Thread: Buckeye burl - undyed, unstabilized

Thanks for thant info Al, did not realize it was such a light weight porous timber. No wonder the BLO changes the colour. Amos

Thank you Al, that's terrific information.

Great picture and of course not to forget another outstanding pen, what a bottler. Attachment 86805

You have me itching to turn another one. Like you say I doubt it would make it through customs unless it was stabilized.

Originally Posted by ciscokid

This timber is so soft and light that it drinks in the first half dozen coats before any CA buildup can even start to begin.

Now that's stabilising it the hard way!

But it's certainly worth the effort.

Thats amazing. Its going to make a really nice pen.

Were you scared of turning it because it was so soft?

Also out of curiosity, what tree does it come off?

mega amazing
the difference between the unfinished and the finished is, well, absolutely incredible
thanks for the post

Thanks Al, that is a great contribution to the forum. Very interesting.

Terry

Originally Posted by timberbits

Thats amazing. Its going to make a really nice pen.

Were you scared of turning it because it was so soft?

Also out of curiosity, what tree does it come off?

You just have to use sharp tools and take light cuts. Too much pressure and your gouge will dig right in, the timber is so soft. Even with the sharpest tools, you can see the surface tearing rather than a clean cut. The sanding step smooths that out.
The tree is Aeculus octandra. Family Hippocastanaceae. It is an American tree. It ranges from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina westward to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. 30 to 70 feet high and two feet in diameter, it grows best in rich, moist soil along the banks of streams and rivers. It is one of the initial trees to leaf out in the spring, the twigs have a foul odor when broken, and the nuts and twigs are poisonous, containing a cytotoxin.

The burls primarily come from the root balls. After a tree is cut down, they dig up the burl. It is often quite large, filling the scoop of a front end loader. The roots come out of it.

Originally Posted by ciscokid

You just have to use sharp tools and take light cuts. Too much pressure and your gouge will dig right in, the timber is so soft. Even with the sharpest tools, you can see the surface tearing rather than a clean cut. The sanding step smooths that out.
The tree is Aeculus octandra. Family Hippocastanaceae. It is an American tree. It ranges from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina westward to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. 30 to 70 feet high and two feet in diameter, it grows best in rich, moist soil along the banks of streams and rivers. It is one of the initial trees to leaf out in the spring, the twigs have a foul odor when broken, and the nuts and twigs are poisonous, containing a cytotoxin.

The burls primarily come from the root balls. After a tree is cut down, they dig up the burl. It is often quite large, filling the scoop of a front end loader. The roots come out of it.

You have everyone drooling now Al, what a score Attachment 87076

Wow ... that stuff is really nice looking. It's not local around here but I will have to get some of this.

Many thanks for the tips cisco, just working on my first piece today (managed to get a few pieces through customs ).

The BLO made a pretty dramatic difference to the colour . looks stunning in the flesh!

small question though - how long did you wait for the BLO to dry before you did the finish?

From your original post I got the impression you went on with the CA immediately, is this right or did you wait a few hours/days?

cheers

DM

Well, I just dampen an old rag with the BLO and burnish it on the blank while the lathe is spinning. I'm not soaking it or anything. Then I take a clean portion of the same cloth and run it on it to remove any extra that might be there. Then I reach for the CA. First coat of CA goes on about 60 seconds or so after the oil. Haven't had any problems yet.

That is a dramatic change when the BLO hits it, isn't it? Looking forward to seeing your results.

Excuse my ignorance, but is Buckeye Burl the same as Box Elder Burl?

No. I think box elder is a form of maple. Box Elder, or Boxelder Maple, (Acer negundo) is a species of maple native to North America. In Canada it is called Manitoba maple and in Russia it is called American maple. It is the only North American maple with compound leaves. It is a small, fast-growing tree that grows up to 25m tall. It often has several trunks and can form impenetrable thickets. When I bought my farm ten years ago, I had about seven or eight acres of the stuff down by the river. Cost me $1,000 to have a guy with a bull dozer clean it all out for me. Took him two days.
It is invasive and can quickly colonize both cultivated and uncultivated areas and has become naturalized in eastern China. It can also be found in some of the cooler areas of the Australian continent where it is listed as a pest invasive species. At least, that's what Wikipedia says, and we all know about that.

Buckeye trees are much larger, more noble affairs. Native primarily to the Midwestern and lower Great Plains of the U.S. extending southeast into the Nashville Basin. Also can be found in the extreme southwest of Ontario, on Walpole Island, and in Lake St. Clair and isolated populations in the South. The leaves are palmately compound with five leaflets. The fruit is a round, spiny capsule 5 cm in diameter containing one to three nut-like seeds, 2-3 cm in diameter, brown with a whitish basil scar. This nut is what I fondly remember playing with as a child. Ohio is known as the Buckeye state and I was born there. The hard nuts, when thrown properly, will raise welts on older sisters (I could run really fast as a child). The buckeye confection, made to resemble the tree's nut, is made by dipping a spoonful of peanut butter fudge in milk chocolate, leaving a circle of the peanut butter exposed. These are a popular treat in Ohio during the Christmas and NCAA college football seasons.
While in North America it is referred to as the buckeye, Eurasian species are referred to as a horse-chestnut. In Britain, they are sometimes called conker trees because of their link with the game of conkers, played with the nuts, also called conkers. It is not a true chestnut. The use of the term horse-chestnut refers to their strength or inedibility. The name buckeye derives from the resemblance of the seed to the brown eye of a male deer.