• January 2026 Turning Challenge: Turned and Bent! (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Phil Hamel, People's Choice in the December 2025 Turning Challenge (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Ric Taylor for "Black Ash Burl" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 26, 2026 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

A gifted burl - How to take best advantage…

Lou Jacobs

Lou Jacobs

Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
1,363
Likes
2,986
Location
Baltimore, MD
Website
loujacobswoodturning.com
A buddy from my forestry school days just gifted me with an awesome sugar maple burl. He cut it a few months ago, coated the cut edge with paint, and we were finally able to get together yesterday for the transfer. Overall, the burl is about 32” x 15”. It grew in a sort of two lobed shape, so my preliminary plan is to divide the two pieces and go from there, seeing if it looks like bowls, hollow forms, or a mix, as I’m sure (as confident as I can be) that there will also be several small offcuts that may suggest other uses. I’ve laid two discs, 13” and 10” on what I think should be my first two pieces. I’d love to hear any suggestions and comment before I make an irreversible cut.
 

Attachments

  • 8765028531621276769.jpeg
    8765028531621276769.jpeg
    920.7 KB · Views: 91
  • 1340751502834676152.jpeg
    1340751502834676152.jpeg
    1 MB · Views: 91
  • IMG_9741.jpeg
    IMG_9741.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 93
  • IMG_9742.jpeg
    IMG_9742.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 92
I would split it where your thinking and then reevaluate from there. Looks like you could get quite a few bowls or hollow forms out of that depending on the insides.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
It grew in a sort of two lobed shape, so my preliminary plan is to divide the two pieces and go from there
Click to expand...

Your plan seems reasonable. I find it difficult or impossible to evaluate many chunks of wood from the outslde. The best I can do is make a guess at where to make the first cut, taking into consideration obvious external cracks, voids, decay, etc., and imagine the what figure might be inside based on clues from the bark and from the wood exposed when the chunk was cut from the tree.

The kinds of things I turn can make a big difference. I’m not always a fan of finished pieces with large ragged voids so one strategy I sometimes use to make the first cut is with the goal of leaving the largest pieces, evaluate, and repeat. Since I rarely turn green, I often cut up the wood with long-term successful drying in mind, watching for obvious pith and unstable juvenile wood. I also like to turn small things which makes it easier.

Even with no obvious hints on the outside, be prepared for disappointment when you see what’s inside! Sometimes what looks like a great burl from the outside has very little figure inside - it certainly doesn’t look like it with that piece but even a broken limb can have healing growth around that seems burl-like but is not. It will be interesting to see photos of what you see inside!

Also note that if you can’t get too it quickly, you can preserve the wood indefinitely by submersing it in water, perhaps in a 55 gal drum - called “ponding”. Just change the water occasionally. That’s also good after sectioning to preserving one part while working with another.

JKJ
 
So far I’m very excited about the burl. I opened it up and it is very solid. A bit of spalting on parts of the outer edges where it was dead, but still solid. I’ve cut one blank round on the bandsaw, 11” in diameter. For the larger piece I’ll wait until I can put it on the lathe and see what the best orientation will be. To be continued…IMG_9759.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9761.jpeg
    IMG_9761.jpeg
    965 KB · Views: 74
  • IMG_9755.jpeg
    IMG_9755.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 74
Yesterday I finally finished getting everything out of the maple burl that my friend gave me back in October. He also included a smaller cherry burl that made two of these pieces. This is the total output from the two. The largest bowl is 15” in diameter. Smallest pieces are 5”. Now I’ve got to figure out the best way to ship several of them back to him in upstate New York. IMG_0170.jpeg
 
I often start with the end in mind, that is I know what I am going to make outof the burl and this then decides how and where to cut the burl. In fact all that I make is decided before hand and then the blank is chosen. OK sometimes the blank isnt what I expected and thins there may change
 
hughie said:
I often start with the end in mind, that is I know what I am going to make outof the burl and this then decides how and where to cut the burl.
Click to expand...
I understand Hughie. One reason I was so uncertain about this is that I very rarely come across burls. A second is that this one was “precious” to me, as it was gifted by a classmate/friend and traveled 500 miles to me. Finally, it was huge, at least in my experience. All these things made me very eager to make the best use I could of it. I’m sure others would have handled it differently, but I’m pleased with the outcome. I’m hoping my friend will be too when he receives several of the pieces that I’ll ship back to him.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
I understand Hughie. One reason I was so uncertain about this is that I very rarely come across burls. A second is that this one was “precious” to me, as it was gifted by a classmate/friend and traveled 500 miles to me. Finally, it was huge, at least in my experience. All these things made me very eager to make the best use I could of it. I’m sure others would have handled it differently, but I’m pleased with the outcome. I’m hoping my friend will be too when he receives several of the pieces that I’ll ship back to him.
Click to expand...
I understand Lou sometimes these sort of blanks end on the my shelf for months if not years, till I come up with idea worthy of them. Its a love hate thing almost :).
 
Lou Jacobs said:
Yesterday I finally finished getting everything out of the maple burl that my friend gave me back in October. He also included a smaller cherry burl that made two of these pieces. This is the total output from the two. The largest bowl is 15” in diameter. Smallest pieces are 5”. Now I’ve got to figure out the best way to ship several of them back to him in upstate New York.
Click to expand...
Very productive work on those burls. To ship, especially for fragile or precious objects, a friend long ago recommended double boxing, and it's always worked. You put the object, well protected, into an appropriate sized box. Then put that box, with more protection, into a second box. Packing peanuts are very flexible for the protection. It's more hassle and expense, but very safe. One time, when I was dealing with my cousin's estate out of town, I took something antique and fragile to the UPS store and they did it for me, on the spot.
 
my advice (perhaps too late) is to stare at it for at least a year before cutting into it! I had an couple oak burls gifted to me from a fellow turner who had passed away. I looked at it for 4 years before finally cutting into it... I was lucky. it was a winner.
Lou Jacobs said:
I understand Hughie. One reason I was so uncertain about this is that I very rarely come across burls. A second is that this one was “precious” to me, as it was gifted by a classmate/friend and traveled 500 miles to me. Finally, it was huge, at least in my experience. All these things made me very eager to make the best use I could of it. I’m sure others would have handled it differently, but I’m pleased with the outcome. I’m hoping my friend will be too when he receives several of the pieces that I’ll ship back to him.
Click to expand...
I have had several gifted to me. the last one sat on the shelf for 3 years before I touched it. But I looked at is carefully a hundred times. When I finally jumped into it, I got 6 pieces out of it that were beautiful... from that experience my advice it don't rush!
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I did delay cutting into this to give it time to percolate in my mind. As you’ll see in my post of 12/25/25. I was able to get a dozen pieces out of it and sent off several of them to the fellow who gave me the burls. He was thrilled and I am as well with the overall output. I only have a few scraps left, but some of them are still big enough to make either very small boxes or bud vases, and still several pens. I’ll get to those as fill in projects between other more traditional turnings.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top