I have a couple cherry galls here and I'm wondering how they might turn? Anyone have any experience with them? Are they mostly hollow or similar to burls inside? Thanks
This has been discussed on a couple of woodturning sites where Denny has posted. One is a gall, and the other is caused by a gall wasp. Both can be called a gall. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/cherry/what-is-cherry-tree-gall.htmThat’s a very attractive turning. What you are calling a gall, I think may be a burl. When I hear gall, I picture what Leo has posted - a tree’s reaction to an insect. Maybe semantics. In any case, you’ve done a neat job of using it and filling voids with resin.
Here is another picture of cancers and also called galls, these are on a Hickory tree, I've seen similar ones on other tree species also on wild Cherry shrubs and trees.I stand corrected. Thanks for the education Richard!
Ahem!!!! ...... I'm getting a little tired of my name being bandied about on this thread!I stand further corrected! This semantic confusion really galls me!
Maybe you misunderstood the old guy Denny, (I'm just starting my 80th year in May coming up) as yes a lot of the cancerous galls do grow on thin twigs and branches and these are of course higher up, where the burls grow on the tree trunk.Well this is my first experience with using a gall and although they both had more voids inside than some burls, I found that much of the grain was very similar to a burl. I was told by a fellow in my wood turners group who is in his eighties that burls would be on the bottom of the tree and galls would be up higher on the stem. After having seen what the grain inside looks like on the two pieces I have turned, I think they are more similar to burls than I had expected.Although I am by no means an expert on this. I have only turned a few pieces of burl to date and the grain patterns are similar to these "galls" inside.
I have seen examples of cherry galls and burls exactly as Leo has pictured on the naturally occurring black cherry trees in my area ( very close to lake Itasca the source of the Mississippi). The trees seldom get bigger then about 8" dimeter before they die of ring rot.Here is another picture of cancers and also called galls, these are on a Hickory tree, I've seen similar ones on other tree species also on wild Cherry shrubs and trees.
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Here are two pictures, in the first picture they call it a Gall
in the second picture we call it a Burl
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I think this has been enough of a correction on the Cherry Gall misnomer.
Do you have a photo of what it looked like before you turned or cut it?Well this is my first experience with using a gall and although they both had more voids inside than some burls, I found that much of the grain was very similar to a burl. I was told by a fellow in my wood turners group who is in his eighties that burls would be on the bottom of the tree and galls would be up higher on the stem. After having seen what the grain inside looks like on the two pieces I have turned, I think they are more similar to burls than I had expected.Although I am by no means an expert on this. I have only turned a few pieces of burl to date and the grain patterns are similar to these "galls" inside.
Was it similar to the picture that Leo posted that showed a burl like growth on the side of a black cherry trunk with extremely rough bark?I do not. The tree stem was maybe two or three inches in diamete and the piece itself was about 6 or 7 inches in diameter, maybe even larger and that much in height completely all around the stem. Never thought of taking a photo of it. I guess I should have.