Thread: Buckeye Burl

Have turned a few bits... I stabilised by soaking in thin CA, then drill, then soak in thin CA, then turn a bit, then soak in thin CA, then turn a bit more, then soak in thin CA (then have still managed to take chunks out of the blank)

Can look pretty spectacular as a finished pen though, let us know how you go.

Best if stabilized in resin, Amos here is one I did a while ago, Amos

I buy big blocks of the stuff unstabilized. Just take light cuts and use a sharp tool and you should be O.K. Don't try to hog it though. I generally sand it to 320 before applying CA and the first five or six coats of CA just drink right up into it and stabilize it then. Sometimes I may hit it with a little more 320 before applying the finishing coats. You won't even start to get finish coats until the timber has stopped soaking it in. That said, the end result is pretty much the same as using stabilized blanks.

Ditto what cisco said for light cuts & sharp tools.

I've done a few unstabilised, sanded to 1500 and given it a lick of BLO before finishing with NC sanding sealer then rustins. BLO makes the colours pop like the fourth of july.

Havent tried CA, the Rustins hold up well & stabilises the buckeye nicely though.

Amos, nice one, dont think I've seen that pic before...

Thanks Dangermouse, but it is MIK's thread, meant only as an example, Cisco's advice is good seeing he buys it and makes sheds out of it!!!!, I'll try to remember this advice if and when I get to raw Buck Eye Burl. Good luck MIK, show us the results when it is done and your experience in doing it, that way I'll learn too!, Amos

thanks for the info guys, this weekend is probably shot but i will get around to it pretty soon

nice pen as per always Amos, i hope i can get mine to turn out half as good as yours, man i would be happy

its the one wood i have been wanting to have a go at since day dot

I had some Buckeye burl once and I went ahead and made the blank and drilled them out. I then soaked them for a couple days in MinWax Wood Hardener. I let it dry for a full day and it turned really well. The piece I had, had a lot of really black tissue in it and the Hardener seemed to prevent the colors bleeding over too. Don't know if this stuff is sold in your neck-o-the-woods but I would think you have some product that is made for punky wood.

thanks mate i just got some "Earls wood hardener" this week, i am going to try it on some other bits i have laying around first

this stuff is a milky white and i want to make sure that the milky color doesn't change the colors in the wood

has anyone tried Earls wood hardener per chance

thanks
MIK

Originally Posted by MBUMIK

thanks mate i just got some "Earls wood hardener" this week, i am going to try it on some other bits i have laying around first

this stuff is a milky white and i want to make sure that the milky color doesn't change the colors in the wood

has anyone tried Earls wood hardener per chance

thanks
MIK

Milky white would be because it is water based (PVA or similar emulsion).

It will probably change the colour to some extent, but shouldn't do so to a great extent.

Someone tried it on rotten window sills and wasn't too impressed:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f14/wood-hardener-43523-post443174

thanks mate, interesting, but i have it now anyway

i have some white top burl which falls apart when you even think about picking up a skew so if it can makes this hard i am guessing it will work on anything

i intended to cut and drill the blanks then soak them in the stuff for a couple of hours or overnight to make sure that it got all the way in, take a while to dry as well i guess

its worth a try on the white top before i try the buckeye, any other ideas???

hopefully the friend who is meant to be organising a vacuum pump for me will have it all sorted out when i see him next then i should be able to stabilize with resin, but that will be another trial and i am sure a story to go with it

MIK

Originally Posted by Woodenink

... I'll try to remember this advice if and when I get to raw Buck Eye Burl..

Amos, I would love to send you some "raw" buckeye burl, but there is just no way Customs would let it through. It's pretty rough with voids and rot and decayed bits that must be avoided. Lots of waste involved when cutting pen blanks and, even then, you are likely to have deep inclusions that must be filled with sawdust and CA. Buckeye burls come from the root system of the trees and must be dug up with earth moving equipment. I suspect growing under ground accounts for their condition.

well i finally managed to get a half decent photo to show my buckeye burl jnr victor created last weekend, i did 2 actually but the first lot of photos were rubbish and the other pen isn't here at the moment

i turned the buckeye as per normal, from square to round, i can't get the handle on a roughing gouge so i use a blunt nose scrapper that i have become very able to use and get a fairly good finish, once i got it to round i thought about the CA to stabilize but decided to try my hand with the skew chisel, i personally like the skew and very rarely have a problem

the cuts were very, very thin and the full length of the blanks, this worked really well, i stopped reguarly to check on the progress and found a couple of the darker bits needed the CA to hold them in, but all in all unstabilized was not a problem.

for the finish i tried something different, i like the high class finish that CA gives but have been having probs of late as it looks like there are places where it was coming away from the wood so heres what i did

EEE ultra shine to bring out the grain in the timber, worked well
2 coats of Shellawax Glow friction polish, this came up well also
6 coats of CA however i put a speck of BLO on the blue workshop cloth first then the CA on top of this before application, the BLO stops the cloth from sticking to the wood and also works as a mild accelerant

i am very happy with the finish and i think until i find something better i will do it this way from now on

my son saw the pen and wanted it, because it has a skull on it, i took the photo with the skull showing if you can see it.

the photo is taken with my new homemade light tent, i will need to play with the lighting a bit more, but the photo is better than all previous ones

i hope you like it

MIK

Hey Mik,

Beautiful result, it makes you all fuzzy when a plan comes together, hey?? I glued up some of the blanks you sent me today, I need to get a better drilling setup if I want to make some Sierra's. I did a couple of Streamlines and got 1 Sierra, only blew out one blank. I'll do a Thread on Saturday if I get them finished.

HazzaB

Great result Mik!!!