Maple burl rough out

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flyrod444

New User
Jack
I've been looking at the burls on a large red maple tree for years and it was cut down last year when the property was developed for commercial use. I stopped and asked about it before they got around to cutting it and was told that it was already spoken for and was to be sawed into lumber. It was a big disappointment to see it get sawed up into lumber since the burls would not be used to their fullest as lumber IMHO. I got a call a few weeks ago from the person who ended up with it. He does beautiful, unbelievable flat work, but he felt the same as I and didn't thank that he could use some of the burls as well as a bowl turner and gave me first crack at what he didn't want. Lucky for me he had seen a couple of my pieces before and knew that I turned some. I ended up with 4 nice burls and this one is the first that I've roughed out. It is extremely nice and I will post a picture of it when it is finished. I use the Kobra system to hollow it and have to say that this system is great. It is 12" in dia and about the same in height. Sorry for the picture, but I just set it in the top of a shop vac drum I used to carry the curlies out of the shop at the end of the day.
Jack
DSC00430.jpg
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
Jack,

Could you educate me a little about handling burls and how you dry them? Do you turn them green and let them dry before finish turning? I have a couple that I want to turn but have only turned dry wood before.
 

flyrod444

New User
Jack
Mike, I turn burls just like all the wood I get. I turn them green and it's thickness to around 10% of the Dia. of the form or bowl and place it in one or two brown paper bags and lay it on the concrete floor in the back of my shop to dry for 3 months or more. I check it ever other week and Zap any small cracks with thin CA to prevent them from getting bigger. After they seem almost dry I put them on shelf out of the bag to dry for another 2 or 3 months and then return them. I usually can fine tune the shape at this point since it changes a bit as the form dries.
Good Luck,
Jack
 
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