Cutting Down hill? BURL?

[slopech4]

Hi experts.

I visited the new location of Brads Burls on the weekend and bought a few blanks. One of which is a Red Mallee burl. I am new to turning burl on a face plate so I was wondering, which direction should I cut to follow the "Cutting downhill" rule?? Or does it not matter?

Cheers
Slopech4

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Basically, there is no "downhill" on most burls. It's part of what makes them a challenge.

However, it's a good idea to stop your lathe every so often and check what's happening with the grain as it may flow more in one direction than another, or you may run across an "inclusion" (if it can be called that) of straight grain. And then you may as well use that to determine a "downhill" direction, if only to save you some effort in getting a good finish.

Of course, you should be stopping fairly frequently anyway, as burls are prone to checking unexpectedly. :;