Cherry Burl - What do I do now?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

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Aug 13, 2002
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Got 3 burls. They are all pretty soggy but 2 of them are worst with rot in them. So am I right in thinking that I should trim all the bark and rot away before letting them dry whole. Or just cut them all up and see what I have and then dry?

Thanks

Patrice
 

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Dont know, but I'd try to cut em and dry em in your oven on low heat 150-175ºF for 18-24 hours, then send them for stabilizing, post haste. You'll take a chance of it cracking, but it'll crack on your shelf drying too.

Jason
 
When my brother cleared his lot to build his house he saved me these.

I'll try and cut them to see how bad it is then, thanks.

Patrice
 
Hey Pat,

Make sure to take pics of how you proceed and your findings; I have a couple of maple one at my father's place, currently "drying". Anything you learn is gold mine for me (and maybe other?) :thumbup:
 
You don't want to cut them into handle size blocks and stick them in your oven. They will check and crack all over. Cut them into the handle blocks, seal the ends with glue, wax, or poly and then rub a bunch of oil into them and let them dry slowly in a box or something. I've found this to be the best way to avoid them checking.
 
hey yall, im back from my 8 month hiatus and needless to say i was and still am a begginer. i made a knife- drilled a whole in a block from both sides and had a major problem with it. it was crooked and --well i forgot much and did it too fast.\BACK ON SUBJECT: i have a 45ft black walnut that is coming down cause of erosion.I was thinking of how to cut it up and dry it, so the info so far has been great. any other suggestions on how to go about making the most out of the black walnut. what is the general rule is it something like an inch of wood equals a year of drying time? thanks mark
 
First stage done. Using a chisel I cleaned most of the water soaked bark and all I could of the rotted wood. Here is what it looks like now. What worries me the most is the "pockets" in the middle as well as 2 of them have holes on the end that go quite deep.

Where to cut now.

Patrice
 

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My thoughts on this would be to coat the cut ends with wax and let it dry naturaly with the bark on to slow the drying and avoid a lot of cracks and checks.

Bob

Edited to say whoops to late.
 
I had a couple of burls like this last year. I cut them up into blocks that were manageable and took them over to my buddies, he runs a hardwood business. He applied wax to all sides and put them in his kiln to dry for about a month. After that I cut them up into knife block size and sent them off to WSSI for stabilizing. They turned out real nice. This is a hunter I did out of one of the blocks.
 
That's beautiful stuff Burton.

Bob any idea how to put the bark back on? ;)

What worries me about letting it dry is the rot. Won't it get worst or will this dry too?

Patrice
 
Patrice,
This is just my 2 cents, but since burl grows in all directions it doesnt do any good to paint or just wax the ends. In your situation I would find a place where you can dunk those in wax. Then set them aside. Thats what I would do with your cherry burls. I have had a lot of cherry burl twist and crack on me, its one of the worst for that. You could look into a chemical for dealing with wet wood, and then cut your burls up into blocks and soak them. Lot of wood workers use pentacryl or anchorseal. I had a thread posted earlier about some box elder burl that I used pentacryl on, and the color is almost back to the original today and its only been 2 days. Mine was crumbling and soft on the bottom and those were the ones I used it on. I would do a little research into it.

Larry
 
Pat just let your dog bark at the wood that might work.
I think covering with wax is the best bet and down in the voids and let them set in a dry spot in your shop a few years.
 
I had an oak and a maple burl that were fresh and I didn't want them to crack while drying. I mixed wood glue with water and brushed that all over them to seal it up and let them dry. It takes a while but you'll have some nice stuff eventually.
 
As far as wax goes, any special way to do it or just pure wax melted and applied?

I may have to do a little cutting first. Shop space is very limited and there is no way the better half will let me put these in the house. :(

Patrice
 
I would put anything on that seals like old oil based paint or wax just anything that stops the wood from drying to fast
 
If you use Pentacryl WSSI will not touch them. I got some scales off of ebay that were "stabilized" that way and when Emailed they said neither they nor I would be happy with the result so they would not try.

I have no other suggestions but let it dry nice and slow- if it cracks then you have your first cut already decided for you!
 
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