Oak Burl

Horsewright

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,142
Does anyone have any experience with oak burl? I know that some of it has a lot of voids. I have access to some and wondered if it was worth the effort. I've never seen it advertised or used that I can recall.
 
I like it and have have some natural and some I had stabilized by WSSI but haven't actually used
any of it yet.
 
Did yours have lots of voids? Did ya cut it yourself and what oak was it if ya know?
 
About 10 years ago I cut enough oak burl to fill 2 steel garbage cans. I love the stuff. There are voids
but not a lot more than any other wood with good burl- nature of the beast.
Ken.
 
I have used oak burls. They have made a good knife handle. I stabilized mine. If it has voids, fill them with super glue and ground up instant coffee. Or super glue and sanding dust from the oak burl.
 
I bought the pieces I'm sure are oak cut up. There are some voids, but not as
bad as say, many Aussie burls.
 
Several years ago I was given several pieces. I used some and gave some to a fellow knife maker. We both thought it looked good. He even asked for more but he had already received the last of it.Frank
 
Here's a pic of some of the stuff I cut up, still use a fair amount of it on hidden Tangs.
102_0418.jpg
 
Thanks guys! Anybody got pics on finished knives and pretty much consensus to have it stabilized?
 
Here is a link to a fighter Nick Wheeler did a short while back.

California has a lot of different types of Oaks.
We have mostly California Black Oak around here.
Black Oak can have a lot of different burl / bunion variations.
Some can look like a pin burl with eyes, some weird bunions with spaghetti grain and dramatic rays and other with variety of colors and dark pockets with voids.

Processing the oak it is best to cut into slightly oversized blocks and then air dry them.
If left to large and thick the wood tends to pull itself apart when drying.
It is going to move a lot as it dries so leave enough extra thickness (1/4" to 3/8" thicker than you need) so you can trim it flat after it dries.

The farther into the center of a black oak burl, the more likely that wood is to crack and check.
A lot of the big black oak burls will be soft or hollow inside.
We use them to make bowls because half of the work is already done.
 
Thanks Mark. Yep its Black Oak I have. I know what ya mean about the hollows and I'd often wondered if it wasn't good because of that. Good info to stick more towards the outside. On one that is dead already, any easy non technical way of telling if its dry enough?
 
Black Oak can be a tough one to tell by look or feel because it stays heavy even when dry.
You really need to cut a test block in half and check the center with a moisture meter.
 
You might check with local lumberyards, cabinet makers and such.
One is bound to have a meter and be willing to do a quick check.

Normal air drying takes about a year per inch of thickness of the piece of wood.
 
Thanks again Mark, particularly for the inch per year deal. That actually helps a lot as I know of several burls that have been dead for at least 5 or 6 years. So I'll cut them up and check em out. Cut up several cords of oak a year for firewood and never messed much with the burls, just burnt em. Yeah I know but not as bad as the ironwood I just traded for that was in a guys firewood pile. I'll have to check on the meter deal.
 
Yep If I was understanding Mark correctly its actually better to cut into blocks first. Less chance of checking and cracking. Also it seems like it would dry faster as ya would have more surface area at lest that what it seems like to me.
 
You can cut it up, but allow yourself some room for grinding or re-sawing. Make sure you wait it down too. I use a lot of Oak Burl and love the stuff. As already mentioned, any "checks" in the wood can be filled with superglue and dust from the burl. I keep several old bottles filled with wood dust, bone dust, g10 dust, etc. You just never know. THere are a few knives on my website with oak burl. cmforgeknives.com Oh, make sure you read the disclaimer on the bottom of the About Us page while you are there. I am sure you will get a chuckle out of it.
 
A process I've used in the past is to nuke the roughly oversize handle block. Cut it oversize and if possible
drill a hole thru the center. Nuke for no more than one minute at a time. (I've actually started the inside on fire
doing this longer) I leave a block near the microwave and any time I walk by and think about it nuke it for
a minute. When it stops spewing vapor do it again in a ziplock bag, no vapor= dry. You could weigh it and when it stops
losing weight its done.
This won't work on large amounts but I've taken a block from water slinging off the saw chain to a finished handle
in a week and never had them move. BTW they really soak up CA when hot! (Please do this with a little common sense.)
As if I had any the first try on this!
Ken.
 
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