Good evening all-My awesome son, who works as a power lineman and sometime tree-man, brought home 4 cherry burl sections from a job he did today. You can sort of gauge the size based on the 2x4's they're resting on, but that longest one looks a little under 3 feet long. A lot of what looks sort of like burls seems like just crystallized tree-sap that crumbles off, so I don't know how much is actual wood burl. I just Anchor-Sealed them, but am not really sure how to proceed.
For some context on my current skills, I have turned very little actual burled wood, really just a few spindle blanks for various small projects. I have also only recently started hollowing any deeper than open bowls or small lidded boxes of 3-4 inches deep, but am slowly getting comfortable with my Hunter Badger #5 tools, of which I have both the straight neck and the swan neck, though no real hollowing gear (yet-so much to buy, still!). I am thinking I should start with the smallest one on the left to see what it wants to be on the lathe. Here are a couple of questions if you will indulge me:
1. How might you cut/section them? I'm thinking I should cut that longest one 2nd from the left roughly in half to make it more manageable, but I don't know.
2. I am all too familiar with how green cherry especially can crack to firewood. Should I let these sit for a bit, then maybe rough-turn something and see how much solid wood I have? Then let them dry slowly like a regular-grained bowl?
3. I know that burls can be a mess of voids, bark inclusions, etc. Other than strictly following the usual safety considerations like line of fire for flying chunks, wearing my safety visor, etc., are there any other factors I should be taking into consideration?
4. Holding considerations: If I start it with the regular log part on each end cut square, can I start it between centers and cut a roughly 3-inch tenon for my 100mm chuck jaws? Honestly, I'm not sure how to turn these safely and securely.
I have no doubt my new PM3520 is up to the job, so I think the lathe can handle it based on some of the darn-near trees I've seen videos of people turning on theirs. Question is, can I? I am always pushing my skills at the lathe, and try to learn something new on every project. These should fill the bill!
I'm sorry to sound so clueless, but this type of turning is totally new to me, so all input from you burl experts is appreciated.
For some context on my current skills, I have turned very little actual burled wood, really just a few spindle blanks for various small projects. I have also only recently started hollowing any deeper than open bowls or small lidded boxes of 3-4 inches deep, but am slowly getting comfortable with my Hunter Badger #5 tools, of which I have both the straight neck and the swan neck, though no real hollowing gear (yet-so much to buy, still!). I am thinking I should start with the smallest one on the left to see what it wants to be on the lathe. Here are a couple of questions if you will indulge me:
1. How might you cut/section them? I'm thinking I should cut that longest one 2nd from the left roughly in half to make it more manageable, but I don't know.
2. I am all too familiar with how green cherry especially can crack to firewood. Should I let these sit for a bit, then maybe rough-turn something and see how much solid wood I have? Then let them dry slowly like a regular-grained bowl?
3. I know that burls can be a mess of voids, bark inclusions, etc. Other than strictly following the usual safety considerations like line of fire for flying chunks, wearing my safety visor, etc., are there any other factors I should be taking into consideration?
4. Holding considerations: If I start it with the regular log part on each end cut square, can I start it between centers and cut a roughly 3-inch tenon for my 100mm chuck jaws? Honestly, I'm not sure how to turn these safely and securely.
I have no doubt my new PM3520 is up to the job, so I think the lathe can handle it based on some of the darn-near trees I've seen videos of people turning on theirs. Question is, can I? I am always pushing my skills at the lathe, and try to learn something new on every project. These should fill the bill!
I'm sorry to sound so clueless, but this type of turning is totally new to me, so all input from you burl experts is appreciated.
