that much effort.

I took it to another friend who owns a small mill, of the band saw type, to cut logs into lumber for personal use. He has not been able to figure out how to device a jig to mount it in, able to make the two cuts resulting in 2 3/4" slabs and the extra domed piece without the risk of ruining it (it cost $125)

I thought I could take it to a nearby lumber mill and ask if they can do it with their huge circular blade mill.

Anyone have a suggestion for any other way to handle this?

It looks a lot like the center one in the top row in this picture.

[Jamie Buxton]

How big is the piece? Is the bottom flat?

I have a good bandsaw, so I'd tackle the job with it. It can resaw 12" tall. I have a tall fence. I'd put the slab's flat face against the tall fence and feed it in. The slab would be touching the table only near the fence, so it will try to fall into the blade. I'd push it very hard against the fence while feeding. That's dangerous near the end if you push it all the way through, so I'd cut it half way, stop the saw, turn the slab around, and complete the cut from the other end.

[Joe Pelonio]

How big is the piece? Is the bottom flat?

I have a good bandsaw, so I'd tackle the job with it. It can resaw 12" tall. I have a tall fence. I'd put the slab's flat face against the tall fence and feed it in. The slab would be touching the table only near the fence, so it will try to fall into the blade. I'd push it very hard against the fence while feeding. That's dangerous near the end if you push it all the way through, so I'd cut it half way, stop the saw, turn the slab around, and complete the cut from the other end.
The bottom is flat.

Since it's currently about 3 hours from here I'm going from memory, but I'd say 14" x 22" and just over 2" thick. If it is over 12" it cannot be cut down to 12", because the idea is to have the natural edges all the way around.
I'll measure it when I get it back, I expect to go up there in the next few weeks.

This is something like what it would look like after sanding and finishing:

[Mike Ross]

Hi Joe,

I think the bandsaw mill of your friend might be the best option. Circle saws take a huge kerf compared to a band mill. To hold an irregular piece is always tough but you have a couple of options. We have a woodmizer band mill and this is how I would approach it.

1. Make a fixture that the saw clamps can hold, and attach your burl to that fixture with glue. Since you are 14" on the short size you could probably glue the burl to plywood or solid stock measuring 16 x 48 (most mills can securely hold a rectangle 16 x 48 piece) Once the piece is glued and dry you could clamp it to the bed of the mill and start milling your slabs off, make your last cut down the glue line and you are done.

2. If glueing this gorgeous piece of wood to a fixture is unacceptable you could use vacuum to hold the burl to the plywood. Takes more work to devise the fixture but certainly can be accomplished.

Hope this helps. Our mill is in Longview WA, drop an email if we can help.

Mike Ross

[Joe Pelonio]

Hi Joe,

Hope this helps. Our mill is in Longview WA, drop an email if we can help.

Mike Ross
We've worked out a plan. Thanks Mike!