Encouraging checking and splits in raw burl?

oldanvilyoungsmith

oldanvilyoungsmith

Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Messages
427
Sounds weird I know...

But I've found a couple burls in my woods, I intend to harvest them tomorrow, and at least one of them I want to encourage as much checking and splitting as I can.

My plan at this point is to harvest it, then slab it up into overly large slabs while it's still green (same day), and possibly even force dry them in a dehydrator or something similar. Basically the exact opposite of all the normal procedure of drying as slow as possible.

The other burl I'll probably try to dry slow like standard.


Also, what is a good moisture level to aim for before having it stabilized? (I'll probably end up investing in a moisture meter).


Thanks ya'll, Stephen.
 
Please do tell why you want the burl to crack? Are you planning to do some acrylic/epoxy injection stuff (because that would be awesome)?

To make it crack faster I would dry it as fast and unevenly as possible. Either by blowing hot, dry air over one side or by putting it in an oven with the door cracked open to allow moisture to escape, and thus speed drying.
 
Quick drying will encourage checking/splitting.
K&G recommends <9-10% moisture before stabilizing.
~billyO
 
Microwave on its own wont help splitting but as burl cools & shrinks back down it will.
Fwiw,
Microwave is a good bug killer too. Higher moisture content of the bugs will heat & cook faster before the surrounding wood will heat to detrimental point.
 
My goal is to get it to split and crack enough that after stabilization I have a stable piece of burl with enough gaps and such that I can fill them with resin mixed with Glow powder.

I hope to achieve an effect similar to this:

 
oldanvilyoungsmith said:
My goal is to get it to split and crack enough that after stabilization I have a stable piece of burl with enough gaps and such that I can fill them with resin mixed with Glow powder.

I hope to achieve an effect similar to this:

Click to expand...

That is COOL. Be sure to upload some pics after!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have seen that type impregnation be done on burls with natural voids. Buckeye burl is the prefect choice. Other root burls may have pockets and voids.

Forcing a split will only affect the ends and sides to some degree. Getting larger splits and cracks requires letting it dry outside with no treatment at all. Cut the ends clean and set it on some cinderblocks so it doesn't rot ( unless you want spalt). Let it sit in the rain and sun for a few years and it will be exactly what you are looking for. It may take four to ten years, BTW.

I have left maple and persimmon on the ground deliberately to make it spalt. Leave it a tad too long and it gets all those cracks and splits, too. The trick is taking it up and harvest it just before it is too punky or split to use. I haven't tried to make it split, but leaving it down for six months to a year, and then raising it up to slow the rot would probably get slabs like your photo.
I have a pile of rounds sitting by the shop right not that sat out too long and are so split I can't get usable handles from them. The spalt and colors are superb. I might try an impregnation like you are thinking about.

A secondary issue is getting long material stabilized. Most providers have a length limitation.
 
I'd probably set it in front of my torpedo heater so it dried from one side.
 
My goal isn't to make a table, I'm wanting to make knife handles with a similar affect.

I've taken one of the burls and cut it into 4 slabs that are approx 2" thick. I'm going to be force drying 2, and letting the other two air dry in the basement. Kind of an experiment to see what I can get.

I believe they're cherry burl, but I'm not totally positive. However, there does seem to be some pretty nice figure in most of the burl, hopefully I don't ruin it too bad with my experimentation, haha.
 
Checking & splitting occurs because the outside dries faster than the inside of the lumber as moisture is removed. As the outside dries, the inside remains moist & retains it's thickness while the outside "shrinks" away & then splits as it dries due to internal stress in the wood. I would find a place where the air is very dry, but not necessarily add "too much" heat to the mix.

Here in Tucson, a car interior in the summer would work pretty well but be 150 degrees. In the early summer, we get 3-4% relative humidity & 105 degrees on a daily basis, that would work pretty well. We had MSR lumber from Canada in our plant that was "kiln dried" but was still giving up moisture in the summer due to the dry conditions. If you have forced air heating in your place, a cardboard box on a heat register (with an opening on the box somewhere) would work like a kiln for you. Just slab, sticker & let it sit for a few months over the winter with the heat cycling normally.
 
Somewhat along the lines of you goal, a friend of mine took several pieces of Ambrosia maple he had and put them in his sandblaster--I am not sure of what medium he used, but he had cut the wood to scale sized pieces, or a little bigger than that, and he ended up blasting out the softest wood and wound up with pieces that looked just like what you posted--he was actually after the same sort of look with a glow in the dark resin in the wood--he stabilized the wood himself and then cast the pieces in resin with GITD material swirled into the resin.
 
I agree with Stacy about Buckeye. It will already have voids and bark pockets.
Try looking on ebay and a piece with lots of voids should sell for a lot less than a good piece.
With forcing cracks and open eyes they will probably be too small to hold enough if the inlay material to look good.
Just my opinion.
 
I have a box of maybe 100 handle blocks of great color buckeye burl that are full of pockets and eyes. I might try what you want to do with some of them.
 
also i think chances are that the burl would split more in big separate pieces than in wormholes-like voids. If you manage to dry the burl properly (but with the ease of mind that you don't actually mind split/voids happening) you could dig your extra holes with a dremel or the like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top