oak burl

Chris Mire

Member
Messages
945
Location
Southern Louisiana
does an oak burl look good? i think i have this correct that a burl is caused by the big knots on the trunk of a tree right? well my FIL cut down a huge oak that was beginning to die and it had some medium sized knots on the trunk. i cut one off and plan to resaw it and see what it looks like.

so if i have all this correct, does oak burl look good usually?

thanks
chris
 
does an oak burl look good? i think i have this correct that a burl is caused by the big knots on the trunk of a tree right? well my FIL cut down a huge oak that was beginning to die and it had some medium sized knots on the trunk. i cut one off and plan to resaw it and see what it looks like.

so if i have all this correct, does oak burl look good usually?

thanks
chris

it all depends:eek:.......burl is a "fancy" wood, it`s good for show pieces and accents......some burls are so full of junk that no matter how you cut `em they`re ugly......and others are so beautiful you`ll want to take up pen turnin` just so you don`t waste any...
lotsa help eh?
 
Chris that burl will be so ugly that you should go right out and box it up and send it to me.:rofl::rofl:
It is really like Tod said some are some are not.:dunno: Even the ones that are not can turn out to be a nice piece.
I am betting that after you resaw it you will wish that you had taken them all.
 
Chris, I disagree with Chuck. A southern burl like that would probably crack and warp real bad up in New Hampshire, making it uglier than it already is. Instead of sending it to Chuck, you should send it to me (in Southern California) for proper testing and evaluation. The tree was obviously diseased. I think a high RPM dissection with a sharp gouge might be in order. :p

As long as it's not too rotten or punky inside, I'll bet you find some neat stuff inside your burl. ;) Congrats on the find.
 
If it has too many voids you can always chunk it into blanks and pressure cast it with a colored resin. Curtis Seebeck has done this with spectacular results. I don't know if he is a member here, but you can find him on a couple penturning sites.
 
thanks guys for the info.

so the tree was just cut down and i just cut the burl off yesterday. how long does this thing need to dry before i resaw it, or do i resaw it then let it dry?

i am mostly just curious to see what it looks like. if possible i may do something with it. not sure just yet.

thanks
chris
 
Can't speak for flatwork, but for a turned piece, most folks would turn it while it's still green, then dry it out. Left whole, it'll take somewhere around a year per inch to dry out, and probably grow some good-sized cracks in the process. Cut up (or rough-turned), it'll dry faster, and it's a bit less likely to crack as bad. Might still warp, but warpage is usually easier to deal with than cracking.
 
Top