How to Dry a Maple Burl??

[Charles Johnson]

I will shortly be gifted with a very nice maple burl from a limb that the owner wants to remove. How should I best treat it for drying to avoid cracking, checking, and otherwise making it less than useful?

The limb above and below the burl is about 8" to 9" in diameter and I expect to see clean cuts through the limb wood. (At least we'll do our best to avoid any upstream splitting. <g>) The burl itself is about 20" at its widest point and not quite wraps around the limb. Accompanying photo should give a general idea of its appearance.

Lacking any better guidance, I would plan to paint both cut ends with sealing compound and store it on a shelf in my heated shop until I figure out what to do with it. I only have a mini-lathe, so am not in a position to eventually turn it as a single vessel. (Though that would be pretty impressive.)

Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[john lucas]

Saving it withought checking is going to be a problems. Painting the ends with endgrain sealer won't work for very long. As it dries it will start cracking although burls don't always follow the same rules as straight grained wood. I would consider covering it stretch wrap and then trying to turn it as soon as you can. The stretch wrap will keep it from drying and may cause mold but then that might give you spalting in the maple.
You can always cut it up into smaller blanks and then seal these completely with end grain sealer. Even then if they dry fast enough they can crack. Covering them with parrafin wax or stretch wrap is the best way I've found to keep wood fresh and ready to turn.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Turn soon. John's correct in saying to wrap it while you wait, but mildew is NOT spalt, nor will it make your white maple more attractive. Keep it out of your heated shop until it has been turned and given a few days to a couple weeks in a high humidity area. Like your garage.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

you might put in cardboard barrel or box for 4 to 6 months, put some dry shavings in, not enough to cover, just some to absord moisture

 

[Steve Worcester]

cut it up to usable sizes, wax it and put it in the house for a few years. Sometimes many years. But if you live in a low humidity climate, most bets are off

 

[Hugh]

If you cut it up right away into turnable sized pieces - seal them up - but I would turn it as soon as I could. If you turn something right away after it is cut - the wood will be much brighter white than if you wait a month. At least that is what happens with Big Leaf Maple Burl. Turn something fairly thin and it will almost stay the color it is when you turn it.
Good luck.
Hugh

 

[Dave Ogren]

Burl

Ditto to what others said, but I would be looking for someone that will help you that has a bowl coring set up such as an OneWay or McNaughton etc. I see you live in WNC, The club meets the third Sat. at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Some one there will help you. Or Maybe Jack Mincey in Cullowee, He has a OneWay.

Good Luck,

Dave

 

[Bill Boehme]

If you have Anchorseal or an equivalent wax emulsion end grain sealer from Rockler or Woodcraft, cover all surfaces and keep it in a cool place such as an unheated garage. Do not store it outdoors where it is exposed directly to the sun and rain. I would advise against packing it in dry shavings because you do not want to accelerate the drying process at this stage. Wet shavings might be OK -- I know some turners who do that. If you have a project in mind, roughing it out now might be a good idea and then coat it with Anchorseal then let it sit in an unheated garage or shop for a few months. I think that there is some good luck involved when it comes to avoiding cracks when drying a maple burl. I should add that most of the maple that I have turned was mostly dry before I got it, so I am far from being an expert on drying maple.

I mostly turn mesquite where cracks are a fact of life. They are there before the wood is even cut -- they rarely , but occasionally will develop during drying. It is the reason that I buy CA by the pint rather than the tiny 2 oz bottles.

 

[odie]

There is not much hardwood burl available to me direct from the tree, so I have to rely on purchasing all the burl specimens I get from others. I have turned quite a few pieces of Maple burl, and the basic blocks, as I get them, all seem to conform to what we're seeing in this thread.

Cut to usable size, and anchorseal the total block. Store in dry cool area.

Once you rough out your bowl, the seasoning process will be sped up considerably. I see Hugh's comment about the wood having a more preferable coloring if turned immediately, but I really not sure about that......considering just about everything I get has had some amount of time involved between the time it's cut from the tree, and I get it. I do see that burl, at just about any stage of dryness does have a significant, and unmistakable beauty that is wonderful in turnings.

ooc

 

[Charles Johnson]

These are good suggestions all and I appreciate them. It turns out -- no pun intended -- that we canceled the cut today and plan to reschedule in January when I will have more time. Also counting on better weather for tromping around outside: snow on the ground since my original post, temps barely above freezing, and the prospect of an ice storm coming in tonight.

Thanks for all your help. I'll regroup next month.

 

[Rich Aldrich]

That gives you some time to try to come up with ideas of what to turn. Sometimes when you see the first cut in the burl, an idea will pop in your head.