Thread: How do i cut and treat my burl

Burls are really easy, because of all the interlocked grain they tend to not split much and stay stable as they dry. To answer your questions 1; really big burls need a chainsaw but smaller ones you can cut up with a bandsaw. 2; No grain direction in burls which is a big plus. 3; You should leave them whole for as long as possible. If they are cut with too much moisture content you will get a bit of surface crazing but if they are nice and dry, say 10% or less then you will get a a nice stable cut surface.

Couple more questions if i may?

Do i strip the bark before cutting up the burl?

Also do i need to wax it all sides after i cut the slabs?

Thanks!

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They will crack. Best thing to do is bury then in sawdust for a few years and then soak then in water with dish washing liquid for a few weeks then remove from the water and let dry and the bark will come away reasonable easy.

I wouldn't bother with the bark. It is really hard to get off and if you are going to turn them anyway there is no point. I used to hire a serious water blaster (4000psi, 18 litres per minute) to clean bark off burls and it was a ferocious, messy job but I wanted the cleaned surface. If you want that just buy cleaned burls. And I also wouldn't bother with wax. As I said before the interlocked grain protects them from most cracking. As for Rods' ideas of sawdust and dishwashing liquid I really think that is going overboard. The last time I bought mallee burl it was 1700 kilograms that had been cut and left in a heap on the ground out in the mallee for a couple of years and then brought over to the coast and it was all good and solid with not much cracking or insect damage. That said, burls from different trees vary enormously. Redgum and jarrah are full of voids and cracks, mallee is like rock and can be full of sand, blackbutt is full of sap rings, etc.

Also see the photos on this thread; Two burls. It shows a couple of nice mallee burls, rough cut with a chainsaw, no wax and a couple of cracks. I would fill those cracks with black epoxy before doing any cutting and they will come up as a very nice feature/accent on the finished piece.

thanks! my burl is yellow box and white box and i can see small cracks as per one of the photos i have in my first post.. im such a noob and i dont really want to stuff up my haul so i really appreciate your help!!

There is a stabilising and casting sub-forum under the pen turning forums.

For someone just starting on your stabilising journey you have picked some hard burls that don't really need stabilisation anyway. Having said that they can be done they just take a lot longer.

Yes remove the bark. Pressure washing is best, with a bit of picking with a pointy tool. Then I'd be slicing into pen and knife blocks ready for your stabilising chamber. Start with slightly oversized slabs, I use my bandsaw, 25-30mm thick. Dry them to OMC before cutting the slabs down into 50mm wide blocks 150mm long plus the offcuts (they can be used for casting into blanks). Now dry to 0%MC in an oven before starting to stabilise.

Remember our Aussie hardwoods take a lot longer than the US stuff. Vacuuming can take a few days for pen/knife scale blocks, and you should then soak for 4x vacuum time (not 2) and cook to set for 3 hours.

I wouldn't cut all those burls up though, start with just 2, as you may want larger blocks in the future, for handles/pepper grinder blanks/box making slices etc. You may also get sick of stabilising this nice hard burl. You are better off looking for some softer spalted stuff for stabilising.

You should also join the FB Stabilization Group.

Good luck

Originally Posted by Toymaker Len

...... As for Rods' ideas of sawdust and dishwashing liquid I really think that is going overboard......

They are not my ideas, but I have used both and they do work. These methods of drying/treating burls have come from previous posts form members in this site. My experience these methods commenced about 5 years ago with several Samon Gum burls varying in size upto 500mm dia x 300mm thick. Based on a previous experience I had with a White Gum burl, which I'd had for about 15 years, I decide to carve it into a free form bowl, its depth was around 150mm, and when I carved down to this depth the timber was still quite moist so it was put aside to dry. With the Samon gum burls (again free form) I roughed them all out to the required depth, dressed a flat bottom and top then placed them all in a large bulker bag and coverd/surrounded them is sawdust (info sourced from this site) and left them for a couple of years. Then with further info from this site, in order to hasten the bark removal (cause Samon gum bark sticks like the proverbial) I placed them in a bin and covered them with water and dish washing liquid and left them for 3 weeks then took them out and let dry with which the bark was muck easier to remove. Its been a long process but I'm starting to achieve my finished requirements.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

There is a stabilising and casting sub-forum under the pen turning forums.

For someone just starting on your stabilising journey you have picked some hard burls that don't really need stabilisation anyway. Having said that they can be done they just take a lot longer.

Yes remove the bark. Pressure washing is best, with a bit of picking with a pointy tool. Then I'd be slicing into pen and knife blocks ready for your stabilising chamber. Start with slightly oversized slabs, I use my bandsaw, 25-30mm thick. Dry them to OMC before cutting the slabs down into 50mm wide blocks 150mm long plus the offcuts (they can be used for casting into blanks). Now dry to 0%MC in an oven before starting to stabilise.

Remember our Aussie hardwoods take a lot longer than the US stuff. Vacuuming can take a few days for pen/knife scale blocks, and you should then soak for 4x vacuum time (not 2) and cook to set for 3 hours.

I wouldn't cut all those burls up though, start with just 2, as you may want larger blocks in the future, for handles/pepper grinder blanks/box making slices etc. You may also get sick of stabilising this nice hard burl. You are better off looking for some softer spalted stuff for stabilising.

You should also join the FB Stabilization Group.

Good luck

Thank you great info!!! I have joined wood stabilizing group (name is rob gajic)

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I also have a crap tonne (official measurement lol) of camphor laurel. Is this sonething i can stabilize and double dye?

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Originally Posted by Ford Fairlane

I also have a crap tonne (official measurement lol) of camphor laurel. Is this sonething i can stabilize and double dye?

Yes. Due to its oily nature though it's even more important to be completely dry. You could boil it to help remove any oil but I don't think it's worth the extra effort.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Yes. Due to its oily nature though it's even more important to be completely dry. You could boil it to help remove any oil but I don't think it's worth the extra effort.

Do you mean camphor not worth dyeing or just not worth remiving oil?

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Originally Posted by Ford Fairlane

Do you mean camphor not worth dyeing or just not worth remiving oil?

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Removing oil