Birch Burl Bowl Rough Out

[Steve Schlumpf]

Had a neighbor, Pete, stop in yesterday with a yellow birch burl and wanted to know if I would like it. Ah….. and that would be a YES! Pete, also a turner, prefers to turn segmented bowls and had no need for the burl. Said a friend had just dropped it off at his house and he thought maybe I could turn something out of it. I’ll give it a try.

The burl was a little over 16” diameter to start but as you can see in the photos it was cut by someone who is not a turner. The burl was very green, no cracks and was actually a little challenging to turn as the direction of the grain was all over the place! Did find a lot of really nice quilting inside and should prove to be a beautiful bowl once completed. The rough out ended up being 13” in diameter and 1 1/8” thick.

I plan to soak it in DNA, wrap and hopefully have it dry enough to finish turn before Christmas. If it turns out as hoped, I plan on presenting it to Pete as thanks for all the wood he has given over the past year!

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Not much to see but all I have been turning for the last month are rough outs. Got to stock up before the snow flies – which is supposed to be tonight!!!

As always – your comments & opinions are welcome!

Thanks for looking!

[Judy Kingery]

Pete, nicely done! I like the shape, and you got a good chunk of wood out of the blank for such a nice shape. I bet it's going to be pretty! Will you wax it or DNA and bag it and no wax nor Anchorseal? We're pretty arid here, so I generally wax things green, end grain anyway. I'll look forward to seeing your final product! Very nice! Jude

[Bernie Weishapl]

Looking mighty fine there Steve. We are suppose to get some snow on Thursday. Man that is just way to early and I haven't got my snowblower ready yet.

[John Shuk]

Birch burl is one of the best burls IMO. It just radiates.

[Don Carter]

Steve:
That looks beautiful already. I can't wait to see it finished. Snow, what is that? tehe

[Jim Becker]

That's going to be a beauty, Steve....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve, you have come a long way in improving your skills. I love that form and the wood....wow! I can't wait to see the finished product!

[Don Robert]

Steve,
I picked up a birch burl from my cousin when I visited him in Anchorage in July. It had just been cut at the time. I turned a HF from it. After DNA it dried in about three weeks on the drying rack, with only one noticable crack - which became a turquoise-filled "feature." Nice looking wood when finished. I found the dried burl VERY hard - had to sharpen my tools VERY often to finish turning it. I'm curious to know if your's turns out to be hard material after drying.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Don, judging by the grain configurations I would guess this is going to be a lot of fun to finish. Not sure how hard this is going to get but the grain changes direction every couple of inches at least.

The burl you got from Anchorage probably had some very tight growth rings due to the shorter growth season. Just a guess on my part but that sure would make it hard once it dried out!

On your hollow form - we need photos! Great tease but I would really like to see it and how the turquoise plays with the color! So when you have the time - please start a thread so we can all see some more of your work!

[Jack Mincey]

Very nice bowl, I really like birch burls. The grain can be hard to deal with as you said.
Jack

[Hilel Salomon]

Steve,
It is going-would one expect less from you-to be great. Now as for snow... let me look outside (SC) uhhhh no. But it did get down to 76 so I'm cold.... Kidding of course as I'm headed up to VA next week.
Regards, Hilel.

[robert hainstock]

Looking pretty good. I had to take my little cherry butl back to the drawing board. will try to post tomorrow. :)
Bob