Concerning burls

[Rich Soby]

I have a cherry tree in my yard and on a dead limb is a small burl. I was looking at it yesterday and the outside of it is quite solid although Ido see a couple of holes going deep into it that are about an inch to inch and a half accross so I dont know what the interior is like.
Anyway, I am going to cut it off the tree and if it seems solid enough, try and make something with it.

My question is, since I have never worked with a burl before..... What is the best way to determine how I section it or mount it to my lathe? It is small enough that I could actually put the whole thing on there.
(I will take some pics of it on the tree so as to give everyone a better idea later today if it isnt raining when I get back from work.)

[Vaughn McMillan]

It is a lump on just one side of the branch or does it surround it? Either way, my suggestion would be to cut the burl lengthwise with the branch, and try to remove the pith in the process. If it's on just one side of the branch, you'll get one dome-shaped burl cap out of it. If it surrounds the branch, you'll get two shallower caps. (Or maybe even three, depending on the size.)

But take that with a grain of salt. I don't have much burl harvesting experience. Most of the burls I've turned had been cut into blanks before I saw them, but on the 'raw' burls I've gotten, I cut or turned the pith out as part of the process. (One exception was a wildfire-damaged manzanita burl. I left the pith, but it wasn't your average burl.) Once you cut into the burl, you may also find the wood is rotten on the inside. In those cases, I either adjust my intended project to be something that would fit the shape of the non-rotted wood, or I go find another piece of wood to turn.

Gee, you've got the Vortex Disease bad. You're starting to eye the burls in the trees in your yard.

[Rich Soby]

hehehe yeah Im eyeing lots of trees! I think it may be cronic at this point!

[Rich Soby]

I am going to assume that the inside of this is rotted looking at the condition of the limb that it is on. But the outside seems solid albeit quite dry.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Rich I would say there is not much solid looking wood in that one. I had a friend of mine that was trimming some of his fruit tree's and brought me a burl that looked almost like what you pictured. There wasn't enough solid wood to even make firewood out of it. There is probably a lot more rotted wood that you won't see till you cut it.

I say cut it and see. I would cut it length wise to the branch and see what you have. May surprise you to.