Burl help please

K

kdnolin

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Jan 16, 2017
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99775317-8D1E-4733-9D89-EF5430E7AAC5.jpeg I scored two large Burl logs, I got them from (Lethbridge Alberta) but the guy had no idea what species they are or if they were sourced locally or not. Locally would most likely be Box Elder, can anyone make a more definitive answer?
 
This little paring knife and is siblings are dyed and stabilized box elder. Sure see some similarities with the block ya cut.

EzrVPgP.jpg


kByGMm0.jpg
 
It does look like box elder burl to me. Box Elder can also be "flamed" if the right bugs attack it. I can see some possible red coming through in a few spots in the block but hard to tell. If you see the red flames (sometimes brownish), then that would be a good giveaway for box elder. But not all of it has flames.
 
I absolutely love your work Horsewright! Great pics.

Some pieces do have the red flamings in them. I tried uploading one, but it keeps saying file too large. I’ll try later.
 
kdnolin said:
I absolutely love your work Horsewright! Great pics.

Some pieces do have the red flamings in them. I tried uploading one, but it keeps saying file too large. I’ll try later.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Looks like ya got a good score!
 
kdnolin said:
This is a block I cut out of it
Any cutting recommendations are also welcome
Click to expand...

Sweet score!!!!!
To get the best quality pieces, you will need to sacrifice maximizing your material. You want to cut the blocks so that the sides of the handles will be parallel to the surface of the burl (like on the right side of the piece in the pic). And ideally, to maximize the strength of the wood, the length of the blocks/scales will be in line with the trunk of the tree, but in a burl this isn't as important.
 
I'm not really familiar with Box Elder (never used it), but if it's not specifically that it really does look like some species of Maple, especially with the "coral" look that burl on the right has. It's funny, I was just researching Box Elder and I never knew that it was a type of Maple, I always assumed it was its own thing lol.

Nice score!

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)

 
I would slab those into 3" slabs and let sit for a year. Then cut those into 3"X3"X6" blocks and let sit for as long as needed to reach below 10% moisture content. Then cut up the blocks based on which sides look best. I would highly recommend having the blocks stabilized by K&G . Box elder burl is one of the best woods for dying, too. I usually have it dyed green, red, and blue for kitchen knives. Sometimes I have it done in brown for hunters. Double dying works very well on it as well.
 
908F8169-2808-4A06-BBC0-B2B4DED7B199.jpeg 328A78D7-11A9-4C7D-9F72-81E810CAB650.jpeg
The second pic is with a piece of maple, likely red leaf, It’s is not as dense as the maple and obviously colour is different.
I will definitely be getting it stabilized and some of it dyed too.
 
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