Thread: Red mallee burl score

Nice score cisco, wish I had a timber yard like that near me!

That sure is a good looking piece of Red Mallee, good luck, may many beautiful pens come from it. Amos

Indeed I have such a friend who supplies burl by the ton or shipping container to the United States he lives just a mile from me. There is a better than even chance it and Amos s Red Mallee came from the same stable (if they were horses).

My mate is the guy who travels extensively and cuts the Burl brings it back to his base here and wholesales it out around the world.

Now two things come to mind one is your burl could be and most probably green (beware) check that it is dry before you turn. I buy Burl that is years cut and dry.Never leave Red Mallee Burl out in the sun to dry it will go every which way including splits etc. When my mate gets it he always covers it in the yard first before other timber types.My last lot of burl came from a guy down the chain who is a full time turner and lives out of town ten years cut and dried some of that went to Amos.

I have introduced many men to my Burl Gatherer mate but do not do it any more, so many times they have fallen into making offers or denigrating remarks or simply not willing to pay for the timber at all after all they say you have twenty ton in your yard and I am a friend of Peters that should guarantee at least half price, then to rub salt in the wounds I suffer as well take so much time to select. My supplier mate says he can pack a ton of burl in the time he takes with some people I have brought to him.

Bear in mind when you purchase a larger burl in your case the bark has to be removed from the timber as a requirement of law for export , that accounts for a lot of losses so if you can buy cut seasoned blanks you can select from you can be so far in front financially without the doubts of quality etc.

Now the burl I see on your post looks great and I know in America you guys are used to buying board feet of rare timbers we never see in that quantity. I do trust your purchased burl will serve you well. Personally I have bitten the bullet sharing my good purchases but will be very carefull with whom and when, I too have found it to exhaust time and money and since I have a top standard in blanks I have had to stand all reject stuff that inevitably comes in any purchase, splits and bark inclusions punk etc.

So grateful you share your finds etc with us I try to do the same , some say it is gloating I say sharing your good fortune, also it is educational to me to see others timbers and pens. One of my Daughters lived and worked in nearby Washington DC a few years ago so when I see a posting I often Google that location that then extends my knowledge of other countries and conditions. Top temp will be 10 Celcius today prompting me to evaluate relocating my lathe for pens to a room I can heat and cool for comforts sake as an added incentive to go out to the shed.Semi major task for me as I make things so heavy and strong (theory all my life if one nail is good several must be better).

Regards Peter

Cisco,
Nice find! It would not do for me to have such a locale as that. The missus would kill me dead, as I would be wanting to spend more time there than at home lol.


Rick

Nice bit of burl Cisco. If you have a bandsaw you might want to try resawing your blanks on that as the kerf will be less and reduce your wastage. A 3mm cut over a 1mm cut adds up pretty quickly. I don't recommend practicing on your Red Mallee Burl though.

Corbs

Nice one Cisco. How many pens do you estimate ae in that?

I think I should get roughly 24 full size blanks based on what I got from the first half last night. I have also set aside a couple of pieces that, while they may not measure the full 5-1/2", can be used for Sierra or the like.

I do have a bandsaw and it is great for resawing timber. Once I installed aftermarket guides and tuned it to within an inch of it's life, that is. But, I really like the smooth surfaces that my table saw produce. And I use a thin kerf blade so I hope I'm not wasting too much. Worth thinking about though, thank you for the suggestion.

Peter - you bring up many good points. About how long should I allow the pen blanks to dry once they are cut up? And what will happen if I turn it too soon? We are in the heat of Washington summer right now. The forecasters are predicting highs around 36 C and a heat index of around 40 C. While my shop is air conditioned, I seldom run it. Too cheap I guess. Thank you for the excellent advice.

I bought a digital scale that does up to three kgs and if and when you cut the blanks they will be fairly stable, what I did with a cut block of marbled Eucalypt was I stacked on itself in my roof space and random numbered four of them as sample monitors ran a school exercise book recording the weight every week. When they were weighed they reached a constant weight for two full weeks they were tops.
SWMBO made a valid observation to me the ones that are not ready feel cold, also heavy so let your scale tell the tale and good fortune.
The block of burl I had was waxed all round a device of the devil if you ask me, but when I cut it up it did not matter it was only waxed on one face for the outside ones it yielded 100 full blanks, wow with marble, it was a looking good but I have paid for rubbish waxed blocks sometimes so I figure I was due one good break.
Have success is my wish. Peter
PS at one time I got a list of American buyers from my mate and started to contact them for permission to publish a list of those that agreed who bought from my mate and I failed to raise any enthusiasm from them.
By the way that timber was cheap mate it has to be shipped to the US fumigated,customs handling and you paid less than wholesale here, well seen.

Great score Cisco

Beautiful wood, should make some very nice pens.

Originally Posted by ciscokid

Peter - you bring up many good points. About how long should I allow the pen blanks to dry once they are cut up? And what will happen if I turn it too soon?

Why use words when pictures will tell the tale so much better?

A beautiful piece of Cocobolo, bought at woodcraft, aka the devil incarnate. It appeared to be dry, should have known better, but I gave it a whirl anyhow.

One fine hairline crack appeared after I had finished turning down the first barrel, I coated it with CA and quit, I knew what was to come. Over the period of the next couple days the rest occurred. Needless to say the rest of the block went on the shelf.

damn..

I've been thinking about giving up on them, too. Even though there aren't other places
around me to find exotics.. and I REALLY don't want to buy without having it in my
hands first. But Rockler doesn't seem to be any better. Both are a 200 mile round trip
for me.

That bites, Matt. I've got lots of amboyna cigar and Jr Gent pens that look like this.
So far I've been OK on the cocobolo. In fact, I've got a few board feet in the shop
that aren't cut up into blanks yet. Throw me an email and I'll pack some up.

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

damn..

I've been thinking about giving up on them, too. Even though there aren't other places
around me to find exotics.. and I REALLY don't want to buy without having it in my
hands first. But Rockler doesn't seem to be any better. Both are a 200 mile round trip
for me.

That bites, Matt. I've got lots of amboyna cigar and Jr Gent pens that look like this.
So far I've been OK on the cocobolo. In fact, I've got a few board feet in the shop
that aren't cut up into blanks yet. Throw me an email and I'll pack some up.

Thanks NewLondon, appreciate the offer, but I've got a couple board feet of it in the shop too.

The .75-1" thick planks that are a couple feet long and misc withs I've never had any trouble with. I've bought two of those and used them.

This piece was a little block from the bowl turning section. Never had any luck with anything from that section. Well I take that back. There have been a few little tiny sticks I've bought, only about maybe .75"x.75 and 12" or so long, of lignum vitae and another one or two, that worked fine, but they were also not coated in wax, just the tip was dipped. Everything else though.