Mastic and eucalyptus burls

galadduin

galadduin

Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Messages
1,363
Here are some woods I recently found in our vicinity:

Mastic Tree (Pistacia lentiscus, lentisc) burls: This is somewhat exotic wood, smels good, tough and decorative grain. I will cut them and make some slabs..

http://tinypic.com/23uonq
close up:
http://tinypic.com/23up7c

This is one of the trees.
http://tinypic.com/23uotf

Also there are tons of eucalyptus + huge burls:

http://tinypic.com/23upf8
http://tinypic.com/23uple

My question, they are newly cut and have to be dried. Also have to be cut, but how can I decide which angle reveals good grain? Is a diagonal cut right in the mid of the burl or just a vertical cut good? How am I supposed to dry these?
 
Well, I didn't see any burls in any of the pictures.
Limbs, and short trunk sections, yes.
Quarter-saw the eucalyptus, sticker it, and air dry it for a while.
Kiln dry it after drying for a year or so.
Yep it takes a while...
I don't know how the gum will look after drying, but I could go look it up.
 
arent the intersection of large branches of the tree called burls. If not, sorry, english is not my native language you know. Here is the crutial question: what is a burl? :D Seriously I want to know...
How do I quarter saw and sticker (I dont know the meanings) ???
 
A burl is like a growth on the tree it looks like a half circle. It is caused when the tree gets damaged and it heals itself. :)
 
The sections at the junctions of trunks are called crotches. There will be some grain that fans out.
Quartersawing (pics) is sawing so the growth rings run perpindicular to the short (face) side of a board. It's more stable.
Find some wordwworking sites to see pictures.
Stickering is stacing the boards up in a pile, with small boards to seperate them for air circulation.
Here's a good place to read up on wood drying: WOODWEB
 
Here is the first picture of a burl I found. Just thought I would give you an idea of what one looks like on the tree....

Large-redwood-burl.jpg
 
Thanks guys, thats the info i needed. I will quarter saw and air dry them. I learned, drying slow prevents crracking, so I will slowly dry them., though it may take years it does worth i guess, it is too hard to find a dry piece...
The burl photo helped a lot, I never seen something like this...

What are the stickers by the way, I've been reading but I couldnt visualise what they are, what are they used for?

Best wishes,
Emre
 
howiesatwork said:
Sometimes injured, stressed, or diseased wood is much nicer than plain old wood...
Click to expand...
I wholeheartedly agree. Don't forget rotten.

Unfortunately all these types of wood are most likely to crack and/or have voids. I think the risk is worth it.
 
Stickers are slats of wood used to separate the boards while they are drying.They allow air to circulate all around the wood.Place one every 30cm or so to keep the boards straight and separated.
 
Be careful working the Eucalyptus Burl. I've used it a few times and it burns quickly like Pink Ivory wood. Work it slow with sharp belts.
 
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