Sawing a burl.

Brian C. · April 20, 2016, 04:58:09 PM

Ok guys, I nee some help. Went to look at a job yesterday and the gent had some nice logs including a hickory with a huge burl. I did not measure it but had to be at least 16" tall and about 30" from the sprouting off the trunk to back again. I know burls are valuable and so does the customer. What I need is the best way to saw it. Any help? Thanks a bunch.
Brian

Burlkraft · April 20, 2016, 06:06:03 PM

What I would do is first decide who your market is going be. I'm a production turner and I rather buy it whole and cut it myself as to my needs. It would probably saw out a couple nice end table slabs. If I were in your place is try to sell it whole and then sell the custom saw job.

drobertson · April 20, 2016, 07:24:45 PM

same as above, a good friend is a turner, he said the same thing, leave whole,, but if you decide to whack it, I'm thinking make the biggest square you can,

qbilder · April 21, 2016, 08:26:53 AM

Got a picture & price for the burl whole? PM me if you are interested. Otherwise, I agree with the other guys about leaving it whole. I'll add that you should try to leave around 6" of trunk to each end so to avoid exposing the burl figure to atmosphere. It'll buy a little time before degrade.

Brian C. · April 23, 2016, 06:10:50 PM

I wish the burl was mine, but it is the customers'. He doesn't know what to do with it. He said he doesn't turn, so he was wondering how to slice it. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Magicman · April 23, 2016, 10:35:59 PM

Reading the previous replies, I thought that you had gotten your answer. qbuilder buys burls and turns Pool Queues.

qbilder · April 25, 2016, 08:33:45 AM

If the owner was going to sell it to me, I'd be interested in the burl whole. The only way I'd buy burl that's already cut up is if it's 1.5"x1.5"x12"+ squares that are below 10%mc with no cracks, warp, twist, voids, or other defects. And the squares would have to be heavy figure over the entire piece. That is the type of burl that pulls the big money your client thinks he/she is going to get, but like yard walnut I'm afraid it's a pipe dream. Once you slice it up & expose it to the air, it will crack & degrade beyond ruin. People with experience and knowledge in processing burl only sometimes get a fair yield, but generally deal with a lot of waste. That's why burl is expensive. It's only worth something if the end user can use it. But don't take my word for it. Slice it up & see what happens. You'll get paid for slicing it, so take the paycheck. Just be sure to explain to the owner what I just described, so that when the slabs of burl go haywire in a few days, you aren't to blame.

mesquite buckeye · April 27, 2016, 11:11:38 AM

Cut it a bit thicker than you need, then find a way to slow down the drying without slowing it down so much that it gets moldy.

Simple. ;D

No sweat. :-\

When you get good at this you can make more money.

Brian C. · April 27, 2016, 05:16:17 PM

Thank you guys. I really appreciate the info. I know that figure in burl can be unbelievable, but I have never worked with it. If it was mine, I would be interested in selling, but it isn't, and I don't believe the owner does either. So , I will pass this along to the owner. He was thinking maybe making a table, but that doesn't sound like it is going to work out to well. Thank you all for the help. I'll let you know how it goes.

justallan1 · April 27, 2016, 07:12:57 PM

Brian whether your friend keeps it or whatever, there are many great posts on sawing burls with lots of good information. Contrary to what some folks may say, the tree gods won't sneak in and turn the burl to trash by cutting it up if you take a little time and the advice of some of the folks here. I paid for my new bandmill in less than half a year and it has well less than 50 hours on it sawing pretty much only burls and I learned everything I know from the folks here and one other site. For the most part all I cut are blanks of all different sizes and have never had a single complaint from customers. Do yourself a huge favor and do a search on here and get the opinions of several people before forming an opinion as to how difficult it is.
The number one thing is to get it sealed on all sawn surfaces with Anchor Seal just as quick as you can after sawing it and then go back in a day or so and re-seal it. Please believe me on this one, I found out the hard way and probably cost myself a couple grand.
Cut your slabs thick and get it on stickers with a BUNCH of weight on top.
My experience is that you don't want to stack it to close to a wall or corner of a building where it will stop airflow and inhibit mold, but you do not want to put a fan on it and dry it so fast that it will warp and crack. Everything that I dry is indoors and out of any sunlight.
When sawing table tops I generally don't worry about inclusions any more as they can be filled and add to the character of the final product.
When sawing blanks I do the exact opposite and saw right down the exclusions as that will be waste wood anyhow. I try for the biggest solid chunks first, because they are worth the most, and work my way down. After that they go in the shop to the bandsaw and I cut blanks. When all I have is scrap, that goes into a box and sold to folks that cast resin blanks.
I sure don't know everything, but if I can help you out any more feel free to holler.
I still think you should post a couple pics so we can have a better idea of what you have and what to tell you.